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Time running short for British PM to call snap elections

Speculation mounted yesterday as to whether British Prime Minister Gordon Brown would call a snap general election after his governing Labour Party wound up an upbeat annual conference.

Many of the messages from the center-left party's gathering in Bournemouth on the southern English coast, which ended on Thursday, were aimed at wooing wavering members of other parties, namely the main opposition Conservatives.

The Guardian newspaper said Brown was to decide over the weekend whether to call a sudden election and seek his own mandate.

British general elections are traditionally held on a Thursday and if Brown wants to hold a general election on Oct. 25 he must declare his intentions by Tuesday.

Oct. 25 is the last Thursday before British Summer Time ends and the clocks go back one hour, meaning darker evenings -- felt especially in Labour's Scottish and northern English heartlands.

`COUNCIL OF WAR'

The Guardian said Brown was to hold a "council of war" with his closest allies over the weekend before deciding whether to seek an early election.

Labour won a five-year mandate at the May 2005 general election.

The newspaper laid out the pros and cons for Brown of possible election dates, including Nov. 1, waiting until next year or holding out for the full term.

Reports said that Labour were asking lobbyists and public relations staff to be ready to start work tomorrow, which some media interpreted as a sign that an election could be forthcoming.

Brown has refused to rule out a sudden election, dodging journalists' questions by churning out a vague mantra about "getting on with the job."

It could all be a smokescreen to scare the Conservatives.

However, if Brown does not capitalize on his favorable opportunity to secure a new five-year term now, he could be made to rue the decision should Labour slide in the opinion polls.

PARTY STOPPER

If Brown did call an election on Tuesday, it would likely wreck the Conservatives' four-day annual conference, which kicks off today in Blackpool on the north-west English coast.

But the Conservatives' finance spokesman George Osborne raised the stakes with Brown, telling the Daily Telegraph newspaper that the prime minister will have "bottled it" if he does not call a snap election.

The broadsheet said that Osborne, the Conservatives' election coordinator, was upbeat about the possibility of a general election.

"He's given us so much advance warning of this so-called surprise snap election that we have had weeks to prepare," Osborne said of Brown.

"When the firing gun of the election is called we are in with a real chance," he said.
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