October 09, 2007	Tuesday	Ramazan 26, 1428

LONDON, Oct 8: Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday put to rest speculations about a snap election in November but accepted responsibility for the confusion that had gripped British politics due to prolonged uncertainty caused by the delay in taking a firm decision on the issue.

Speaking at his monthly press conference here at 10 Downing street, Mr Brown said ‘perhaps’ he should have halted speculations about a November election much earlier, but defended the delay on his desire to listened to those on both sides of the argument.

Admitting that he did consider calling an early election he said, but his first instinct was to get on with the business of running the country.

The premier said he had dealt with foot-and-mouth disease, floods, terrorism and economic crisis over the summer, but had not had a chance to put forward his vision about health, housing, education, the future of the economy and prosperity generally, “and that is why I made the decision I did”.

Mr Brown said he would now go ahead with his agenda of constitutional reform, including the creation of citizens’ juries, to enable wider public consultation on local issues.

But he declined an invitation to repeat Jack Straw’s assertion, when he was foreign secretary, that military action against Iran was ‘inconceivable’.

Only on Monday in its editorial the Guardian said that there was no requirement for an election and there should have been little shame in calling one off, were it not for the fact that he left the decision at least a fortnight too late and went about announcing it through whispers and half-truths and then an evasive and pre-recorded interview. He could have announced his decision under live, open questioning at his press conference this morning.

“Like a child squirming after being caught out at last over some transgression, the prime minister offered every excuse apart from the obvious truth: that he had wanted and planned for an election and the mandate that would follow it, but that the outcome became uncertain, the late autumn timing unfortunate and the opposition artificially boosted by promises of tax cuts that he had not expected.

If he had said this – rather than blustering on about his vision and a spurious duty to consider an election because people had called for it – he might have emerged a less diminished figure. David Cameron had a point yesterday when he said that the public are not fools and see through pretence.”