The United Kingdom will go to the polls on May 6, almost five years since the last general election. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has clung to power as long as he legally could. Now he must face the electorate. The electorate is fickle and the outcome is uncertain.
Brown is wooden and uncharismatic. He has misled Parliament on important issues, including funding for defense. Some have accused him of being a serial liar. But he has shown dogged determination and, perhaps more by good luck than good judgment, the economy seems to be showing signs of revival, even though it looks fragile.
In his 10 years as finance minister he encouraged an asset bubble, based on a vast expansion of cheap credit. This pleased many voters, who accepted his claim that he had abolished "boom and bust." When the bust inevitably came he blamed international finance and U.S. bankers. He then claimed with more justification but considerable exaggeration that he had saved the world economy by taking tough measures to deal with the banking crisis and adopting Keynsian policies to prevent economic bankruptcy.