Will Brown Make It Snappy?

An election date cat has been thrown among the pundit pigeons, posing March 25 as a possible date for the diary. A snappy election may throw a life-line to election weary voters but does it reckon on Bottling Brown?

Slipping in a possible March 25 date makes perfect sense - if you are a political strategist. But doesn't stack up with a petulant prime minister so convinced of his own rectitude, he probably doesn't see the need for a general election at all.

For too long Downing Street has spun the line of May 6. That fits in with a March budget ahead of the Easter hols and the launch of an April election campaign proper.

Maybe too well, leading Oborne to look at the runes and ask in the Mail: Is Brown about to call a snap election?

The Orange Party believes the key lies with glorious St George's Day, April 23, when election hopes of a 'recovery' could be blown out of the water with a piddling Q1 GDP 'growth'. Enough to sending the struggling Supreme Leader into more fits of depression recession and election date strategists tearing their hair out, as the fag-end government put its money on a last roll of the 'recovery' dice.

The election campaign has never been so much fun but has left voters floundering in the fog of a phoney war. All good things must come to an end.

There are only so many times Bunkered Brown can be brought out of the box for photo-ops to make him appear all statesmanlike and human.

Sinking to a new low, Sunday's shameless tears for Piers PR stunt is the final shot across the bows of a sceptical public as New Labour's new TV show The Crying Game turns into a sure fire ratings flop.

A cynical attempt to save his own skin, with a big dollop of Brown sauce: “After thirteen years in power and weeks from a general election, what first attracted the Prime Minister to shed a few tears with Piers?”

A contrived 'celebrity' interview is the desperate act of a desperate politician, playing to the crowds for the sympathy vote with a shameless PR stunt. Enough to bring tears to your eye.

New Labour's spinning 'hung parliament' scaremongering narrative has run its course, as commentators woke up to pushy opinion polls with New Labour bias, only as good as the very small samples, weighty weightings and questions asked and not asked.

The double digit Tory opinion poll lead, thought to be needed to overturn an in-built anti-Tory election system, has now become a feature of the polling landscape.

For New Labour things can only get worse. Chilcot, the Afghan War, real recession biting, deepening dole queues and a public fed up with failures and broken promises, raise the possibility of more damaging polls on the horizon.

But the election will be fought and won in the marginals and here Tories are steaming ahead. The blessed Boris let the cat out of the bag, predicting a 40 seat Tory majority.

Dreadful Darling has been let out of jail after a bust up with Balls finally announcing a March budget and marking another round in the tax/spend/cuts war. Sceptical voters will need convincing this isn't blatant budget electioneering and a deliberate bid to try to wrong foot Tories than what's best for the rocky road to recovery.

Why not come clean with an election on the back of an electioneering budget and go for broke?

The Orange Party has noted before how New Labour's blogging and tweeting election campaign has ramped up with a relentless onslaught. With the faint smell of victory, cash-rich Tories won't take it lying down, throwing the 'battle of the posters' into the fray.

Here it's Tories wot won it, according to a Politicshome survey, with a real 'death tax' poster hitting the mark more than cash-strapped New Labour's virtual offering.

What to make of it all? Instead of watching Blubbering Brown drone on with pal Piers, pump primed by Campbell, the Orange Party suggests a little light reading from Rawnsley, Watt and Price. Is everyone else so wrong and only the righteous one right?

Picking the election date is one of the few gifts of a prime minister, along with promoting New Labour cronies to keep them sweet and using the prerogative to by-pass parliament. Bottling Brown's election call record is hardly healthy.

But there must be someone in the bowels of Downing Street with the guts to stand up to the stroppy Supreme Leader and deliver a wake up call, instead of kowtowing to the delusions of grandeur living life in La-La-Land.

"If those advocating an early election win the argument, expect it to be called in two weeks' time and to be held on March 25," observes Oborne. The Orange Party cannot help thinking that wishing Brown would make it snappy is wishful thinking.

But Beaming Brown is forgetting vengeful voters. The savvy public has seen through the sham. Never smile at a crocodile. A little dose of reality from the wonderful world of retro Disney would't go amiss. No-one is taken in by the great big grin:

Never smile at a crocodile

No, you can't get friendly with a crocodile

Don't be taken in by his welcome grin

He's imagining how well you'd fit within his skin

Cartoon: Peter Brookes, The Times

UPDATE 7.30pm: The latest ComRes poll shows the Tory lead back to 11%. Con 40%(+2), Lab 29%(-2), LibDem 21%(+2)