How dangerous is this sort of talk?
Is Gordon reconciled to going down with the ship?
The Coffee House blog has picked up a fascinating quote from the FT about a Number 10 source which could change the whole dynamic of the next ten months – Brown thinks he’s going to be defeated.
It reports: “One Downing Street insider said the prime minister was more relaxed because he now realised that he was certain to lose the next election and was powerless to defy political gravity.”
Whatever the truth of this it takes the government into very dangerous territory and could make the whole task of the party stopping the Tory onslaught even more challenging. For the last thing you should do is, even by such a convoluted route, let it appear that you know that you are beaten.
It’s going to be hard enough motivating activists as it is and what is it going to do to fund-raising?
If this is true I wonder where it might affect Brown’s retirement plans? If he can see no way of pulling this round why not let someone else have a bash? At least then he would not go down in the history books as a loser.
I’m still convinced that my bets on him going before the election could be winners.