Brown plays down talk of early election

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that now was not the time for an election, but refused to rule out calling one before the end of the year.

Faced with opinion polls suggesting that the "Brown bounce" in ratings that he has enjoyed since taking over from Tony Blair in June may be starting to fade, Brown said he was not concerned with election timing, but busy getting on with the job.

"There will be a time and a place for a general election, but it is not now," he told BBC radio.

A ComRes poll in Monday's Independent showed Brown's Labour Party tied with the Conservatives on 36 percent, with the Liberal Democrats on 15 percent. The same poll a month ago had given Labour a three-point lead over the Conservatives.

A YouGov poll for Good Morning Television put Labour at 38 percent and the Conservatives on 35 percent.

In an interview with Monday's right-leaning Daily Telegraph, Brown said he wanted to move away from old-style factional politics and seek broad support from all sections of Britain. The Telegraph said his comments were a clear sign that he was "preparing the ground for a poll next month".

Asked on BBC radio whether he would rule out an election in the autumn -- a date many commentators have been speculating on -- Brown said: "There is a time and a place for these things, but I am getting on with the business of governing."

POLITICAL PLOY?

Political analysts that doubt Brown will call an October vote. Many say his apparent hints at an early election are simply a political ploy to try to destabilise the Conservatives, whose leader David Cameron has struggled to make headway in surveys in recent months.