On the Rocks

Gordon Brown's hopes of fighting the general election on the back of a clear economic recovery suffered a severe blow yesterday, his strategy has been branded a failure after shock figures showed the country is now in the grip of the longest recession since records began.



Meanwhile, Alistair Darling said he had maintained the downturn was going to be severe. Darling made clear his irritation with Brown when he said that he has been warning people to be cautious. "We are not out of the woods yet, I have always said, when people were talking about this quarter, we had to be cautious. There is a lot of uncertainty in this country, there is a lot of uncertainty in other countries as well."