Sticky Brown Stuff

I always hoped that Gordon Brown would resist the temptation to go to the country in a snap election. Partly because there is no reason why he should – we do not elect prime ministers, we elect a government and that government has a mandate (weak, though it is) to govern for a full term. Also, the longer this man remains as prime minister, the more he will be seen by the electorate as a liability. I didn’t expect things to change so soon, though:

The ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph puts the Conservatives on 43 per cent – seven points ahead of Labour on 36 – with the Liberal Democrats trailing badly on 14 per cent.

Labour is down two points on the last ICM poll, taken just over a week ago, which put the two main parties neck-and-neck on 38 per cent, while the Conservatives are up five points.

Oh, good. I’ll take a moment to enjoy this odious man’s discomfort. Discomfort brought upon himself and well deserved it is, too. This will become worse when the Blairites start to break ranks.

If the figures were repeated in a general election, David Cameron would be prime minister with a single-figure Commons majority, while Sir Menzies Campbell’s party would be reduced to a tiny rump of MPs.

That would be about right. Just big enough to govern and just small enough to feel vulnerable.