Brown explains "longer-term" view
Monday, 08 Oct 2007 19:54
The prime minister will speak to journalists at Downing Street before making a statement to the House of Commons today
Gordon Brown has attempted to justify his decision to rule out a snap election by saying he has "not yet had a chance" to put his political goals for Britain forward.
Speaking in his monthly press conference from Downing Street, the prime minister admitted considering a general election but insisted he had not changed his mind because of doubts about his chances of winning.
He came under fire from reporters accusing him of changing his mind at the last moment after a strong Conservative party conference slashed his lead in the opinion polls.
"What happened was I considered it. And I came back to my first instinct," he said.
"My first instinct was that I wanted to get on with the job of… putting forward my vision for the future."
He blamed a series of crises which dogged his first months in power, including the foot-and-mouth outbreak, flooding in much of England, terrorism and a run on the Northern Rock bank, for pushing his policy agenda from the headlines.
He described his intentions to "step up" his proposals for local government democracy, constitutional reform and an expansion of citizens' juries as a "major agenda that I don't think is lightly to be dismissed".
Conservative party leader David Cameron accused Mr Brown of "weakness and indecision", while Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the prime minister had "lost his nerve".
Mr Brown rejected the suggestion that he could have made his decision on policy-related grounds without having allowed intensified speculation to have taken place.
"I did think - let the party conference season finish and then make an announcement… [to say] let's bring this to an end," he explained.