A cock-up; but Brown lives to fight another day

Gordon Brown looks a lot less like a master strategist this morning. The polls – and in particular polling in the marginals where it seems Charlie Ashcroft’s money is having its effect - has persuaded Brown not to hold an early election. Osborne’s promise to raise the threshold on inheritance tax to £1 million has apparently gone down well in the prosperous suburbs. The photo-op in Iraq did not, I think, play well either. The Conservatives are cock-a-hoop. Iain Dale is wetting himself (Brown he says is “frit” and “a big girl’s blouse”). This morning’s Sunday Times describes Brown as “all mouth and no trousers”. He is being accused of “bottling it” (Eton Dave says Brown has shown “weakness and indecision”). Postponing the election may well be wise; if he goes after four years in the spring of 2009 he has about a year and a half to get it right (being a card-carrying coward myself I've always though "courage" - about which Brown has written enthusiastically - a much over-rated attribute). Maybe the voters will have forgotten about all this brouhaha by then, although a reputation as a “bottler” is the sort of thing that can stick. The big mistake of course was to set the hare running in the first place. He should have ruled out an election a fortnight ago. It is a spectacular own goal. Brown’s weakness for gimmickry (from someone supposedly “above” spin) seems to have back-fired. Still, he who runs away lives to fight another day…