Am at Guildhall where the white-tied and be-gowned have just said grace and sat down for their tuck.

Gordon Brown’s team feel he must get across to ordinary folk a sense that the Afghanistan military mission does not just grind on forever but is governed by a plan and has an ending.

David Miliband will speak more about the political plan tomorrow. Bob Ainsworth will address Nato allies soon. The prime minister wants people to understand the purpose and sense the progress.

So he’ll talk about the blows inflicted on al-Qaida and the prospect of a “timetable for transfer starting in 2010″. That means transfer to Afghan lead in districts – it doesn’t mean withdrawal from districts. There would still be substantial military and civilian presence.

The timetable he hopes can be unveiled in January 2010 would not be a linear progression to a final withdrawal date but would give some indicative dates for the first few districts to transfer, starting mid-2010.

Before that we get the formal announcement of the additional 500 UK forces being deployed. That could come closely timed to President Obama’s extra troops announcement, and that now looks likely between his return from Asia and the Thanksgiving holiday.

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Spent the morning in the Thurrock constituency – Labour majority 6,000. Some polls suggest this sort of majority is the real current front line in Labour-Conservative marginals.

It’s currently Andrew MacKinlay’s seat. BNP leader Nick Griffin plans to stand here. Before we went, we spoke to Professor Richard Webber (the man who invented Experian’s Mosaic computer programme which all the main parties now use to track down voter types).

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Gordon Brown’s phrase “I get it” on immigration is an intriguing echo of David Cameron’s mantra on MPs’ expenses.

Number 10 is worried about a fusion that happens between the two issues of immigration and distrust of politicians.

It can lead and shows signs in recent polls of leading to extremism. read more

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A colleague has gone through the messages posted on the Sun’s website by its readers. Earlier this afternoon they broke 60-40 in favour of the prime minister.

No.10 claims it’s been inundated with supportive messages, not something it is often in a position to say.

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The Sun is insisting they are not running Jacqui Janes as part of a campaign and that the recording made of Gordon Brown’s phone call to the bereaved mother was done spontaneously by a friend who was at the Janes’s home.

Mrs Janes hits the loudspeaker button and the friend puts their BlackBerry near enough to pick up sound. The call came at 10pm on Sunday night and there was no Sun minder on the premises.

No 10 will take some convincing. read more

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No one can pretend that Gordon Brown went into politics to fight military campaigns. This son of the manse did not grow up in his father’s parsonage determined to become a great Churchillian war leader.

Neither did his impassioned student leadership emphasise war. His battles were to be waged against inequality and poverty.

In a real sense then Gordon Brown is a most reluctant warrior indeed.

War costs, and costs on every front, as Mr Brown is finding to his own cost.

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As the polls suggest a public opinion surge towards withdrawal from Afghanistan (73 per cent in the YouGov poll for Channel 4 News, up from 62 per cent only two weeks ago), you may be wondering which political parties support that view.

PRO-WITHDRAWAL: Plaid Cymru, Green Party, the BNP, Respect and UKIP (UKIP specify there must be US agreement first).

PRO-TROOPS STAYING BUT CALLING FOR A RE-THINK: SNP; Liberal Democrats, Conservatives.

There are “real tensions” in the Liberal Democrat parliamentary ranks about their position, an MP told me. read more

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A YouGov poll for Channel 4 News suggests that opposition to the war in Afghanistan has risen sharply in the past fortnight.

The numbers thinking the Taliban can be defeated are down from 42 per cent to 33 per cent in the space of two weeks.

The poll suggests that the numbers thinking the Taliban cannot be defeated are up from 48 per cent to 57 per cent in the space of two weeks. read more

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We are told that President Obama didn’t watch election night coverage last night of the bad results from Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere.

Instead he was apparently tuned to a two hour long HBO documentary about how he stormed to electoral triumph this time last year.

I was watching it too – so was everyone else in the C4 Washington bureau.

We were all enjoying reminiscing about the campaign and our small part in it. Even if we didn’t learn much that we didn’t know at the time. There were very few revealing moments.

We never saw the Obama facade crack.

Either this was the most disciplined, best run and resolutely self confident political campaign in history or this was the best controlled behind the scenes access in history.

But there was one glimmer of revelation – right at the end.

Soon after Obama was declared the winner but before he’d made his acceptance speech in Grant Park in Chicago a junior aide took a call on his cell phone.

We heard him brushing off the caller saying “The President Elect is keen to talk to the Prime Minister too – but he’s a bit busy right now”.

We can only assume it was Gordon Brown on the phone. Getting his first taste of how UK – Obama relations were to proceed.

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