Brown’s number cruncher

This morning the chances of an early election have receded considerably but it is not over yet. Gordon Brown receives internal polling today and tomorrow and if these numbers look good he might still go for it. Indeed, if one was a Labour Pangloss one might even say that there is a benefit in the Tory bounce in that if Brown called an election now the first polls of the campaign would see the Tories falling back as the memories of conference faded.

The person guiding Gordon through these polling numbers will be Deborah Mattinson. Mattinson is one of Brown’s closest advisers and runs many of the Citizen Juries on which he is so keen. The number of government contracts her firm receives has caused controversy.

Mattinson is thought to have been very much in favour of an early poll. It was her work which discovered that Labour increased its lead by forcing voters to choose now.