The government made a tactical error by not calling a snap general election in 2007, Jack Straw has admitted.
In an interview with the New Statesman, the justice secretary conceded that Labour should have gone to the country in the "election that never was".
Gordon Brown was accused of dithering when he failed to call a widely expected election in 2007.
Despite having enjoyed several months of good opinion poll ratings at the time, having taken over as prime minister from Tony Blair, Brown began to lose authority after confidants doubted his judgment.
Asked by the New Statesman whether the government should have taken a gamble in 2007, the senior cabinet minister said: "Yes, entirely, in hindsight."
Straw added: "But I was not saying that [then]. Whether to call an election became an issue only at the time of the [Labour] conference.
"Whether to call an election became an issue only at the time of the [Labour] conference. By that stage, Gordon had said he was there for the rest of the Parliament.
"There was also something practical: if the election had been called then it would have taken place after the clocks had gone back in early November."
Voters did not like elections being called "unnecessarily", he suggested.
In the interview, the justice secretary also denied retaining any leadership ambition himself.
He told the magazine: "I am not, and would not be a, candidate for leadership in any circumstances."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd