Friday, December 21, 2007

 

Meltdown Threatens

My suggestion yesterday that Brown had six months to try to remove the image of incompetence which has adhered to him over recent months, has to be updated in the light of today's poll in the Telegraph. We find that now that only 14% rate Gordon's performance as PM as either 'good' or 'very good'; 51% rate his performance as 'poor'. How this must mortify this proud high achieving Scot who so hates to be criticised.

Tony King observes that whilst so many thought his Chancellorship was just brilliant, the magic has fled away now that he is PM. And it is the economy where future worries lie. A majority now favour the Conservatives as the party 'more likely to run Britain's economy well' and 60% are to some degree 'worried' about an economic recession. Poll figures also show that such worries are affecting consumer confidence regarding future spending, meaning that a recession is even more likely to come about.

On the police pay dispute King has this to say:

Ministers may wish to attribute the gathering economic gloom to the worldwide credit crunch but the Prime Minister and his Home Secretary cannot escape responsibility for what appears to have been a substantial political blunder: the decision to phase in over several months the English and Welsh police officer's pay award. In order to save money, the Government seems to have decided to put at risk any reputation it had for fair dealing.Given the high value most Britons place on fairness, that decision would appear to have been politically reckless.

Maybe the comment made by fellow blogger Paul Linford on my yesterday's post is closer to the truth: that Gordon has closer to six weeks than six months to turn things around and change the way his premiership is being perceived. If not then Labour has to prepare itself for a 'meltdown' of an election which might see it lose 100 seats.

Comments:
Skipper, I'm surprised at you. This is complete rot. There is not going to be an election in 2008 so how anyone can suggest Labour face 'meltdown' when the opinion poll in this morning's Guardian, after 2 months of bad headlines, puts the party on 35% is almost beyond belief.

I'm not a gambling man, but if I were I would offer you very good odds on Brown being in charge in a years time, and unbelievable odds of him being in charge in the Spring.

if you and Paul are gamblers and believe this nonsense, get down the bookies and you can have a damn good holiday on your winnings... or look a bit glum in the summer as the bookie pockets your money.

Happy New Year!
 
Well said Bob - and look at the election results over at Luke A's site. No sign of any collapse of Labour's vote or of any real enthusiasm for the Tories. GB has at least another 16 months before holding a general election. Loadsa time for all sorts to happen especially with the LibDems now playing for the centre-right ground...
 
Bob and Hughesey
I just hope you are both right. but Gordon has managed to burden Labour with the label of 'incompetence' and experience suggests it takes a long time to remove such perceptions. Paul was saying he thought it was probably already in place- hence the short time scale. I'm just very pessimistic and disappointed by Brown's efforts so far- so much foot shooting...
 
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