In the autumn of 2007, Gordon Brown was on the precipice of calling a snap general election.
Campaign material had been printed. Some 100 slots had been booked at Battersea’s heliport to dispatch senior ministers to far-flung marginal constituencies.
Hundreds of activists were told to be ready to take up their posts within Labour’s dedicated ‘election hub’ on 24 hours’ notice.
But the call to arms never came. Aware of Brown’s plan – one that would see them consigned to inevitable defeat – George Osborne and David Cameron launched a desperate, final, holding action. In his conference speech, Osborne declared that on becoming
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