Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accused of "bottling it" by British newspapers yesterday, many of which said his decision not to call an autumn general election could seriously damage his premiership.
Despite weeks of fevered speculation of a vote this month or next, Brown ruled out an early poll on Saturday after several opinion polls suggested that his Labour Party's lead over the main opposition Conservatives had dwindled dramatically.
In the Observer newspaper, columnist Andrew Rawnsley warned: "The Tories [Conservatives] will try to stick him with the nickname `Bottler Brown.'
"That's a soubriquet that he is going hate ... but there's no doubt that the bottler accusation is coming his way, just as there is no question that it will hurt him both politically and personally," he said.
A "bottler" is a slang word for someone who loses their nerve at the last minute.
Rawnsley, author of a study of New Labour's early years in office, wrote that the decision could hit Brown's image as "a tough and commanding leader."
"The one thing that everyone, friend or foe, reckoned that they knew about Mister Brown was that he was brilliant at politics," he said.
But now Brown looked like "the grandmaster who had managed to put himself into check," he added.
The Mail newspaper yesterday carried the headline: "Brown Bottles It" and added in a stinging editorial that Brown's plan had backfired on him.
"Whatever the original plan -- which may simply have been to trick the Tories into ... revealing their election strategy -- Labour's losses have been greater than its gains," it added.
In yesterday's Telegraph, columnist Matthew d'Ancona said that Brown had got himself into the situation unnecessarily, saying the election talk was initially only intended to scare the Conservatives.
But it has ended up having the opposite effect, he said: "Almost single-handedly, Mr. Brown has united the Tory [Conservative] Party more successfully than anyone since Margaret Thatcher at her electoral peak."
The News of the World tabloid, which carried a poll showing support for Brown had slipped dramatically, said that Brown's decision had "lost him authority among his own MPs" and that he was now "on notice."
"[Labour's] lead has now been spectacularly lost. And we all know what happens when they [lawmakers] have their backs to the wall. They turn on their leader," the paper warned in its editorial.
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