I wonder about Scots and their obsession with Thatcher. It is surely now bordering on the dangerously obsessive? People would have been casting their votes for Labour and against the Tories (Thatcher) who were not even alive when she was in office.
So, Mr Cameron’s ‘big, open and comprehensive’ offer to the Liberal Democrats worked. We have the first coalition government in nearly 70 years leading the UK and it only took 6 days to form. This is significantly less than the European average of 39 days – their leaders must not care about national interest as ours.
With all the talk of hung parliaments and coalition governments it appears that the Scottish example has finally permeated the Westminster village. The latest campaign twist is that DC would shun constitutional convention (that the existing PM gets first shot at forming a coalition government) and plough ahead with a minority government. I have visions of Malcolm Tucker sidling up to Julius Nicholson for a quiet word.
There’s an advert that The Independent newspaper is running saying “Rupert Murdoch won’t decide this election. You will.”
As a football fan, the accusation that a manager is ‘tactically naïve’ is an oft used, if often misunderstood accusation from disgruntled fans. It usually indicates that things are not going well, and that from the outside at least, those who find themselves in a position to do something about it are unable, unwilling or both. That senior Labour politicians are now actively encouraging voters in certain areas to tactically vote possibly says a lot about how the campaign has gone for Labour.
Voting Intention 6th April 2010: Labour 31%, Conservative 41%, Lib Dem 18%
Today, Gordon Brown announced that the 2010 General Election would be held on May 6th, the campaign has begun. This election as all elections in the UK are is a two horse race between Labour and the Conservatives, Left and Right, Red and Blue. Of course, there is a sprinkling of Yellow throughout as the Lib Dems go through the motions of a campaign speaking in town halls, school classrooms and local hospitals with an accompanying audience invariably asking ‘who’s that?’. For your information, the leader of the Liberal Democrats is Nick Clegg.
So far the road to Downing Street has been gaffe and gate free. No scandal to report. The only thing I can think of remotely close to scandal is the revelation that Nick Clegg was being paid money into his personal bank account which he swatted away speedily and it was just as promptly dismissed as a shameful right wing media attack. I suppose though that it is unlikely that anyone will believe a bad word about Mr Clegg at the moment.
In a strange turn of events David Cameron hit upon the answer…or rather was hit by the answer. It was the chicken that came first – the egg didn’t come until Wednesday. Poor old Mr Cameron, its bad enough that he’s seen his lead in the polls wither away and surpassed by the Liberal Democrats this week, the Daily Mirror then sends a chicken to follow him and a hoodie throws an egg at him. Does this young man not realise that all Dave wants to do is hug him? I think you’d all agree that’s not a great week.
They were right. For years the leaders of the Labour and Conservative parties had refused to do pre-election television debates because, among other things, they didn’t want to give a platform to the Liberal Democrats.
And, lo and behold, now the young upstart Clegg (aka “I agree with Nick”) has swung past the other two party leaders in some polls as the man most likely to be king.
Anyone who watched the leaders’ debate last night will be pleasantly surprised. All the hype and anticipation surrounding the momentous event created all the hallmarks of potential disappointment however apart from the underwhelming stage set the event itself was engaging and interesting.