PM plays down election speculation

5:18pm Friday 21st November 2008

Prime Minister Gordon Brown tried to put a lid on speculation about a spring general election, insisting that reports he was considering going to the polls in June could be discounted.

Without actually ruling out any particular date for a poll, Mr Brown insisted that his full attention was focused on guiding the country through economic turmoil and said he was "not thinking about anything else".

Mr Brown was widely criticised last year for allowing rumours about a snap election to build up unchecked, and many at Westminster blamed Labour's subsequent slump in the polls on the PM's "dithering" over whether to go to the country.

In an apparent attempt to avoid a repeat of last summer's frenzied speculation, Mr Brown was firm in rejecting reports that he was considering an election on June 4 next year to capitalise on public approval for his handling of the financial crisis.

Following a set of increasingly strong showings in the opinion polls - most recently cutting the Conservative lead to three points - Labour MPs have openly urged the PM to call a snap election before the economy gets worse.

The Evening Standard quoted unnamed "insiders" as saying that Mr Brown was "seriously considering" a June 4 poll to coincide with the local and European elections.

But challenged on the report by Jeremy Vine in an interview on BBC Radio 2 today, the Prime Minister said: "My undivided attention is on the economy. I am not thinking about anything else.

"It is 100% of my attention, and you can just discount all of these stories."

Labour's election supremo Douglas Alexander said on Sunday that he had not held any discussions with the Prime Minister about the poll date, telling the BBC: "As election co-ordinator, I have not spoken to Gordon Brown about the possibility of an election. We are getting on with the job."