That’s a Fine Mess You’ve Got Us In!
I knew the NuLabor project would all end in tears with us footing the bill and the report on the front page of today’s Times, says it all. Why don’t all these failed politicians crawl away into some hole somewhere and not bother us. But once they have tasted power, I suppose they want to keep it!
Lord Heseltine
Lord Heseltine is on Radio 5 at the moment. What a sensible man! I did like his comment about Labour being good in opposition, but hopeless in government. How true? He also said they will be pumping scare stories about the Budget like mad and the media will dance to their tune.
Is Lord Heseltine the best Prime Minister we never had? Possibly, but his views may well come to the fore. He’s just been taling so sensibly about how we reinvigorate our great cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and others.
He’s just giving very sensible views on Iraq and Afghanistan.
The First Welsh-Born Prime Minister Since Lloyd George
Julia Gillard has just become Australian Prime Minister, as Kevin Rudd has stood down. She was born in Barry in South Wales, so becomes the first Welsh-born Prime Minister since Lloyd George.
When will we have a foreign-born Prime Minister? We already have! He was Bonar Law, who was born in the crown colony of New Brunswick, which is now part of Canada.
It’s Just an Exit Poll
The exit poll is saying that there will be 307 Conservative MPs, 255 Labour, 59 Lib-Dems and 29 Others.
I don’t believe it as the Lib-Dem seems far too low. And the exit poll was conducted on just 130 polling stations.
So what do I think the figures will be. Tories a bit down on the 307, Labour and Lib-Dems to swap a few seats and perhaps a few more others.
But then who knows.
Coalition of All the Losers
Could we really have a coalition of all those who lost the last election?
Brown thinks so!
But would it last more than a few months? Clegg and Brown have big differences and will the British public stomach another unelected Prime Minister after Brown?
I don’t like it! And a lot of other people won’t either! And what if they bring through an anti-Tory voting system to keep power for the near to mid future?
We just have a lot of questions and no answers.
Coalition of all the C’s
Will it work? Perhaps!
A bit of history should be injected here. My father was very much a left-wing Tory and there are quite a few of them still about; Kenneth Clarke for one.
They have always been pro-welfare and the NHS and Cameron has been saying this all along. They are usually for small government with less state control. I don’t think that the Clegg would object to that.
But Cameron is pro-Trident, pro-business, anti-PR, anti-Euro and anti-Shengen.
I voted for my local Tory candidate, but I’m anti-Trident, pro-Euro and pro-Shengen. John Gummer once described me as a classic libertarian, who should read Hayek. I never have. Perhaps I should.
The problem lies with business and the economy. Here they may well have a lot in common, in that one of the real business problems in this country is all of the regulations that envelop small businesses and stop them growing. And where do eighty percent of all private sector jobs come from? The small to medium business sector. Get this right and this would create their place in history.
They may differ on how much to cut the economy, but perhaps two new brains, Osborne and Cable, may well find that the common-ground they must find actually works.
I wish them well! On the other hand anything will be better than NuLabor.
Remember too, that Vince Cable is a widow, although he has now remarried. He understands pain more than most.
I Was Wrong Last Night
I was wrong last night when I said Cameron would scrape home. He didn’t.
But we live in very interesting times.
I suspect that it could all turn out for the better, but I’m not sure how.
Scenario 1 has Brown clinging to power with all the odds and sods helping him. It would be a Parliament of all the losers. I doubt it would last long and it would result in a new election which would probably give Cameron a big majority in England. That wouldn’t be a good idea either.
Scenario 2 has Cameron trying to run a minority government in a traditional manner. We’d get another election in a few months and probably Cameron would end up with less seats.
But there is another way. There must be!
Remember, MPs don’t want another election, so could we have a sort of Grand Coalition? Probably now, but supposing Cameron tried to run a minority government and to help him he brought in secret ballots in the House of Commons.
Would there be enough in the other parties to help him govern, if their Whips didn’t know how they were voting for?
Still No Result
There’s now been 57 seats declared and it’s still not clear. Swing ignoring Northern Ireland may be enough for Cameron, if the figures from the North East hold up in the rest of England.
But I’ll stick my neck out and say that Cameron will get a majority. Or at least a majority with Northern Ireland supporting him. Remember Sinn Fein don’t turn up.
The Battle of the Web Sites
I’ve been watching the elrction results on the BBC’s web site.
Just opened the ITV’s one. And closed it immediately.
The First Tory Seat is a Gain
Kingswood with a 9.4% swing.
This coupled with average swings of about 8 to 9 in the North East might well mean that Cameron has an overall majority.
Dimbleby has just said that!
Neil Kinnock has just said it is not good for Labour.
The Anonymous Widower 