Tactical success for the Tories as Brown boxes himself in on 2009 election

AndyR

Au contraire. He can easily go to the country. All he has to do is to present his plans as a Grand Solution, a bold and brilliant strategy for 21stC Britain, etc, and he absolutely MUST get a fresh mandate from the British people.

The man lies all day every day, and nobody seems to care. So nobody's going to bring this up if he changes his mind later.

Travis Bickle

"I do not think people would think much of me"

Perish the thought that that could ever happen, meanwhile on Planet Earth.

DM

HOld on a minute. The guy is not known for his truthfulness. Why on earth would you believe him (or plan around it) when he is quite capable of twisting and turning anything he says further down the line, (even if he thinks he believes it now.) And, of course, he could simply change his mind.

Travis Bickle

DM

well only if he woke up one morning, thought about how he could best help honest, hard working, families and decided it was the "right thing to do".

Polly and Alice's mum

I noticed that when he was asked a direct question about a 2009 election, he did NOT say "no". He said "I am not thinking about that at all" which is not the same thing as NO. Weasel words - just what we have come to expect from this spin-meister.

Duyfken

His words mean nothing.

Anyway, I'm wanting a GE at the earliest possible time, simply to foil the EU. Ireland could be holding a re-run of their referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and change the vote to "yes". We need a change of government here before such an eventuality.

WINSTON SMITH

I have just compiled the the FTSE 100 index from the Thursday close of 1.5.1997 the day Labour came to power.
For price changes to be meaningful, nominal values must be converted into real numbers, meaning there as to be an adjustment in inflation.
When inflation lifts asset prices you have to use figures in this case the RPI index to gave you a true figure.
This is the only yardstick I can use I suspect the RPI figures are fiddled anyway.
The RPI index for April 1997 is 156.3 and the October 2008 217.7 a loss in asset value of 28.20396%
FTSE 100 on 1.5.1997 was 4445 and the close on Friday 21.11.08 is 3780.96.
Therefore the true figure is 2714.58
Over Labours power in office we have lost 38.92%

strapworld

BACK ME OR SACK ME!!

January 2009 election

Ed B

OK, this may be a swivel-eyed conspiracy theory, but here goes…

Who is talking up an early election, and why? All available polling evidence says that Labour has almost no chance of gaining a working majority, has a small chance of being the largest party in a hung parliament, and has a greater chance of coming in behind the Conservatives in seats. Furthermore, the economy is going to get much much worse, and the voters know it.

So why is there talk of an early election? The talk is most certainly not coming out of No. 10, and it does seem that Mandelson could be behind it.

So here is the conspiracy theory: could it be that Mandelson is setting Brown up to “call off” yet another non-election, thus confirming him in the public mind as The Great Ditherer for ever more. Final revenge - a beaut of a stitch up from the master stitcher-upper.

It seems unlikely I know, but stranger things have happened… recall the story of the frog and the scorpion trying to cross the river, much quoted at the times of Mandelson’s reappearance.

Andrew

"...almost completely wrong..."

This should enter the pantheon alongside Clinton's "...It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is..."

I swear if Brown swallowed a nail he'd excrete a screw.

mac

James, James . . . !

All he'll say is:
"When I was asked the question I had no plan to fight an election. Now I am announcing that there will be an election, that's not a u-turn it's simply acting in the best interests of the British people and because it's the right thing to do".

The one political certainty is that everything and anything will be spun by the shameless and egotistical Brown.

Evan

It's safer to asume that he is probably lying.

Nicholas

I'm sure that Brown would hold a 2009 election if he thought he would win. Of course he has to deny that it is part of his plan.

Anthony

Steady on, James. Fraser is always saying how he underestimates Brown in the sense that "I think he could do this, but, no, that would be too brazen", only to see Brown actually then go on and do what Fraser envisaged anyway.

Portillo on that This Week programme pointed out how impetuous Brown has now become too. He's running out of buttons to press to save the Labour Party and may just feel he's got to go for it.

What he can't do is have six months of press natter with everyone saying: "it's June" because then there's no getting out of it. Isn't that what this soundbite is about?

mitch

He is a lying weasel and no plans should be made based on anything he says.

chris

It is clear that this is all about saving their own skins, not the country's.

How will we know if the 'measures' work?

stephen johnson

At a time when deflation ia possibility a reduction in vat will only add to this risk unless a significant further reduction in sterling is anticipated.

TrevorsDen

Brown is the countries biggest liar. "almost completely wrong" ... 'almost'.

He has probably said enough to allow the Tories to smear him if he does call an election but by his own tortuous logic he can still tell himself he is being consistent.

RODEST

James,

Since Brown bottled the chance to go to the country I have had a gut feeling that February 2009 will be his choice.

I also think that if he delays an election beyond that date he will face a leadership challenge.

Brown is the only voice being heard at the moment, the rest of Nulabour are busy whispering about how to get rid of him under cover of this crisis. These are the danger points that the Tories need to be aware of.

Other world leaders are taking action to look after their own economies. Brown uses the world stage like a bouncy castle and is becoming an emberassment, every other country ignores what he has to say.

As other countries emerge from recession we will still be on our way to deeper levels if Brown is allowed to continue with his borrow, tax and spend plans.