May 12, 2015

Poor leadership & the rise of the SNP

Poor leadership left Labour without any clear direction or positive message. Also, Ed Miliband never really looked like a PM in waiting if we're honest.

The rise of the SNP has destroyed Labour north of the Tweed, and there are plenty of people outside of Scotland who don't like the SNP and who don't very much fancy the prospect of a British government being propped by by Scottish Nationalists.

With Labour losing votes to the SNP on the left and also losing votes to the Tories and UKIP on the right, trying to explain the election result in left/right terms doesn't really get you anywhere.

May 8, 2015

UK General Election: Nick Clegg resigns after massive Lib Dem losses

Source: BBC

Nick Clegg has resigned as Liberal Democrat leader after his party was decimated at the general election.

The Lib Dems are set to end up with just eight MPs, down from 57 in 2010.

"It's simply heartbreaking to see so many friends and colleagues who have served their constituents over so many years abruptly lose their seats because of forces entirely beyond their control," he said.

Mr Clegg, who held seats, added that "fear and grievance have won, liberalism has lost".

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32633462

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One of the worst political leaders in British history. Hopefully the Lib Dems elect Greg Mulholland as their leader and make some recovery as our Democracy will be poorer without them.

May 8, 2015

Engel scraped in with a reduced majority

North East Derbyshire may have been Labour since 1935, but I do think that this constituency will go Conservative at some point. It's gentrifying and turning away from it's mining past into a commuter constituency.

Tories did clearly outspend Labour here, and Labour went backwards in many of the key marginals like Amber Valley that they lost in 2010.

Elsewhere Clegg hung on in Sheffield Hallam, and the seats locally where Labour faced a strong challenge from the Lib Dems are now rock solid Labour with the Lib Dems in 3rd or 4th.

May 8, 2015

I don't like the results.

But things have panned out this way for a reason.

Labour ran a lacklustre campaign. The party that's meant to be for the common man has lost the common touch. And the less that's said about Jim Murphy's Scottish campaign the better.

And the Lib Dems have destroyed themselves by giving up everything they stood for to grab power in the last parliament.

May 8, 2015

NOOOOOOOO!

Too much of a Blairite, and lacks experience. Jarvis would be a singularly bad choice.

Ed Balls is too associated with the failings of Brown and Miliband. The British media would have a field day attacking him and he wouldn't be able to turn things around.

Chukka Umuna doesn't stand out for me, and the less said about Tristan Hunt and Rachel Reeves the better.

The name that stands out for me is Andy Burnham. He's been an effective opposition spokesman. The trouble is, his Blairite record in office has to count against him.

May 8, 2015

Trouble is....

....I've been angry with Labour since 2002 at least, and in that time the party has drifted along complacently. And now Labour is facing pressure on all sides, with a lacklustre, uninspiring platform, trying to appeal to voters on the basis that they are marginally less repellent then the Conservatives.