I used a clip of Gordon Brown attempting to frame to debate during the early hours of the General Election in 1992 in my previous post (hat tip Tory Landlord). The objective of his comments were to set the idea in peoples minds that, should an incumbent government lose an overall majority in a General Election it has LOST the election and has no mandate to govern. He clearly knew Labour hadn't won that night and was preparing for a hung parliament.
These words may come back to haunt him in the coming election. But, of course, Gordon will have easily changed his mind on the matter, now the opposite scenario is in place and he is PM of a government likely to lose its overall majority. It's only the perverse Labour bias in the electoral system that will deny the Conservatives outright victory.
Recent reports suggest Gordon Brown wants to stay on a leader, even if Labour lose outright by less than 20 seats. Any attempt by the LibDems to prop up a minority Labour government would do them immense harm. Labour would have lost the election in the minds of the people, even if they manage to get the most MPs. Such a government would limp on, with Gordon as leader, with all the challenges of a broken economy and all the currently suppressed internal Labour splits re-emerging. The LibDems would be seen as propping up a broken party in power, probably for some electoral reform bribes that would benefit them in the future. The electorate would not be impressed by this kind of self-serving behaviour.
In many ways, a LibLab government could be the best result for the Tories (but not the nation for the time it governs, anyway). The Tories will be returned to power with a whopping majority after a LibLab government implodes. The LibDem's support, such that it is, will collapse and we may well see the emergence of a new 3rd party in British politics.
One thing is for sure, it will be an interesting election night. One worth staying up for. I'm already looking at booking Friday 7th of May off work! *SAD*, I know!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
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The returning officers want to cancel election day counts. I don't know anyone who agrees. Tbh, I think think a Labour-Lib Dem coalition would be quite unstable and unlikely to last that long. I might be wrong, but in any case I really don't think we're going to have a hung parliament. In the end, I think folk will realise that a Labour government won't be perfect but it'll be a damn site better than a Tory one.
ReplyDelete@ericjoycemp It would be a sad day if the returning officers get there way. The election day should be seen as a big event and delaying the result announcement a day or two would diminish our democracy.... As would the Lib Dems propping up a defeated Labour party in government. (great link eh?!)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are so positive about your party's prospects. The playing field is certainly slanted in Labour's favour with the Tories needing 40%+ and 7% or 8% lead just to scrape a win while Labour can win on mid-30's percent and a 3 or 4 percent lead. The BBC and Guardian are certainly helping you too, so the Tories are looking like the underdogs in this election. They need a record breaking swing of support to win and all the polls are suggesting that is not going to happen... we will see.
Good luck in your constituency though. I think you'll be safe from the SNP threat!