London: October 8, 2007 - Prime Minister Gordon Brown told BBC Television on Sunday in an interview that he would not go ahead with a general election since it is not a public priority; the public priority is get going with the job. Perhaps, he needs more time to show Britain that he has a proper “vision for the future of the country.”

The interview was recorded on Saturday night from 10 Downing Street.
Political commentators do not agree with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on his plea of not going for the general elections. They feel that the Labor Party may have lost ground to the Conservatives, who are led by David Cameron. Mr. Brown had to make a decision by Tuesday on whether to call an election for Nov. 1. 

Political analysts said internal party polling with results similar to a survey in the newspaper News of the World on Sunday showed that Labor was likely to lose a string of marginal seats.

The polling indicated that a Conservative Party pledge at its conference in Blackpool, England, last week to abolish the inheritance tax on property worth up to one million pounds, or about $2 million, could be a major factor in the areas with vulnerable seats.

Many of the swing seats are around London and in the prosperous southeastern part of England, where housing prices have skyrocketed in the last few years. 

The decision to say no to an election effectively canceled the progress Mr. Brown had made in persuading Britain in the last three months that he was a strong leader, said Jon Snow, the longtime anchor of Channel 4 television news, and a respected political commentator. The criticism against Mr. Brown looks to have some political weight in his saying no to an election. (IR Summary).

News:

Among the strengths that Mr. Brown had shown was a fast and sober statement after botched terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow days after he took over as prime minister in late June; swift attention to devastating floods in the English countryside this summer, and firm stewardship during a foot-and-mouth crisis in the cattle industry.

He had also worked to distance himself from President Bush, a distinct difference in style to his predecessor, Mr. Blair.

The impressions of a new Mr. Brown could now be replaced by less flattering old impressions, Mr. Snow said.

“This revives old worries of his being indecisive, that he finds these things difficult,” Mr. Snow said. “It will take a long time to regain the poise and respect which he had built up. He has to start all over again.”

Mr. Brown, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years under Mr. Blair, does not need to call an election until 2010 under Britain’s parliamentary system. The Labor Party has more than a 60-seat majority in the 646-member Parliament, prompting some Labor backers to describe a rush to an election in November as unnecessary and dangerous.

If Mr. Brown had gone to the polls and lost, his term as prime minister would have been one of the shortest in British history.

Full Story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/world/europe/08britain.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin