The UK’s incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces a tough fight to be elected in the upcoming election which he has just announced and is to be held on 6 May.
Labour is seeking a fourth term in office, but the real lithmus test is Mr Brown’s, it will be the first General Election which he is contesting under his own steam. If the recent opinion polls are anything to go by, Mr Brown and the Labour Party do not have a cat in hell’s chance of being returned to government and there are lingering fears of a hung parliament.
The mood in Britain is not at all good. The war in Afghanistan overshadows everyday life with little towns and villages around the UK mourning the dead on a weekly basis. Scotland continues in its uphill struggle to gain more autonomy and eventual independence. The recession’s shadow is still long and very dark, while the country’s deficit and national debt continue to grow. The MP’s expenses scandal also looms in the memory, with an overall distrust in the system festering among citizens.
But all in all, the overall sense in the UK is that time is ripe for a change. The people have had enough of 13 years of Labour government, which has been characterised by the cult around Tony Blair who led them to a landslide victory in 1997 and government overspending.
The irony of it all is that in political and economic circles, Mr Brown is perceived as a man who managed to steer Britain clear of a very large brick wall in dealing with the recession.
On the other hand, some argue that it was Mr Brown’s (de)regulation of London’s financial markets which made the recession as bad as it has been for the United Kingdom.
David Cameron has promised to put together a government for the forgotten, and has pledged to bring about fairness and social justice in place of the current state of affairs.
Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats has told the British electorate that in order to have a real breath of fresh air, there must be something new; voters should vote for his party.
Whatever the case may be, it is set to be a long, hard-fought slog to the polls and we can expect the gloves to come off. As it stands, Labour obviously wants to remain in office and Mr Brown is fighting for his own credibility – in the sense that he does not want to be voted out of office, having been an anointed leader.
Cameron on the other hand will also lose face if he does not lead the Tories to victory. Many pundits have already said that if the Conservative Party does not get into government this time round, it never will. The Liberal Democrats will be quite content to just increase the number of seats they have in parliament, however, this is not looking likely given the current political landscape.
Whatever the case may be, the next UK government will have a mammoth task in reigning in expenditure, creating jobs and tackling crime and abuse. It will not be an easy task to run the next government and one can at least say that the zeal – despite the challenge ahead – does not seem to have waned in the eyes of both the Conservatives and the Labour Party. As the saying goes – may the best man win.