Why Brown bottled it
James Forsyth 8:33pmThe News of the World front page tomorrow blasts, “Poll kills election.” The details of the poll, which the News of the World kindly advanced to us, are grim for Labour and explain why Gordon Brown felt he couldn't take the risk of going early.
77% think the government has done a bad job on immigration, 63% think the same on law and order, 62% on tax and 52% on the NHS. The one encouraging number for Brown is that only 37% of the public think the Conservatives are ready for government. However, one has to assume that this number will rise between now and 2009.
Ian Kirby reports that Douglas Alexander is taking a lot of flack over the whole debacle of expectations been raised dangerously high only to be dashed. Indeed, Brown now faces a mandate problem with 55% of voters thinking he needs one. As Kirby writes,
Mr Alexander’s reputation was in tatters last night.More details on The News of the World site with the full poll numbers available here.A senior Brownite MP told the News of the World: “I hope you note the role Douglas played in this. “He knew the state of the Electoral Register a month ago but set this thing rolling.”
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Craig Strachan
October 6th, 2007 9:01pm Report this commentI found it astonishing that Brown should have appointed Douglas Alexander to be U.K. General Election coordinator after the debacle of the Scottish elections. Another question of judgement, perhaps?
simon hb
October 6th, 2007 9:44pm Report this comment"The one encouraging number for Brown is that only 37% of the public think the Conservatives are ready for government. However, one has to assume that this number will rise between now and 2009." Really? Why?
Hoi Polloi
October 6th, 2007 9:53pm Report this commentI wonder why the phrase "like rats in a sack" comes so quickly to mind!
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