1 min read
There are many reasons in favour of an early election. They have been far too well rehearsed for me to need to outline them. There is one, however, which is simply bonkers. As Daniel Finkelstein writes:Their main argument, extraordinarily but revealingly, against calling off the whole thing is that it will make them look silly. This itself is silly. The public impact of calling it off has been made vastly worse by their idiotic decision to talk up an election they should have kept secret. But it still isn't that great.
We are told constantly that Gordon Brown will be a bottler if he pulls out now. Wrong. My view of his courage will be enhanced. It means he is able to face down the people around him who are railroading him towards a highly risky and unnecessary decision just to ensure that they don't look/feel bad.
And once he has shown this courage he should buy himself a Christmas present - some new advisers.
He should go into the section of the shop that sells advisers who keep their mouth shut, and don't back him into a corner by talking about their internal decision making process to journalists.
The Tories should, of course, accuse him of being frit. They should go hell for leather at him and portray him as weak and indecisive. But as Daniel writes, the real idiocy would be to call an election when there is absolutely no need, and when - as the polls now indicate - there is is no guarantee of the outcome. It is, after all, no more of a gamble to wait than it is to go now. Indeed, it's more likely a lot less of a gamble.