Tories tell Brown: Bring it on

TORY leader David Cameron threw down the gauntlet to Gordon Brown yesterday with a challenge to call a General Election “right now”.

Cameron s ready for an election Cameron's ready for an election

After the incoming Prime Minister raised expectations of a snap poll by naming a key ally as his election co-ordinator, Mr Cameron declared: “Bring it on.”

At the weekend, Mr Brown’s aides dropped heavy hints that he could be looking to go to the country next spring, about two years before the deadline for him to face the voters.

There was speculation he could move even faster in a bid to “destroy” the Tories and maximise the benefit of the honeymoon “bounce” he expects to enjoy after replacing Tony Blair tomorrow. “The Labour Party is a killing machine,” one gung-ho former Labour minister said.

However, the Tories seized on predictions by other Labour figures ­yesterday that an election was between 18 months and two years away.

One senior minister close to Mr Brown said it would be in two years time because “that’s how long Gordon believes it takes to plan and mount a campaign”.

Mr Cameron declared: “If Gordon Brown is serious about wanting to listen to the people of this country, he should call a general election right now.”

Mr Cameron said that Mr Blair was stepping down early despite his promise to voters that he would serve a full third time as PM. He said: “Gordon Brown has no mandate to be Prime Minister and he cannot be the change the country needs.

“People want real change and the next general election can’t come soon enough so that they have an opportunity to vote for it.”

Mr Cameron was boosted today by an opinion poll giving the Tories a five-point lead over Labour, up from four last month.

The findings by Communicate Research for The Independent suggested the incoming PM had not yet secured a “Brown bounce” in the polls and that he might have work to do before being confident enough to call an election.

A former Labour Party treasurer yesterday said a snap election was unlikely but that Mr Brown would probably start seeking donations to build up Labour’s depleted election war chest.

Wealthy ally Lord Cohen is believed already to be drumming up backing for Mr Brown among the City of London’s rich.

Margaret Prosser, Labour Party treasurer between 1996 and 2001, said: “The party finances are, as I understand it, in a pretty dire state. Even if sufficient money were handed in over the next couple of months, it takes time to build up the infrastructure of the party.”

A senior Labour MP said he would advise Mr Brown to wait “at least 18 months or two years”, given that he had a good majority in the Commons and could use the time to build up party funds.

However, Mr Brown is thought likely to call the Ealing by-election occasioned by the death of Labour MP Piara Khabra within weeks of taking power, in order to get an early indication of his strength at the ballot box.

Meanwhile, Lib Dem Leader Sir Menzies Campbell, who has been under fire for holding secret talks with Mr Brown about the Chan­cellor’s desire to have Lib Dems in his administration, will seek to reassure party members. Sir Menzies turned him down but was left embarrassed and angry after Mr Brown invited Lord Ashdown into his Cabinet anyway, a post the former Lib Dem leader refused.

Sir Menzies will tell party workers today that Mr Brown’s efforts have backfired and showed the Lib Dems were “united, strong and independent”.

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