Clearly, Brown is going to blame the expenses scandal for Labour’s expected bad showing in the polls next week. Balls has began to do his leader’s bidding:
In European and local elections, [held] before a general election the governing parties tend not to do so well. That is going to happen to us. Of course it is. That is what happened in 2004.
The polling we are seeing [shows] that in these elections [the expenses row] is going to impact on mainstream parties because it is probably going to persuade [voters] to stay at home. That will be a judgment on the whole political system rather than simply the government.
So there you have it. Your eyes can start to roll over now in preparation for Brown’s henchmen touring the TV studios next weekend blaming Labour’s poor showing at the polls on the expenses scandal. Will it be enough? That depends on two factors, whether Labour finish third behind the LibDems or fourth behind UKIP. More importantly, it hinges on Alan Johnson’s judgement that he can narrow the Tory lead by overthrowing Brown.
What we need now are a few polls. Unless there is an earth-shattering announcement from Brown, they should give a reliable indication of what we can expect.
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Interesting. I agree - and obviously this'll start pre-election with Brown on Andrew Marr this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting last night on QT however, when, after asking for a show of hands, much of the panel seemed comforted by the fact that no-one in the audience was apparently going to vote BNP.
. . . .as if anyone would admit to it live on national TV!