Word: labouring
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Iraq sank Tony Blair, and now it's dealt a heavy blow to his successor, Gordon Brown. The Labour Prime Minister made a surprise visit to the country on Oct. 2 and announced a draw down of 1,000 troops by the end of the year. That should have been a popular move. After all, opinion polls show most Britons believe the U.K. should extricate itself from Iraq as soon as possible. Instead, Brown came under fire from political opponents, media critics and even some in his own party. They accused him of using the trip for grandstanding - Brown...
Most psephologists believe that Labour would have won an overall majority if Brown had called a November election. That's a belief shared by the Tories, who are convinced that a later election will benefit their cause. They expect the British economy to stutter, damaging Labour's reputation and, more especially, Brown's - he was Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years before becoming Prime Minister, after all. They also want months rather than weeks to woo electors with vote-winning policies such as their planned changes to the inheritance tax, which would raise the threshold to 1 million pounds...
...fresh mandate until his term of office expires in 2010 or go to polls to secure a fresh five-year term. (He took over as Britain's Prime Minister from Tony Blair in June without an election.) Most Britons thought they knew what Brown would decide. After all, the Labour party had for years been substantially ahead of its nearest rivals, the Conservatives, in opinion polls. Another compelling reason for a snap election: economic turbulence, and projections of damage to the U.K. economy, that may soon erode Labour's popularity...
...days leading up to Brown's surprise announcement, polls had indeed hinted that British voters might want change - from Labour to the Tories. A survey of marginal constituencies conducted by the U.K.'s largest Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, for publication on Oct. 7, showed the Conservatives leading by 6% in the contests for these key parliamentary seats. Earlier polls showed the parties neck-and-neck...
...Older Labour members also shudder, remembering one of the darkest hours in their party history. In 1976, when Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister, James Callaghan took his place. Two years later, ahead in the polls and apparently with every prospect of winning his own mandate, Callaghan unexpectedly shied away from calling elections. Early in 1979, he lost a confidence motion and was forced to go to the country. His opponent, Margaret Thatcher, led her Tory party to victory and to an unbroken 18 years in office...