No day of rest for Brown in trouble stories
James Forsyth 11:56am
The Sunday papers pick up where the Saturday ones left off. The Independent on Sunday reports that Charles Clarke is preparing a stalking horse challenger if Labour does badly on May 1st. The Mail on Sunday revives the story that Brown has promised to only fight one general election. A poll for The Sunday Times finds that “Brown’s personal rating has plunged further and faster than any other British leader since political polling began in the 1930s”. While the paper says that he is facing a cabinet revolt over 42 days. The Observer notes speculation that Brown will opt for a snap cabinet reshuffle after May 1st.
Only a stronger than expected performance on May 1st will end this feeding frenzy. A bad Labour performance and the press coverage will get even more fevered and Labour discipline will collapse even further.
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Comments
Chuck Unsworth
April 13th, 2008 12:45pmAnd what is a 'stronger than expected' performance? Whose expectations?
Kerry
April 13th, 2008 6:01pmI am starting to feel sorry for Brown as it seems like the tories and the media are starting to bully him!
Ann
April 13th, 2008 6:27pmThat of hacks, Chuck.
Richard
April 13th, 2008 10:10pmKerry, Brown is getting no more than he deserves.
Graeme
April 14th, 2008 2:38amThe trouble is, the media will whip up expectations so that if we get anything other than a Johnson win in London, the narrative will do one of its ever-increasing sudden switches, and it will be back to yard after yard of "Gordon Brown, the towering intellectual genius who bestrides the nation like a behemoth" etc etc.
Labour are already starting to manipulate expectations. I read in the Sunday Times this morning that they are fearful "of 200 plus seats". I'm not a psephologist. But I find it hard to imagine where we (I'm Tory) will find 200 seats in the mainly northern councils who are holding the one-third elections in those areas which last voted in 2004 - when the Tories exceeded expectation.