TIME FOR CHANGE?

It's the night before the eagerly awaited general election and if we're to believe the polls, it looks like Gordon Brown may be sent packing tomorrow. In some ways it's a shame. When New Labour first swept to power in 1997, there was an upsurge in feeling not previously seen in the UK for many years. It felt positive, it felt fresh and you felt good times were ahead. And indeed to some extent, they have been. Under Tony we had sustained low interest rates, a good economy, low mortgages, money poured into education and the NHS. 
Then Gordon came along and inherited his position from an alleged 'deal' in a London restaurant many years before. He wasn't an elected PM and that rankled with many people. Where Tony Blair was upbeat, Gordon Brown was dour. He inherited his position at the worst possible time. We were in the midst of global terrorism, we were sending our troops into Iraq and Afghanistan to search weapons of mass destruction which never materialised, we slipped into a global recession and our banks collapsed under the strain of the credit crunch. The UK borrowed heavily to unprecedented levels whilst bank executives took multi-million pound pensions and pay offs. Gordon continued to make gaffes, even this week calling a labour supporter a bigot picked up to great effect on his microphone. A hasty apology was made but the damage was done. MP's and ministers tried three times in vain to oust him over the past few years yet he stayed. I'd imagine they wished they had now... 


It's possible that Gordon will be a loser tomorrow though not so much as David Cameron. He had it sewn up, he was way ahead in the polls and then he consented to the live debates. Along comes personable Nick Clegg and bish bash bosh, smash and grab job on a fair proportion of the Tory vote. Image matters. Image wins. Clegg did well and I think will do well tomorrow. A hung parliament is still on the cards....