Pundit Watch

David Aaronovitch has many virtues as a columnist. He's not so bad on media issues and is usually fairly sound on crime and race (though he prefers these things to be centrally managed). But political pundit? Forget it.

Now, my presumption is that the Prime Minister is prepared to make tough decisions, because if he isn't, then there's not much point to him. And if he is, then perhaps he should go to the country very soon. Polling evidence is now being backed up by the results of local council by-elections, all suggesting that there is beginning to be a settled view in the country that Mr Brown deserves to be given his chance.
Mr Brown is a serious rather than a cautious politician, and this is a huge decision, but if he wants the freedom to do the difficult as well as the easy things, then he needs to put the Long Election Campaign behind him. At which point -- in his very deep voice -- he can answer the really profound questions.

Brown: Calling election would have been "easiest" thing to do. So DA: calling an election is a 'tough' decision; Brown: calling an election is an 'easy' decision. At least both agree that Gordon took the harder course. No one else seems to. Another prediction bites the dust. So: will DA a) quietly forget this one; or b) turn on 'Bottler' Brown, the man who let his backers down?

FWIW, I think Brown should have called an election because the traditional democratic method is you get your mandate first, then you wield it. If Brown wanted to be able to say he had the backing of the voters, he had to have the cojones to ask them. Also, if Brown had been as successful a chancellor as he no doubt believes he was, the next five years should be pretty good, and his term should see us out of Iraq, possibly with the capture of bin Laden (he can't really hold out forever can he?) and take us up to the Olympics (which Labour wanted, and I increasingly see as a looming disaster). With five years in hand rather than three, he has a better chance of riding out any problems on the way. Like the poor cat in the adage, indeed.