Three disastrous days for Brown

It is worth thinking for a second about how bad the past few days have been for Brown. We have had a poll showing Labour in third and then one with Labour recording the worst rating ever for one of the two major parties. What has, perhaps, caused equal damage to Brown is that he has done four major broadcast interviews—Marr, GMTV, Today and Sky News—and not generated a single positive headline for either himself or the government. Instead, they have all been about whether there are any circumstances under which he would go, emphasising how divided the Labour party is, or about the ethical problems of members of the Cabinet, linking the expenses scandal to Labour. If Brown thought his announcement of National Council for Democratic Renewal would capture the country’s imagination then he must be even more deluded than his critics claim. (This is one case where Brown definitely should have listened