Cameron: We're ready for election

12 April 2012

Conservative leader David Cameron insisted the Tories were "only too delighted" to take on Gordon Brown amid speculation that the Prime Minister could call a General Election this autumn.

Mr Cameron said the Tories were in a strong position to fight a General Election as soon as one was called by Mr Brown.

He told GMTV: "As soon as he wants to call the election, I am only too delighted.

"We have got the candidates selected in our marginal seats, we have raised money for that election, we have a team working on a manifesto, our policy reviews are coming out with really strong ideas."

His remarks came after a report in the Daily Mirror newspaper that Gordon Brown has pencilled in October 25 as a possible date for an early General Election amidst polls giving Labour a lead over the Tories.

But the Independent newspaper carried a report saying Mr Brown is unlikely to call a snap general election this autumn because Labour is still deeply in the red and fears it could be outspent by the Conservatives.

Mr Cameron's upbeat assessment comes after a series of setbacks to his leadership, including poor by-election results, a slump in the opinion polls after the so-called "Brown bounce" and a row over his trip to Rwanda while his Oxfordshire constituency was engulfed by the floods.

Mr Cameron defended his trip to Rwanda, saying it was a "difficult decision" to visit the country, but the right one.

He said a greater understanding of the problems in Africa would aid understanding of major issues affecting Britain such a climate change and mass migration.

He said it was important to get the "balance right" and he had visited Upton-upon-Severn, Gloucester and Tewkesbury and he had also visited Hull, as well as making visits to his own constituency in the aftermath of the floods.

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