I Hope I’m Wrong

I can’t help thinking that the Observer’s Ipsos/Mori poll this weekend was something of a blip. What exactly has the Labour government done to narrow the gap in the last week or so? I hope I’m wrong, because I think the British people deserves a hung parliament, which would be the best result of the next election. I have been saying for some time that the Conservatives do not have the strength in depth to form a credible government and that the electorate faces the most unappealing choice since 1970. Nothing I have seen recently has made me change my mind. 

Andrew Rawnsley has written the best of the political column’s in the Sundays. He raises the possibility that the Liberal Democrats would demand the resignation of Gordon Brown as the price of an alliance. This is something I have heard from Labour MPs as well as the Lib Dems. There is still considerable resistance to the idea of  Tory alliance within the Liberal Democrats, where former members of the SDP in particular find the prospect distasteful.

I was interested to see my Spectator column this week picked up by Labour List. My feeling was Downing Street’s desperate hope that the polls would improve in time for the election to deliver a hung parliament was a sign of its growing isolation. But perhaps I was wrong and the Observer poll is the first sign of recovery. However, it was interesting how many Labour supporters called or emailed to stay they thought I was spot on.