Everyone is very upbeat this morning, despite the fact that I have yet to speak to anyone who got to bed before three am. There is a real buzz that if Brown does call an election we have everything to fight for; especially if we close the poll gap this week following some good gritty announcements.
Brown is supposed to make a statement today on Iraq. If I were him, I would be worried about the fact that Cameron is going to have a blinder of a week, and, as we all know, is going to deliver the speech of his life which will throw raw meat to the electorate in the form of fresh policies, and when the comparisons are drawn, will highlight how poor, stale and re-hashed Brown’s speech was.
Brown will be worried. If I were in his shoes this is what I would do: re-announce (because that is what he does best) phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq. I wouldn’t mention Afghanistan but would use very emotive language guaranteed to overshadow anything good to come from Blackpool today, something very Clintonesque, such as ” I will bring our boys and girls home, I will take them out of harms way.”
The sub text, of course, being: ‘ trust me – I will keep you safe – vote for me.’
The British public will say ‘hail Brown’ and despite the fact that we are announcing real new policies to support the family, mend society, and curb the massive taxes everyone had to pay, Brown, using cheap gimmickry, just may win the day.
Brown knows the real war on his hands is here at home. And that is just what it feels like here in Blackpool, as though we have engaged in trench warfare, and we are determined to be the victors.
For some reason the main conference hotel has decided to remove all the chairs from the public areas which means there is no where to sit! I have de camped to the first floor of the Hilton for all of my meetings where at least I can plug in the lap top.
Just had my first meeting with the Royal College of Nurses. It is outrageous that English nurses have had to accept a pay deal below that of Scotland – and Northern Ireland and Wales. Think I may have been a bit hard on the RCN but they really have got to up their game and stop cowering every time the government growls at them. They represent 400,000 professional members who join the RCN because they want to be members of an organisation which can engage in effective diplomacy, emphasis being on the word effective!
Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordhshire, will be blogging for Coffee House during conference. To read her earlier entries click here.
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