Brown making the right moves - can Cameron compete?

[Gromit]

Looking at the following stories, it looks like Brown is already ditching as many unpopular Blair policies as he can...

BROWN CASTS DOUBT ON HOME INFO PACKS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/05/15/nbrown15.xml

BROWN ATTACKS BLAIR'S EDUCATION FAILURE
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/05/15/nbrown115.xml

BROWN TO TACLE �100,000 A YEAR GPs
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles /news/news.html?in_article_id=454629&in_page_i d=1770&ct=5

U-TURN ON JUNIOR DOCTOR RECRUITMENT
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/05/15/ndoctors115.xml

Can Gordon win the next election?

[Lonnie]

Hi Gromit,
I don't thinks so, unless he gets a bit nasty, Cameron, compared to Brown, is a Welterweight.

[Hugh Spencer]

Unfortunately I cannot believe what MOST politicians say they are going to do because so many times in the past they have not happened. We'll see in the coming months whether you can rely on him any more than you could rely on Blair.

[naomi24]

Different agenda. He strikes me as a real power freak and even more devious.

[stokeace]

iraq will be a diffrent ball game once he is in power...............

[Kromovaracun]

I think there's a distinct possibility that Brown could pull through simply because Cameron appears to be completely useless (oh please, his entire campaign thus far has been almost solely soundbites). Fortunately people seem to be seeing through his PR machine.

However, if (or rather when) he becomes Premier, Brown doesn't have to call an election until 2010 (though the general trend of the last 60yrs has nearly always been to call one after 4 years).

A lot can happen in 4 years - individual issues or events can be quite decisive in the political climate (look, for example, to Thatcher's boom in popularity after the Fawklands war, or Wilson's sharp popularity boost [and Heath's sharp decline] after his intervention in the '73 industrial dispute).

If, say, Brown were to call a general election soon after becoming Premier, I think he would stand a chance, but not necessarily hands down. I think he'd probably win - though not by miles.