England

Abstract

In the early months of 2009, the Labour Party had been in government in the United Kingdom for nearly twelve years. As the successor to Tony Blair, Britain’s second longest-serving modern Prime Minister, current incumbent Gordon Brown was faced with a dilemma. In the face of volatile opinion polls, economic uncertainty, voter ambivalence and some of the worst personal ratings in political history, Brown had the choice of either continuing to serve as Prime Minister until the Spring of the following year (which, five years on from the May 2005 General Election, was the absolute limit to the government’s term of office), or calling an early election, thereby, it was hoped by some, limiting the scale of what was widely expected to be a heavy Labour defeat. Both options carried risks: going to the country early might have maximized the Party’s chances of re-election, but it might equally well have been premature; clinging on for a full term might have created at least the opportunity for the Government’s, and the Prime Minister’s, fortunes to improve, but it was just as likely to test to destruction the electorate’s patience with an administration that seemed to have exhausted its mandate.