Brown's Reelection Hopes are Smeared

Over the weekend Damian McBride a top aide of Prime Minister Gordon Brown resigned because a blogger known as Guido Fawkes leaked e-mails in which McBride discussed using the internet to spread rumors about leading Conservatives.  The rumors included accusations of drug use, frequenting prostitutes and affairs between MP's, and were aimed at leading Tories including David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne.  Even worse is that the wives of Cameron and Osborne are also thought to have been targets of the smear campaign.

Tories are outraged and are demanding apologies and thinking about lawsuits.  LabourParty officials are telling Brown that this could be the final straw that ensures a defeat in the next General Election.  Loyalists to former Prime Minister Tony Blair claim that they also were smeared by unknown people in the Labour Party.  

This scandal hit close to home for Brown.  Not only are some of his top political advisors implicated but Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson is also mentioned in the leaked e-mails.  

It is sad but it seems like there is little hope for Brown to win reelection because he is his own worst enemy.  From the failure to call an early election in the summer of 2007 to getting involved in a smear scandal right after hosting a pretty successful G20 summit, it appears that Gordon Brown will go down in history as the prime minister who could pull defeat from the jaws of victory.