Will today be the day that Gordon Brown calls the General Election?

[chef]

can't he call it today and announce it's the 6th may?? or by calling it does he then have some sort of pre-determined timeframe i.e 30 days from calling the election etc.?

[Menelaus]

can't he call it today and announce it's the 6th may?? or by calling it does he then have some sort of pre-determined timeframe i.e 30 days from calling the election etc.?

I think that he has a pre-determined time frame (from memory although a rudimentary look at Google doesn't confirm this) from moving the writ to having to have the election although I'm not sure what it is and hope that someone else can give you a bit more info on this!

[HairyArsedBloke]

Interesting comment in the Telegraph today:

Sounds a bright chap.

[DS23]

I'd love Brown to call it but I fear that he'll try to hang on like an inveterate gambler, believing that with the next roll of the dice he'll win big thus being able to show his skill in "saving the world". Delusional doesn't begin to describe him.

Many here would (be right to) accuse me of being the pot calling the kettle black when it talks to the issue of being delusional: the difference being I'm not in charge of the governance and financial lives of ~60m people - nor do I have access to the ability to launch nukes.

yes but if you were - would you?

[Menelaus]

yes but if you were - would you?

Hell, no.

[TimberWolf]

can't he call it today and announce it's the 6th may?? or by calling it does he then have some sort of pre-determined timeframe i.e 30 days from calling the election etc.?

6 weeks rings a bell.

[chef]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7025661.stm

minimum 17 days according to the beeb

How short can an election campaign be?

Just over three weeks is the short answer. Of course, campaigns usually go on for longer - in 1997, John Major called an election eight weeks before polling day. But there is a minimum of 17 working days between the issuing of a writ to returning officers in each constituency - telling them to return an MP for the next Parliament - and the election itself. The prime minister can announce the election date on the same day as writ is issued.

[Drewster]

I think that he has a pre-determined time frame (from memory although a rudimentary look at Google doesn't confirm this) from moving the writ to having to have the election although I'm not sure what it is and hope that someone else can give you a bit more info on this!

There is a pre-determined timescale when he does it officially - There is some formal form of words (Disolution??), he goes to visit the Queen and asks her permission etc.

I think what stops him (or indeed any other PM) from unofficially telling everyone when the election will be is down to protocol and convention..
ie It is "Her Majesty's Government" and she should be the first to know....
NewLies trample all over lots of conventions but "ignoring" Her Maj isn't one of them....... yet!

[MrMark]

edit: You forgot the option:

"No. Brown is an abject coward, and won't dare calling an election until the last possible moment."

GPWM

[minestrone]

I can't wait to slam the door in the face of the labour candidate when he turns up at the door.