Election fever

I can see why an autumn election looks increasingly attractive to Gordon Brown's advisers. The party conference has none of the acrimony of recent years - no commentator thinks Alistair Darling is vying for No 10! Today's Sun poll gives Labour an extraordinarily good 42% with an eight point lead over the shellshocked Tories. Council by-elections, albeit with special circumstances in Worcester, look increasingly rosy. And much of the media wants a general election too (though that's never a great reason for one). But Brown is rightly cautious: who would want to rival George Canning as the shortest-serving PM in British history? But if the Tories implode during their Blackpool jaunt next week, an election may appear inevitable.