Leicester Mercury political correspondent
Posts tagged Gordon Brown
Leaders TV debate stand-ins
Apr 13th
Interesting factoid from the Guardian:
All three leaders have set aside time tomorrow to prepare for Thursday’s broadcast on ITV, appointing colleagues to act as their opponents in sparring practice.
Brown has Alastair Campbell playing David Cameron and the former Downing Street adviser Theo Bertram as Nick Clegg. The Liberal Democrats are using David Laws as
Cameron and Chris Huhne as Brown. Cameron has asked his shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to spar as Clegg, Damian Green as Brown, and Michael Gove acting as the moderator.
General Election: Red alert
Feb 19th
It isn’t just Parliamentary candidates who have General Election battle plans. I’ve had one in my inbox for the past couple of weeks. It was the result of a creative get-together of some fellow Mercury staffers where we threw around ideas on how to cover this year’s big vote.
It’s a gigantic to-do list which hasn’t really been tackled head on yet. After all, the election won’t be called until early April – right?
Perhaps not. The rumour mill is cranked up a notch tonight, suggesting Gordon Brown will call a General Election this weekend. Tomorrow, on his birthday, he’s down the road in Coventry to reveal the party’s election slogan and campaign themes – but will he also call an election?
Will Heaven at the Telegraph sums up the reasons behind the speculation:
Douglas Alexander, Labour’s General Election Coordinator, has tweeted the following message: “Thanks 4 all ur warm welcomes – just got back to office and impressed with the response. Big day for Labour 2moro, will keep u updated.”
Another point of intrigue: Peter Mandelson and Ben Bradshaw have, according to Henry Macrory, pulled out of this evening’s BAFTA awards at the last minute.
Will Gordon Brown call a General Election tomorrow? Might it be an April date?
I’d planned to go to Birmingham tomorrow for a day strolling around the Bullring. Those plans are now on ice. I now fully expect to be sat up in Mercury Towers instead, finally putting our battle plan into action.
Update: Well that was a load of hot air. No election called, so I went to Birmingham instead.
