Not Dead Yet

A lot of blogs seem to be crowing that "Gordon Brown has resigned". One even popped a virtual champagne cork.

No he hasn't. I listened to the speech live, and this is what he said:

If it becomes clear that the national interest, which is stable and principled government, can be best served by forming a coalition between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, then I believe I should discharge that duty to form that government ...

But I have no desire to stay in my position longer than is needed to ensure the path to economic growth is assured and the process of political reform we have agreed moves forward quickly.

In other words, I will resign when

a) a stable government between Labour and Liberal Democrats has been formed (how long before we can be sure it is 'stable'?)

b) the path to economic growth is assured (how will this be measured?)

c) the process of political reform is moving forward quickly (agreement on PR? referendum fixed for PR? referendum won on PR? PR established as new voting system and fully bedded in?)

Achieving all of those could take months, or even years, depending on how you define your terms. And Gordon is very good on hidden meanings that suggest one thing but mean something entirely different. Read any Budget speech for examples.

He's not gone yet, not by a long way. As with the Vampire, celebrations should only start when the stake is firmly in the chest and the body no longer moves. Anything else is foolish and premature.