Gordon Brown is down – but can he recover?

Gutless Gordon. The Brown Bottler. The Clunking Fist has become the Clucking Chicken. Just a few of the insults being hurled at Gordon Brown after he ruled out a general election this year.

Gutless Gordon. The Brown Bottler. The Clunking Fist has become the Clucking Chicken. Just a few of the insults being hurled at Gordon Brown after his "cowardly, inept and deceitful behaviour" over the date of the next general election, says Leo McKinstry in the Daily Express. Brown has pursued such an "ill-conceived strategy that he has managed to unite the opposition, plunge his own party into turmoil and alienate much of the media".

For Brown's supporters, the past fortnight has seen an "unwelcome reversal of expectations", said The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland. He was supposed to be the grandmaster of politics, yet by allowing his aides to talk up an election that he then ducked, he "checkmated himself". At the Labour conference he was adept at populist politicking, but found wanting in his strongest suit argument. Brown claims he didn't call an election because he needed more time to set out his vision. His cheerleaders say he is worried about the electoral register being out of date or turnout falling because of November darkness. Others protest that he has had to focus on a series of crises facing the country. This is the language of the "truly desperate", says McKinstry. The only reason he hasn't called an election is because he knows he would lose his majority.

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