So, it seems it’s the News of the World wot done it. Their poll in the marginal constituencies told Gordon that he could very well be stuffed - on the wrong end of a hung Parliament and struggling to form a government - if he went with an early election.

And so we have it in the starkest terms just how flawed our electoral system is. We’ve always known it but here it is in black and white and getting wall-to-wall coverage in the media. The message is sent: to win the next general election, New Labour must do whatever is necessary to win over voters in marginal constituencies while the rest can go and spin because their votes can be taken for granted.

It’s a disgusting, despicable state of affairs. Any journalist worthy of the name should now be watching those marginal constituencies like a hawk to see just how those much needed votes are going to be bought. Any blogger looking to make a name for themselves could do worse than do the same.

Everybody else should be lobbying their Member of Parliament and demanding that they Make My Vote Count.

Did you know we export this stuff to the rest of the world? And yet we’re still lobbing stones from the greenhouse.

UPDATE: Brown to the BBC: ‘The PM said he wanted a chance to show the country his “vision for change”‘

So why all the fuss then? Insert ‘a very narrow section of’ between ’show’ and ‘the’ and you have something approaching for the truth. All the other excuses - the possible electoral roll disenfranchisement, shonky postal voting and the rest - are invalid. Gordon’s giving himself two years to buy the marginals.