Well you've really got to laugh at this haven't you? According to Brown's chum Paul Dacre's newspaper, the Labour Party is saying they have identified a new voter called "Brown Tories". These are apparently Tories that have great admiration for Thatcher but believe Brown rather than Cameron can "match her steadiness under fire" so they will vote for him instead.
Besides the fact that ZERO evidence has been produced to show this new class of voter, the idea that Thatcher fans will vote for Brown is bloody absurd. I'm not saying that they will, necessarily, vote for Cameron, but there is no way in the world that a Thatcherite is going to vote for a centralising, high tax, high spending socialist like Brown.
This is all just part of election fever that is being stoked by Brown in order to keep CCHQ frightened. By all accounts it's working too. Uulike Iain I don't think there will be an election in October. The EU diary commitments make it very unlikely for a start, plus the fact the Labour Party have not managed to get their media monitoring units in place.
Right now the strategy is just to unhinge the Tory Party and make them panic in light of the polls not going their way.
17 comments:
... and it's working!
Didn't I just say that?
How can the tories be so pannicked by brown he is such an easy target but cameron seems terrified of offending him.I realy do think cam was the wrong choice davies at least can fight cam just agrees with the gov and talks bollox about c02.Well earth calling cameron we dont care about c02 its all bollox its the economy stupid.
This is a classic NuLab reversal. If I had a tenner for every Labour activist/member that has abandoned the Labour party I could emigrate.
I agree that this is more sabre rattling than an honest election build up. I originally thought that Brown would go ASAP before the economy and housing market turn. However having seen the polls that suggest the public would rather have Brown and co. in an economic downturn. Trusting in the safe pair of hands that got them into the mess rather than fresh ideas - who are these pollsters asking?
It has also been forgotten that the SNP in Scotland are polling in the high 40's. If that occurred in the general election then Labour would be crushed and Brown would have to worry about his own seat.
Acoording to Sky a few weeks ago the GE will be will be in May 2008,so as Murdoch is in control of this country then that's when it will be.
In fact, the loss of Scotland will do for Brown - Salmond has been utterly brilliant in his approach to "governmen" in Scotland - even little sub-offices in out of the way places have " The Scottish Government" above the door.
His most recent blinder is to say that he would reverse the Army decision to do away with local ties to the regiments - an utterly disastrous policy that has decimated recruitment. It was in the top 5 most popular policies in a recent poll.And the LibDems will implode.
The pundits forget that the polls in 2005 over estimated Labour's lead by as much as 50% even just before the election, the SNP are still in their honeymoon period, only a few weeks ago the Labour lead was only 1% in some polls, foot and mouth isn't contained, the Tories are doing marginally better than they were in 2005, and getting less of a majority than Blair would haunt Brown for the rest of his time in Number 10.
Anon - your on to something there.
SNP are polling well, and its Scotland where Labour get a lot of their seats from. On top of that Wales isn't looking like such a bedrock for Labour right now.
Even though the Cons are 6% or so behind, this is a lot better than the 2005 election, so some marginals might change hands.
IMHO this means that if there was an election things would be a lot closer than they are now. Is Brown the sort of man to take a risk that he could end up with NOC. Personally I doubt it. He has generally been risk averse the whole of this time in Govt, why change now. This is not to say that he has advisers telling him that things could get worse in the future, but I think he might hang out until he knows that he will get a majority govt.
Even the Beeb thinks the poll will - at the earliest - take place in May next year. This is just a psy-ops job that's so blatant you have to wonder why CCHQ has fallen for it.
Brown is terrified of a Tory revival. If he can keep Cameron worried and stressed out enough, he might just manage to prevent him from seeing how he could dismantle Labour's lead.
But keeping Cameron under election pressure is actually achieving the opposite to what Brown intends. It is forcing him to become more effective. Cameron is quickly deploying his best troops such as Ashcroft being given control of CCHQ, and Redwood's economic competitiveness review concepts being aired, and Coulson's tabloid skills let loose.
A tiny bit of weeding here and there and Camron could be ready with a powerfully appealing programme, professionally presented.
With Scotland worrying the hell out of Brown, and Wales not far behind, Cameron would probably feel this is a great time to fight Brown. He might even be playing a short term weak hand intentionally to try to tease Brown into a tussle.
I'm with Dizzy. Brown's pollsters are hamming up his lead to create some news and try to prompt some real spending by the parties. They're in business to make money I guess.
ICM and YouGov have hardly been covering themselves in objective glory in recent weeks.
Actually you are wrong Dizzy. I am a Thatcherite Tory who is seriously considering voting Brown if there is no UKIP option in my constiuency. My position - which I have expressed here and on other blogs in the past - is that the priority is to stop Cameron, otherwise the party will be lost to the paternalist wet wing.
Given the way shortlists are being restricted and the quiet purge that is being conducted towards the right, the Tory Party is already close to being a lost cause. But a Cameron win will confirm it.
Voting Brown may let in a high tax centrist but it may just encourage the Tories to give us a choice at the next election. A Cameron win will let in a high tax centrist and encourage the Tories to think that that is the way forward.
Nor am I alone in my view; I am aware of actual Tory councillors who are considering similar action.
It suits CCHQ to prtend to fall for it, so Cameron can exercise more control and bring in new people without his wings complaining.
There was a suggestion on Political Betting that Mr Brown is sabre rattling about an early election to keep the unhappy Labour/Union bods in line at the Labour conference.
Sadly, Brown could win an election because, with the MSM's assistance, the electorate have been so successfully infantilised over the past 15 years.
During the past week, look at how much of the BBC news has been about misbehaviour on TV programmes, look at how few serious political programmes/documentaries there are; 20 years ago a debacle like Northern Rock would have merited at least 1 hour-long Panorama to itself to examine the issues.
Great post Dizzy and some revealing comments
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