Labour’s major potentially fatal flaw is lack of unity. It is essential that whoever Labour elects out of the excellent contenders it stays totally loyal to our new leader.

It is now clear that the most fatal mistake for Gordon Brown was not calling an early election. Gordon Brown’s ‘need for change’, from Ed Balls’ description, was not sufficiently thought through for a full term of government, so therefore Ed Balls gives the clear impression that an early election was essential. All the opinion polling had provided for a peak three months’ following assumption of power, so it was indeed a ‘no brainer’. Hence, reports like this

22 September 2007

Labour is ready for a general election, whenever Gordon Brown chooses to call one, the party’s election co-ordinator Douglas Alexander has said.
His comments came as Mr Brown arrived at Bournemouth ahead of his first party conference as prime minister.

It follows a further round of opinion polls suggesting the party is in an increasingly strong position.

Mr Alexander told The Guardian donations to the Labour party were up and it was ready to go to the country.

That week in Bournemouth, with a backdrop of Labour with an increasing leader, should have seen Gordon Brown go for it. Political commentators have consistently highlighted that two subsequent events demolished Labour’s confidence; George Osborne’s speech on inheritance tax at the Conservative conference, and Gordon Brown’s ill-timed visit to visit the troops abroad. There is no doubt that this ‘lack of election’ was disaster. The inheritance tax was definitely a boost for the Conservatives, and did not go away for the period leading up to May 2010.

Gordon Brown did not have an adequate answer for the question “why no early election?”, as Gordon entered a period of being unpopular. The fact that he did not wish to call an election implanted at that stage the idea that the Labour Party was not unified.

The party needs to prove it has competence and credibility (no more computer child benefit disks going missing, issues about party funding, missing the main signing ceremony for Lisbon). But competence matters – remember when “today was a bad day” for the Conservative government in which Norman Lamont was Chancellor, when Britain came crashing out of the ERM. The buck needs to stop with our new leader, whoever he or she is.