The PBR Suggests that Labour Thinks It’s All Over but Peter Mandelson Knows It Is

Labour’s Pre-Budget Report has been interpreted as a cynical electioneering exercise, a last-ditch attempt to to open up clear blue water between Labour and the Conservatives. Perhaps paradoxically, I thought it was a sign that the Government knows the game is up. Of course the Labour Party has to fight the election – it can’t simply not turn up. But it strikes me that using the UK economy quite so blatantly for party political advantage when it was already so fragile, was a strategic error. I am sure Alistair Darling believed he was doing the right thing. He is a man of principle. But it felt very much like a last throw of the dice. 
Labour ministers (and, more importantly, their spouses) are beginning to talk about what they will do when they are no longer in office. Some are even talking of “gap years”. There is every chance that next year’s election will be closer than the Tories hope, but it may be closer than some Labour politicians hope as well.