Be honest. Did anyone really want an election now ?

Whilst Gordon Brown is shouted at and abused by Dave and Ming for refusing to call an election, we really ought to ask if it is what anyone wanted right now.

For a start, until two weeks ago there was no enthusiasm for it in the Labour Party. Good poll rating during their conference week might have had the effect of making them think it is what they wanted, but there is little evidence to show that the Labour Party, and by that I mean the whole party, not Gordon Brown and his team, wanted or were anywhere near ready for a snap poll.

The very fact that Labour have been recruiting staff with an election brief might be seen as proof of the opposite. however, these staff will need months to really make a difference and to know what they are doing. I suspect these staff will now be working hard in the marginal seats with the aim of reversing the 6 point deficit there.

The Lib Dems were probably better placed than most for an election, but were certainly not keen on it now. the Lib Dems have selected in their targets seats and with relatively fewer targets than Labour or the Tories, the party have been able to effectively campaign in these seats for some months. That is not to say though that these seats were getting anywhere near the intensity of campaign as you would expect come an election. I spoke to a candidate in a top target seat yesterday morning and he was upbeat about an election but was a little concerned at the things that had been planned for the constituency that would make it even more winnable had not happened yet. He, and other target seat candidates will now have that time.

The Tories just seven days ago were desperate not to have an election. Indeed, some senior Tories claimed that to call one would be an outrage. And despite "Call me Dave" telling Brown to bring it on, political commentators were united in the fact that the Tories really didn't want an election now.

So now with the Tories supposedly neck and neck with Labour or even with a narrow lead, the Tories are claiming that they would definitely want an election as soon as possible and accuse Brown of cowardice. Again though, all the political commentators are saying that the Tories are breathing a rather large sigh of relief. They never wanted an election now, but are not going to admit it because it is something, in fact the very first thing that has show that Gordon 's judgement is not as good as we have been led to believe.

Which brings us on to Gordon Brown. Did he want an election ? We will never really know. I think he may have been heavily inclined to call an election this Tuesday if the polls had been better, but did he really want to call the election now ? No, I don't think he really wanted to do it.

So perhaps rather than everyone throwing sticks and stones at Gordon we should all gratefully return to our constituencies and prepare for a chance to put our feet up !