The irremovable object?

Are you one of the minority of the Great British public who wants Gordon Brown to stay? Are you in the minority who admires his track record and acheivements? Sadly, I am not. However, apart from him being our unelected Prime Minister for the past three years and apart from him being in charge of the public finances for the ten years leading to their gravity-outstripping demise, it is his apparent unwillingness to listen to the very public opinion of his colleagues which gives me the greatest concern. Granted, Margaret Thatcher always had Michael Heseltine lurking in the background but hindsight shows that she dealt with him very professionally. I am aiming to limit the word count of this blog to 1000 so I don't have sufficient room to name the entire back catalogue of Mr. Browns opponents - from his own party!

Meanwhile, an Icelandic volcano spews forth its ash of revenge thus closing all the UK airports and keeping thousands of potential voters stranded in Euroland. How ironic would it be if the absence of these voters on May 6th made the difference between a hung Parliament and an outright majority for the Conservatives? Ironic or just miserable. My worry is that history points toward a 30 year trend in Britain for hung Parliaments and coalitions. Churchill headed one in 1940 and Wilson in 1974. On this somewhat crude measure, we are about due another taste of indecision. And potentially another five years of Mr. Brown! There exists for many voters, myself included, a cruel dichotomy. I prefer the policies of Nick Clegg and the Liberals but daren't vote for them for fear of five more years of Mr. Brown. If my logic is correct, and I believe it must be, a Conservative win is now signed, sealed and delivered. They don't even need to spell out any policies beyond their stance on Europe which is the main differential between themselves and the Liberals. Given that this very subject will be brought to the forefront in the next episode of Who Wants To Be Prime Minister?, I predict that by this time next week, the opinion polls will have swung back in favour of the Conservatives. However, I also predict that their lead will be no more than five points over the Liberals with Labour in a solid third place.

So, it may be that even a Scandinavian volcano can't dislodge Gordon Brown - not directly anyway.