Gordon Brown’s trip to Baghdad is the biggest political misjudgement of his leadership so far. It would have looked very different if the Tories were tearing themselves apart in Blackpool—Gordon could have posed as a statesman above such petty squabbles—but with conference going better than expected it looks like a cheap stunt; especially as Brown had pledged to announce any change in Iraq policy to the House of Commons first.
The Tories now have a huge opening to ram home to the public what everyone in Westminster knows: Brown is just as keen on spin as Blair. The line of attacks should be, if Brown will play politics with the deployment of British troops overseas is there anything that he won’t do to win?
Add to this, the brewing row over the apparent use of Treasury officials to discredit Tory tax plans and Brown has got himself on to a very sticky wicket at just the wrong time. Cameron will step up to the podium on Wednesday with the Tories in far better shape than anyone would have expected this time last week. If he delivers, the Tories might just find themselves with the big ‘mo behind them,
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