Has the resurgent SNP scared Gordon Brown away from Westminster?

It’s being reported that Gordon Brown has decided not to fight the next general election. Odd timing, you might think, he’s had almost five years to make up his mind – so why bail now, just four months away from the dissolution of parliament? Such a delay puts his successor at a distinct disadvantage, with only a few weeks to become established in the constituency.

The Sunday Mirror dutifully reports that a friend of Brown saying he wants to “go out on a high” after saving the union. I’d point to another factor – the extraordinary resurgence of the SNP (described by James Forsyth in this weeks magazine). This means that Brown might actually have a fight on his hands if he were to stay. A Survation poll last week suggested the nationalists will take 52 of Scotland’s 59 seats (yes, you read that correctly: they’d be bigger the Lib Dems). He’d probably be one of the seven survivors, but it’s not the prospect of defeat that’s the issue here – it’s the prospect of a real fight.