Gordon Brown will not holiday abroad this summer. Not for him the allure of a Tuscan palace or the sunbeds of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Prime Minister has instead created perfect happiness inside his home in Fife: a room wired up to the 10 Downing Street computer system where he can monitor the government he now controls. He intends to do nothing else this month, save for a quick visit to the south coast. Besides, he already seems well on his way to his main summer destination — the implosion of the Conservative party.
In the space of a few weeks the opinion polls have turned around, and Labour has a seemingly impregnable nine-point lead. Mr Cameron’s aides have been reduced to claiming that they will ‘make history’ by being the first Opposition party to win an election from such a disadvantage. David Davis is trying to stiffen the resolve of his shadow Cabinet colleagues, telling them how the greatest military victories were achieved by seizing opportunity in such moments of despair.
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