Election

[mrph]

Yeah. I can live with that.

Blair's back - no surprise there - but he no longer has a large enough majority to push anything controversial through parliament. Unsurprisingly, Labour's "awkward squad" did better than most of the Blair loyalists in the elections. And Gordon Brown can see a promotion in his future.

The Liberal Democrats made gains. They're the strongest they've been in a very long time and they're not going away anytime soon. Nor's Charles Kennedy, from the sound of it.

And the Conservatives are still the official opposition and soon to be without their leader Michael Howard (who is, as others have said, leaving them gracefully and with a remarkable amount of common sense).

Things are changing. By the next election UK politics could be a very different place - and given how they've been stagnating in recent years, that's no bad thing.

Oh yes. And Labour lost the "safest seat in Wales" through their own stupidity. That amused me.

As did Labour MP Bob Marshall Andrews - never one of Blair's greatest fans - live on BBC1, blaming Blair's unpopularity for his defeat in this election and generally putting the boot into the PM. He then won on a recount. That's pure class. :)

Comments

Re: Things are changing

[lilgreendave.livejournal.com]

Reptile party!

[lilgreendave.livejournal.com]

I don't think the Lib Dem's would've been able to cope with governing this time round, but give them time to develop even more and they'll easily be at least a decent opposition by the next election.

I want 3 party politics to operate properly in this country, choice and competition is healthy

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Yup. Agreed. This time I wanted to see them become second party hereabouts too, and while they've not quite done that, they're now very close to the Conservatives (who didn't make much headway).

If they keep that up, then next time...

looney tunes watford

[giggly-teapot.livejournal.com]

hello luv...

we had a county election as well as the general and yaaaah
we all kept our nerve and now have A GREEN COUNTY COUNCIL REP..

[zarbi.livejournal.com]

The Liberal Democrats made gains. They're the strongest they've been in a very long time and they're not going away anytime soon.

I'm not that confident. I would imagine that a significant number of those votes were from unhappy 'we hate Blair' traditional Labour voters. Those votes could easily drift back under Brown. On the other hand, if the considerable LibDem presence can have an impact, as it well might, I believe they have a chance of keeping these voters. That's my reading of it anyway.

And the Conservatives are still the official opposition and soon to be without their leader Michael Howard (who is, as others have said, leaving them gracefully and with a remarkable amount of common sense).

One of the great joys of today (I am an evil person and enjoy seeing Tory misery) was the slow realisation by the Tories that instead of the great progress that they were claiming yesterday, they really had achieved very little. Almost nothing, in fact. They have had no new voters. So now we are having the soon-to-be-traditional post-election leadership contest combined with the now-predictable interview with Alan Duncan where he says that the Tories must change. It's all so familiar!

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Interesting comment from Robin Cook on TV today, when was discussing Blair's third term and he did describe the Liberal Democrats as the "real opposition" in Labour's future...

I hope he's right.