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May the Sixth be with you
So, it looks like Gordon Brown has chosen 6th May 2010 for the General Election. Mind you, bearing in mind that the unofficial Election campaign started weeks ago, I suppose it doesn’t make an iota of difference when the actual date of the ballot is.
Alistair Darling (why couldn’t the PM have been Gordon Melchett, just for easy laughs?) will announce that this year’s Budget will be held on 24th March and that, apparently, paves the way for the Election to be held on 6th May.
Astonishingly, considering that we nearly ended up in the biggest Depression since the 1930s, Brown is putting his stewardship of the economy at the centre of his Election campaign. I’m not quite sure how he’s going to get away with that one; it’s a bit like Ashley Cole trying to win Cheryl back by telling her he’s got a new mobile phone with a better camera on it.
His argument will be that whilst Labour can continue the economic recovery, a Conservative government would put any recovery in jeopardy. That seems unlikely, though, seeing as George Osborne has enough money in his Norwich and Peterborough Instant Access Savings Account to wipe the national debt instantly.
Despite recent polls showing their lead is narrowing, the General Election betting shows that the Conservatives remain 1/7 to win most seats, with Labour 4/1 and the Liberal Democrats (Lord love them) 150/1.
One of the reasons Brown and his trusted advisors (who I read are Lord Mandelson of Transylvania, Ed ‘Coleman’ Balls, Ed Miliband and, presumably, Edd the Duck) have chosen the 6th May is that they believe they can continue to gnaw into the Conservative Party’s poll lead between now and the big day.
They will argue that fewer people lost their jobs under Labour in this recession than they did in the 1980s and fewer people lost their home this time around than they did in the 1990s recession. It’s the old ‘It doesn’t matter that we’re a complete failure; we’re still better than the previous lot over the last twenty years’ argument, which, to be fair, has kept Rafa Benitez in a job for years.
Apparently, Brown will head to Buckingham Palace for tea with the Queen on 6th April so as not to disturb Her Majesty over the Easter weekend. After a lovely scone and jam, she will dissolve Parliament and then it will be gloves off as we have a one month long campaign before polling on 6th May. It is, coincidentally, also the day for local elections in England.
So, pencil the 6th May in your diary. You’ll probably have had a short week at work as there’s a Bank Holiday that week. There’ll be no important football on the telly to distract you although you might have to tape Eastenders if you’re planning on voting in the evening….