CAMBRIDGESHIRE MPs have said they are ready for a fight should Gordon Brown call a General Election in October. In Huntingdonshire, both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats said this week they were ready for the call and would not be surprised by

CAMBRIDGESHIRE MPs have said they are ready for a fight should Gordon Brown call a General Election in October.

In Huntingdonshire, both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats said this week they were ready for the call and would not be surprised by an autumn election.

Jonathan Djanogly, Conservative MP for Huntingdon, told The Hunts Post: "Interest rates are on their way up and taxes are on their way up.

"The feelgood factor can only be going down and the 'Brown Bounce' will only last for a couple more months. It must be very tempting to call an election soon because things can only get worse.

"The Government's position will not get easier, it can only get harder.

"I can't say that there will be an election but from the Government's point of view, there would be great attractions in going early."

Was he ready for an election? Mr Djanogly said: "I am always ready - bring it on."

Shailesh Vara, Conservative MP for North West Cambridgeshire, said: "Gordon Brown will want to go to the country at what he views as the best moment. I think he will call an election because people have been giving him an enormous benefit of the doubt.

"He will want to go to the country before the public realise that he is part and parcel of the Blair-Brown partnership. He has been trying to distance himself from Blair, despite their having been joined at the hip for the past 10 years.

"This is a honeymoon period and he will wish to capitalise on that before the public rumbles him and realise that he is not a new man with new ideas. He is out to continue the Blair-Brown project but the polls don't seem to reflect that.

"We have had meetings so my association is not caught on the hop if an election is called."

However, the local Labour group is unconvinced an election is imminent and believes the Prime Minister is already proving himself in the job.

David King, secretary of Huntingdon and Godmanchester Labour Party, said: "I think an October election is media speculation. My gut feeling is that he will wait until spring at the earliest and he has no need to go then. We have not heard anything yet because we have not selected our Parliamentary candidate."

Michael Shellens, constituency organiser for the Liberal Democrats in Huntingdonshire, said: "I saw an article saying that a Labour peer would bankroll Gordon Brown for the election and that removes any impediment to it. I don't know whether an election will be called in October but we have to always BE prepared.