James Forsyth perceives a possible glimmer of hope for Gordon Brown:
"The silver lining to the current spate of bad news stories for the Prime Minister is that expectations for Labour’s performance in the elections this week are now so low that if Labour just holds the London Mayoralty and the Tories fail to cross the 40 percent threshold, Brown will be boosted. Like Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, mere survival will be enough to win Brown good headlines."
However, James floats the notion that this would be "the worst result for Brown" because a drubbing would make him "confront his problems". Others go further, speculating that a drubbing would force Brown out of Office altogether.
Wishful thinking, in both cases. Gordon Brown isn't going to change his personality and Labour isn't going to change its leader. The former is impossible and the latter unthinkable before a general election. Brown's colleagues must surely realise that the idea of presenting the country with a second unelected Prime Minister in the space of year is unconscionable.
