Brown: I didn’t bottle it over polls
Gordon Brown today insisted he did not “bottle” out of calling an autumn general election after being confronted with Labour’s declining lead in the polls.
The prime minister told reporters at Downing Street he believed Labour could have won an election in three week’s time and said this was backed up by MPs in marginal seats.
Instead Mr Brown said he had decided against calling an early general election because he wanted time to set out his “vision” to the country.
During more than an hour of questioning Mr Brown denied he had been motivated by the opinion polls, which show Labour’s 11-point lead collapsed after the Conservative conference.
The timing of Mr Brown’s eventual announcement coincided with three polls suggesting Labour would face a hung parliament if they gambled on an autumn poll.
This prompted accusations Mr Brown had “bottled it” in the face of a resurgent Conservative party.
The prime minister played down the unfortunate timing, arguing he had always intended to end the election rumours after the party conference season.
He did, however, acknowledge he should perhaps have ended the mounting speculation sooner, with aides talking up the possibility of an election until the eleventh hour.
Mr Brown avoided transferring blame to his aids, many of whom had been eager for an early poll, and said he took full responsibility for the past few weeks’ events.
The prime minister’s actions in recent weeks indicated he was preparing for an election, as he moved parliamentary business forward and hired the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi to create an election campaign for Labour.
Under pressure from journalists at the press conference today, Mr Brown admitted he had considered calling a poll.
But he said preparations were part of the decision making process, rather than a sign he had been ready to call voters to the polls.
He said his first instinct was always against an early election, arguing he wanted more time to prove his ability to deliver on promises for better housing, health and education.
The succession of freak events over the summer had prevented him setting out his vision to build more houses, personalise health care and improve school standards, he said.
Asked whether his vision was substantially different to Labour’s 2005 manifesto – and if so why he did not need a fresh mandate – Mr Brown said he was keeping the aspirations put forward in Tony Blair’s final election campaign, but said he believed he had found better ways of delivering them.
The Liberal Democrats will today table a fixed term parliament bill in order to prevent a repeat of September’s election fever. Mr Brown said he understood the arguments for the bill, but said there could be difficulties with fixed term parliaments.
