ANDREW MARR:

Will you accept that the country’s still looking pretty warily at the Conservative Party; they haven’t finally agreed that they want you as the next government?

ERIC PICKLES:

Yes, I absolutely agree with that. I don’t think the deal is done. I think it’s our election to lose, so I think we have to make a compelling case to be elected. That’s been part of our strategy. I mean I think we’d be very foolish to look at the polls this morning and say oh well, the job’s done, that’s it. We’ve got to get out there, explain our message and explain how we’re going to mend our broken society and take care of our broken economy.

BBC – The Andrew Marr Show

“It’s our election to lose” is of course very different to “it’s in the bag”, but perhaps too close for comfort and for allowing deliberate and malicious misinterpretation.

It is also the opposite of the usual convention that it is Governments that lose elections rather than Oppositions who win them. Though it seems we may have got into a very odd position where it is the Opposition who have everything to lose and the Government who have everything to win…

The concept of “it’s our election to lose” should indeed concentrate Conservative minds on the issues at hand. If we are on to win but end up losing, not only is it bd because because we haven’t won, but because we have failed to capitalise on our current poll lead and the incompetence of this Labour government.

However, I’m not convinced that it is “our election to lose”. I don’t think that it is ever possible to end the convention that governments lose election rather than Oppositions who win them. Governments can always do things, but Oppositions can only say things. A government fights on what it has done as well as what it says it will do, but opposition parties can only ever say things. And a governemnt has done things, Oppositions rarely have.

It ain’t over till the fat lady votes.