Brown has, what the Americans call, the big mo right now. He looks like the man in command and that is dictating how events are seen. Take the job offer to Ashdown and the Lib Dems, if Brown was perceived as weak this could have been seen as desperate, a recognition that Labour is unlikely to have an overall majority after the next general election. But in the current mood, it comes across as bold and decisive.
The speech Brown delivered today was an attempt to take advantage of this momentum to shape the political debate; to use it to present himself as the change, at times you expected him to announce “we are the changemakers,” and to grab hold of chunks of political territory—eg housing—from Cameron.
The Tories are going to have to get use to Brown making the weather for the next few weeks. Labour’s poll lead is likely to grow. The test for Cameron is not to panic, as Michael Portillo’s column today demonstrates the press will pounce on any hint of a retreat into the core vote laager.
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