Will Brown dare not go to the country?

Bumped into Baroness Peta Buscombe at the bar in the Imperial Hotel last night - Peta is the CEO of the Advertising Association. She told me that last week she had attended the Labour party conference, for business purposes only I hasten to add.

I asked her how it had compared to our own conference. "No where near the number of delegates" she said."No real activists as such, a very corporate affair, focused, driven and very smart - so glad I wore my Armani" Priceless!

I am about to take her to my friends on a local council estate for a cup of tea. They will love her and she will have shown them how to whip up a smoked salmon Blini from a loaf of Mothers Pride in no time!

The rest of the night consisted of a dinner and a round of hot receptions.

I fought my way into the ConservativeHome reception, elbowed my way slowly through the crowd to Tim Montgomerie. Who told me they had run out of alcohol within the first 45 minutes - I have told him not to drink so fast!

The queue at the Imperial Hotels champagne bar is six deep and corks are popping everywhere - this is of course all George’s fault following a day of 'go if you dare Gordon' announcements. The vibe seems to be that the chances of Gordon Brown calling an election are 50 per cent and falling.

Found myself in the interesting position of having a drink with James Naughtie and Bruce Anderson, they both seem to be fairly convinced that Brown won't dare go - I'm not so sure.

If he doesn't go now his status will diminish from that of a, falsely perceived statesman, to indecisive petulant scaredy cat little boy. Not a nice position to be in.

Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordhshire, will be blogging for Coffee House during conference. Earlier entries: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.