Over at Open House (hat-tip James Forsyth) Simon Carr says, in a nutshell, that Labour should oust Gordon, call a snap election, lose, let the Tories deal with the economy and return to glorious power in 2013. Leaving aside that this would surely be seen by many Labour MPs as an unnecessary risk (how can you be sure to be in a better position by 2013? By then the economy could have bottomed out and the Tories begun basking in the glory of a recovering economy), surely this is an over-complicated, convoluted plan.
Carr suggests that Jack Straw should take over while calling the election, with the promise that he’ll stand down after it’s been lost and pave the way for a proper leadership election. Why should Jack Straw become the country’s shortest serving PM, though, when there’s already a PM around who could call an election and lose?
It seems to me that Brown has more to gain in calling an election than anyone else around at the moment. Better to go down fighting, with dignity, than to be ousted by your cabinet, only to be replaced by a patsy who then loses a ridiculous election anyway.
Simon Carr (or at least the unnamed SPADs who he claims are ‘kicking [the idea] around’) is being stupid.