There's a really easy way for Brown to kill off the early election speculation 

Labour Matters

//But until Brown does, the press will continue to speculate.//

And we'll keep peeing on your speculation! It's not big and certainly not clever.

Olaf Rye

This venal government believes that it has an inalienable right to remain in power and no stunt is too low for them. They lie, spin and misrepresent at every opportunity so if the polls seem reasonably encouraging, nothing will stop this mob from calling an election. Thus, Brown will never rule out the possibility of a poll at any time.

Jon

Labour Matters - what are you on about?

Draughtsman

Brown won't call an election until the very last moment in 2010. If he could bottle out of calling one last year when he was ahead in the polls because he wasn't completely sure that he would win, he certainly won't call one now. Brown doesn't do elections unless he can destroy his opponents first - just recall how he became prime minister in the first place.

liz Brown

The speculation about the election tat never was in 2007 nearly killed the sub -prime mentalist (tragically it was only "nearly") whilst not denying that he is stark staring bonkers, he wouldn't be quite so stupid to fuel sepculation again, were he not intending to call a snap election. Equally, whether or not an early election is on the cards, he should still be called into account for denying the Conservatives a chance to talk to Civil Servants, as is the custom. Contrast this with the way that George Bush is giving full access and co-operation to Obama and remember too, that the outgoing Democrats under Clinton left the White House in one helluv mess and were even so petty s to eliminate all"W's" from keyboards

Wilhelm

Gordon Broon is a coward, like Hitler he surrounds himself with acolytes, sycophants, creeps like James Puresmell and Broon always hides in the bunker when there is trouble.

bernerlap

I hope Brown does go in the spring because the sooner we get rid of him the better. However, I don't think he will go for the following two reasons:
a) He has his snout in the trough and he won't risk losing it until the last possible moment.
b) More intelligently - so it probably has not been considered by the ZaNu Lab morons are the parallels between now and the February 74 election. Then a PM went to polls on the back of a crisis, and he was punished by the electorate. If NuLab think at all they should think about that.

teledu

The EU project comes first; they won't go to the polls until AFTER the Irish have voted again on the Lisbon Treaty. Got it. The EU project comes first.

Mike Crawshaw

I think there is a fair chance of a spring election. Although the interest cuts will take several months to take effect in what's left of the industrial sector, they are putting quite a lot of money NOW in the pocket of anyone with a variable rate mortgage, and more to come. That single fact may be enough to shift the polls sufficiently to make a snap election look winnable for GB.