Cameron: Brown is treating the British people like fools

I fear I'm about to ruin any slim chance I ever had of being invited on to the Sunday AM sofa but you can see why Gordon Brown chose Andrew Marr for the 'election ain't going to happen' announcement.  The questioning never put the Prime Minister on the spot in the way that the occasion demanded.  The Prime Minister has behaved self-indulgently and his explanation for not having an election was plainly dishonest.  Andrew Marr never found a way of voicing what all viewers were thinking.  We did, nonetheless, learn the following:

• Gordon Brown said that he had a duty to consider an autumn election because of representations made by opposition parties and his own advisers.
• He told Mr Marr that Labour could have won an autumn election but the country deserves to see his vision for the country and his implementation of it.
• A General Election in 2008 would be "very unlikely".
• The Tory proposal on IHT would have left a £5bn "black hole" in the nation's finances but he did not rule out making changes to the tax so that it is levied at a fair level.
• Tomorrow's Iraq statement will be wider in scope than a simple restatement of last Tuesday's bungled 'troops home by Christmas' announcement.

Also interviewed on the programme was David Cameron.  He concluded that yesterday's events would have a "fundamental" impact on politics.  People knew that Gordon Brown had not been straight with them.  He had tried to treat the British people like fools.  He wasn't going to the country because he feared that he'd lose.

The Conservative leader said that he was open to the possibility of fixed-term parliaments but he was not persuaded.  Tony Blair had promised to serve a full-term and hadn't.  It was right in those circumstances that Brown sought his own mandate.  Whatever the polls had been saying, the Tories had called for an election.

He defended his proposals on inheritance tax but insisted the party had a broad set of policies - including on the environment.

10.45am: Guido is also unimpressed with Mr Marr - Brown's poodle.

Comments

[James Burdett]

Having watched the performance I noticed a couple of things. One whenever Marr limply pursued a point Brown started to splutter and stutter. If this had been Paxman or Humprhey's he would have been a gibbering wreck. Secondly whenever the questions got a little near to the issue, not often but hey, Gordon had this nervous grin. The program itself was reasonable. I think the most interesting thing though was the absence of Ming. Is the third horse in the political race already at the glue factory?

[Jacab]

Cameron was spot on again this morning.

I may be a little biased, but I am not sure I have ever watched an interview with a politician (Brown / Andy Marr) and felt like the politician was absolutely treating me like a fool. He was insulting my intelligence. Does he think we are stupid? This goes beyond political allegiance to the Conservative. This man is living in a parallel universe.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Having watched the whole programme Andrew Marr was perhaps not quite as bad as the excerpt from yesterday hinted he would be.It was still a very easy interview for Brown however and he was able to misrepresent Conservative tax policy entirely unchallenged. I don't think we'll be seeing Brown in front of Humphreys or Paxman or indeed Boulton or Bradby anytime soon.
Cameron's remark that he's 'playing the electorate for fools' is spot on. Who does Brown think he's kidding with this entirely spurious line for not calling an election?
I thought that it would be difficult for the Labour party to find another leader who was so completely devoid of personal honour as Blair.In Brown they may have just found that man.

[Dave H]

Brown really didn't help himself. I accept it would have been hard for him to admit that in the end the poll's weren't good enough for him to go, but he ended up peddling a line no one believes.

Also surely it was wrong for this interview to be held over until this morning. This was a fundamental issue concerning the country and surely he should have made a statement to all broadcasters yesterday.

If this is the new politics it stinks!

[EML]

Is this man really Prime Minister? In the cold light of the morning I can't quite believe that we ever got to this position. Brown has embarrassed himself and his office, he should have made a decision based on his instinct weeks ago.

We see now why Blair was so determined not to let Brown have the preciousssssss - he's a calculating, weak and feeble second-rate politician that has put the interests of his own party before that of the country.

[Realcon]

I think Marr put Brown firmly on the spot, then left him to bluster to self destruction. It was good to watch.

[Patsy Sergeant]

Brown seemed to suggest, more than once in the Marr interview, that talking up a GE was part of the conference season, sort of party conference games?! I think THAT will come back to haunt him at a later date.

How patronising and flippant!!

[englandism]

Everyone will be pleased to know that over at Comment is Free, Brown's decisiveness is seen as a Labour victory.

Apparently, the tactic was to flush out Tory policy and then have 18 months of power to counter the identified threats.

You could not make it up, as they say.

Well done ToryHome BTW. Can I mention the E word again yet?

[James Burdett]

Patsy @ 11:00 - I think you could be right. I have never noticed it in any other conference season. Also he suggested conference season was only 2 weeks, so clearly he thinks the Lib Dems are irrelevant.

[Cllr Andrew McConnell - Bedford]

The threat of a general election has done one thing. The Conservative Party have united under the leadership of David Cameron.

Gordon Brown is a chicken!

[CCHQ Spy]

Polls next week will give the Tories leads of 5% to 10%.

Brown's personal ratings will fall markedly.

The Sun will pounce tomorrow.

We might not have an election until 2010 now.

[CJM]

Nice quip from Comment Is Free:

This government, they claim to be red, they claim to be green, but at the end of the day they're just yellow. Gordon brown is just a stuck traffic light.

[Realcon]

Before the next election (if not sooner) announce a vote on whether we stay in the EU or not, and the party will walk the election.

[Janet]

Brown is definitely treating the British people like fools. He says that he has kept the economy on an even keel but this is at the expence of building up huge public debts for the people and their children to have to pay off and by destroying pensions. He's like a deceitful spouse who hides a huge credit card debt. No wonder so many British people are emigrating why should they be responsible for debt irresponsibly built up by Gordon Brown. The fact that there is also so much money wasted is also irresponsible. How can he claim to have handled the economy well??

[Sally Roberts]

David Cameron has come across very well on all the media today and Labour has come across as highly rattled! I particularly enjoyed Adam Boulton's interview of Jacqui Smith on Sky News which really degenerated into a row and did not show her in a very favourable light!

[EdR]

Watching Broon & Marr. He seems to think he's Spider-Man now: "With great power, comes great responsibility." Well, I suppose he has achieved the powers of a spider: spinning, building a complex web, and slowly paralysing and sucking the nutrients from his prey (the British people).

Cameron was decent: calm, composed. Handled Toynbee well.

[Prodicus]

Can't find Boulton and Smith - only other parts of the prog. Anyone got a link?

[James]

Intresting little analysis pinched from Labour Home. Apparently, a Labour PM should always knock around 5 points off their own poll leads when analysing the figures. Makes the current figures even more interesting!!

Election What the polls predicted Actual vote

2005 6% Labour lead Labour win by 3%
2001 15% Labour lead Labour win by 9.3%
1997 18% Labour lead Labour win by 12.7%
1992 2% Labour lead Tories win by 7.6%