The post you are reporting:
There is a lot of comment about the present political scene, characterising it as a hopeless position for Labour. A few quotes to demonstrate what I mean:
"The sleaze scandals, as they did during the dying days of the last Conservative government, will now emerge thick and fast, as disillusioned officials risk their liberty by leaking documents that should have been freely available, and journalists, scenting blood, close in. Labour will be driven from office with the same howls of execration that saw off the Tories in 1997." - George Monbiot in The Guardian
"The Conservatives are preparing for the worst: rightly so, since any new government next year will inherit dire public finances. Their new approach is going in the right direction, but it is still only a partial answer... David Cameron and George Osborne have recognised the severity of the fiscal challenge by announcing that the Tories will not match Labour's new plans for next year and beyond. Labour's response has been to drone on about cuts, but this no longer works given how bad the situation now is."- Peter Riddell in The Times
Rachel Sylvester in the Times quotes a Downing St adviser and a Minister.
"The long succession of announcements may have diminishing returns. We're burning up money, which can't go on, and the frenetic activity makes us look like headless chickens." And a normally loyal minister says "Gordon is behaving like the Leader of the Opposition rather than the Prime Minister. It's all tactics rather than strategy. He makes an announcement, gets the headline then moves on when what really matters is making sure it works."
"""""
There certainly seems to be a concensus forming that the game is up for Labour.
For the UK economy to move forward there is the need to instill confidence. There is a very good argument that to do so we need a General Election with a new Government or a renewed mandate. Only then can the slate be wiped clean and the economy can get on with recovery. The fall in the value of sterling itself demonstrates how the international community have no confidence in the Brown Government policies.
There is also an argument to say that it is dangerous for a Government to remain in power that has lost all hope of winning. We are seeing them conduct their affairs with a supreme arrogance while the economy sinks. We see them spending huge sums of money, ruining the economy, knowing they will not be the ones to pick up the pieces.
Also it might be in the best interests of Labour to hold an election sooner. The longer they hold on the worse it is likely to get for them. Cutting their losses may be their best hope.
So will Brown listen to sense and call an election sooner?
Will he go on to the bitter end causing more damage?
Will, as a result, Labour be virually wiped out and could that result in a rare political re-alignment with Labour being replaced by the LibDems as the main opposition and alternative Government?
Do not rule out the latter. Much as I dislike the LibDems they are preferable to the incompetent and discredited Labour Party whos every term of office has ended in economoc failure and their longest term of office is ending in the the biggest bust since 1931. No coincidence.