… perhaps we should have called in election back in autumn 2007, says Jack Straw.

Asked whether the party should have taken a gamble in autumn 2007, Mr Straw told the New Statesman: “Yes, entirely, in hindsight”.

He added: “But I was not saying that [then]. Whether to call an election became an issue only at the time of the [Labour] conference.

“By that stage, Gordon had said he was there for the rest of the parliament.
“There was also something practical: if the election had been called then it would have taken place after the clocks had gone back in early November.

“The public don’t like elections being called unnecessarily. The public might have said: ‘You’ve got a majority, why don’t you use it?’” (Telegraph)

Of course, the real reason Gordon Brown did not go to the country in 2007 is because the polls began to switch – and he chickened out. It always was going to be the best chance he had. Back then, the Tories had a lead of about three points; now they have one of ten or more.

It is something though that a minister as senior a Jack Straw has now come out and said that it was a massive mistake not to hold an election two years ago, before we had had a chance to see Brown in action as PM. Despite Brown’s oft-repeated claim that he wanted/wants to “get on with the job”, it is clear that it is more his desire to hold on to power for as long as possible that drove – and drives – him to bottle out of calling an election before he has to.

We won’t get an election until Brown has to give us one. Roll on May/June 2010 and our general election!