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Snap polls in November?

LONDON: November 1 and November 8 were on Sunday being touted as the likely dates for a snap election, as pressure mounted on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take the plunge following a string of new opinion polls giving Labour Party a whopping lead over the Tories.

Mr. Brown was reported to be consulting his close aides as the Tory leader David Cameron, putting on a brave face on his party’s poor ratings, “challenged” the Prime Minister to call an election claiming that Conservatives were ready.

Speaking to the media as the Conservative Party’s annual conference began in Blackpool amid deep divisions over his efforts to move the party away from the Right, Mr. Cameron dismissed opinion polls, which in recent weeks have consistently given Labour a huge lead.

Mr. Cameron acknowledged that it would be a “huge challenge” but insisted that “we can win”. In an interview to The Sunday Times he said Mr. Brown should “stop dithering” . This was also the theme of the shadow foreign secretary William Hague’s opening speech to the party conference.

Fresh speculation that elections were imminent was sparked by a poll in The Observer giving Labour a seven-point lead over the Tories, and another in the Telegraph which put Labour 11 points ahead.

So far, Mr. Brown has refused to comment but with media frenzy growing, he is under pressure to declare his hand. “He must rule in or rule out an election,” one government aide was reported as saying. A general election is not due until 2009 but Mr. Brown is keen to obtain a popular mandate to combat criticism that he lacks democratic legitimacy.

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