Nothing that Gordon Brown has said today has moved us closer by one iota to knowing whether he is going to call a General Election this autumn or not.

That is unlikely to change for about two weeks, at the end of which time he will decide whether to go or not. The decision is dictated by the timing of the Labour party conference - if he's not going to go, he must make that clear before the conference starts. To go to the conference with the prospect of an election still hanging in the air, and then to rule it out afterwards, would be a huge letdown for the party.

So if he doesn't rule it out in the next two weeks, we can assume that we are on for an autumn election.

It would be impossible to say from anything he has announced today which way he is likely to jump - he certainly hasn't ruled it out. Recruiting two serving Tory MPs to advise his Government is quite a clever move by Mr Brown. I would go so far as to say that it is a coup.

Yes, they show that Brown is reaching out to the other parties, and enable him to claim a new style of politics. But there is also a sense of political mischief in the names of those he has recruited.

All three of the recruits are people who can't go any further in their own parties, for various reasons.

Patrick Mercer (the former shadow spokesman on homeland security) was sacked by David Cameron in March for his comments to Times Online that ethnic minority troops in the army supposedly cry "racism" to cover up their own misdemeanours.

John Bercow (the former shadow spokesman on international development, work and pensions, home affairs and education) has also fallen out with a previous Tory leadership.

Matthew Taylor (the former chairman of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party) has said that he is standing down at the next election.

They are all willing recruits. All three of them have clearly been happy to come on board Mr Brown's project.

None of these three could have been stopped by their own parties from taking up these advisory roles. Even if the Tories had called them in and tried to stop them, they would probably have said: "Up yours."

Patrick Mercer, a right-winger, might seem a peculiar recruit for the Labour party, but No 10 says he has been chosen purely on the basis of his expertise on the subject of security.

They are not making any comment on things that he has said in the past, although if pushed Downing Street would probably merely say that he has put out a statement of regret and the incident is closed.

Attracting these recruits - scalps is perhaps too strong a word - is certainly politically convenient for the Prime Minister and a touch embarrassing for the Tories.

Mr Brown has not said anything politically mischievous about their arrival, nor will he. It is clever politics, while also trying to show that he is doing things differently.

It is not, however, ground-breaking in the same way as some of his earlier appointments, such as that of the former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord West. Those were of people who were undoubtedly incredibly able in their own field, coming from other parties or no party, and were more ground-breaking than these three.

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