David Cameron was right to talk of one nation after his re election as MP for Witney. The new Parliament has much to do to reassure the nation and to bring it together after a long election campaign that stresses the differences and accentuates the disagreements.
One nation is one of the phrases that means several things. Today it has something to tell us about our economic policy, about the stresses on our union within the UK, and about  our relationship with the European Union.
Some interviewers and commentators are already trying to pit Conservative against Conservative in the new Parliament. They should not underestimate the wish of all Conservatives to provide leadership that can reduce tensions and strengthen our nation. The Conservative party is at its best when it does seek the national interest.
There will be no disagreement about the need for an economic policy which generates more jobs, more better paid jobs, and continues the recovery. There is no disagreement that the rich and successful should pay more, and those in need should receive help from the state. Conservatives also believe it is no crime to be successful , that people at all income levels should keep a good  reward for their hard work and enterprise, that tax cuts for all can fuel more growth. Many voters in England did reject parties that proposed various tax rises and new taxes.
Nor is there any disagreement that we need to find a new settlement for the union of the UK that meets the aspirations of many Scots, and of the rest of the UK. Only the Conservatives of the major parties spoke of England. As the new Parliament goes about the task of honouring pledges to Scotland, and enters discussion with the SNP about what they want for Scotland, so we will need to look after England,Wales and Northern Ireland as well. Devolution has to be fair.
Conservatives also strongly believe that Europe is our continent, not our country. The EU should be a set of agreements with other European countries, not an override on our democratic government. We do not wish the EU to have the power  to prevent the will of the British people being implemented by a UK government on matters as diverse as borders, migration,tax, benefits and the other important issues which the EU increasingly controls or influences.
I would sum up the huge task of this new Parliament in one simple phrase. The new Parliament has to do no less than establish the primacy and good working  of UK democracy. To do so it needs to continue a recovery to bring rising living standards for the many, to find a new settlement for our Union, and to work out a new relationship with the EU which ensures the important issues are settled here in our one nation, the United Kingdom.
Doubtless there will be many arguments on the way, within parties as well as between parties. That is healthy. It is called democracy.
May 8, 2015
It seems Dennis has been right all along, UKIP took as many votes from Labour as from Conservatives.
When will the Scottish question be resolved? Full devolution of all spending and no transfer of tax is required.
How do you appeal to the 5 million disenfranchised UKIP and Green voters going forward. They have sent a message.
When is the referendum date, do we have a picture of the red lines yet?
When do I gt my child benefit returned?
Congratulations to you Mr Redwood, time to start work again.
May 8, 2015
There are far more UKIP supporters who did not vote UKIP but chose to vote tactically in order to stop Labour and/or the Libdems. The voting system discourages UKIP voters from voting as they might genuinely wish.
They will vote UKIP again the next EU election (where they came first last time) and where they can vote as they wish.
May 8, 2015
TEnd to agree with you Lifelogic over voting tactics. Living in Scotland voting for UKIP was no good but I stuck to my guns and did it all the same. The Conservatives would never have got in where I am anyway.
I am please the Conservative party has a majority though and hope that the first thing Cameron does is to appoint a well informed person into the role of Energy Secretary. Now that Davey has gone perhaps we could see the finish of subsidies for solar and wind or is that too much to ask? I know many ministers are against the policy of funding renewables to the tune of millions for nothing and hope they help Cameron make a decision which will help the economy of this country and help to make us competitive therefore creating more jobs instead of losing them.
Well done John in keeping your seat. Can you tell me if David Davies also held onto to his please?
I hope the SNP do not hold Cameron to ransom and demand all kinds of extras and then think England will bail them out if it all goes wrong. Sturgeon needs to be made to start making difficult financial decisions and then perhaps her party won’t enjoy the vast majority in future.
May 8, 2015
And the next by-election–Just imagine how many more UKIP votes there would have been without the fear of Labour teaming up with the SNP–A good few of those will return–But for this effect Farage would have got in.
May 8, 2015
Those who did give up their UKIP vote must demand the full and fair referendum promised by David Cameron.
The Conservatives owe it.
There must be no rejoicing from the Tory party about UKIP losses. Or claims that this was a ringing endorsement of their policies.
It wasn’t.
And I’d been fuming if I’d given my UKIP vote to the Tories only to see them smirking.
It’s about time the English were put first for once.
One nation my arse.
May 8, 2015
@LL; “The voting system discourages UKIP voters from voting as they might genuinely wish.”
Not according to Mr Farage, vote UKIP get UKIP he said, the real problem is that there just is not enough people who buy into the scapegoating of UKIP – even when they loose they can’t be like any other mainstream political party, they still need to scapegoat, the election system is unfair, I bet they would not be saying that is they were today in the shoes of the SNP?…
“They will vote UKIP again the next EU election (where they came first last time) and where they can vote as they wish.”
By 2019 the UK will have either decided to stick with the EU or will have left, UKIP either way will be even more an irrelevance!
May 8, 2015
Jerry – If you are a genuine Tory then please stop sneering at the Ukippers who reluctantly lent you their votes.
May 9, 2015
@Anonymous; “Jerry â If you are a genuine Tory then please stop sneering at the Ukippers who reluctantly lent you their votes.”
Anonymous – Surely if they are a true UKIPper they would not have leant their vote to anyone?! Nothing I said was sneering, just the brutal truth, I guess some just can’t handle it though…
May 9, 2015
While holding their noses.
May 8, 2015
LL, I think that your analysis is correct. A lot of people held their noses at the last minute and probably followed John’s advice. The viability/fairness of the voting system has been put in doubt…. I only hope that John is right about the PM’s intentions regarding the EU referendum.
The reappointment of the main Ministers is interesting. Is it continuity or is he shell shocked at what has happened? I know what I think…. His majority for governing is very workable as Labour are weak and the SNP so separate. I think that he can employ pretty simple tactical moves to negate the SNP effect.
John, you and your friends are in a reasonable position to keep him honest about the referendum đ
zorro
May 9, 2015
Zorro; “A lot of people held their noses at the last minute and probably followed Johnâs advice.”
Most people probably do not even know about our hosts website, never mind read it, I suspect more people did not vote UKIP simply because they found the message unacceptable, had they UKIP would have more than one MP (who apparently, from what we are told, is considered a good local MP and thus his vote held up on a more personal level than party, just as with the single surviving Scottish Labour MP).
“The viability/fairness of the voting system has been put in doubtâŠ.”
Funny how so many UKIPpers want a European style voting system but do not expect to get the European style political miss-mash caused by such a voting system, just remember that in such a PR/AV democratic ‘utopia’ for every eurosceptic MP elected there will likely be at least one europhile MP and quite possibly two or three given that far more UK parties are of the europhile persuasion.
“The reappointment of the main Ministers is interesting. Is it continuity or is he shell shocked at what has happened? I know what I thinkâŠ. [..//..] John, you and your friends are in a reasonable position to keep him honest about the referendum
I think you might have just answered your own question as to why the same people have been reappointed, I await the Queens speech, if I’m wrong then I’ll gladly eat my (chocolate) hate too…
May 9, 2015
Reply to reply – True, but John isn’t the only one to have pushed that line…. so did the PM and others.
How many votes did UKIP get nationally? What proportion of the vote?…. And how many seats?
I don’t accept your premise about PR/AV. People should see that their vote counts for something and means something. The present system does not do that. I don’t need to spell that out.
And what about the results seat wise if there had been PR….?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32601281
A Tory/UKIP understanding to make absolutely sure that a referendum took place
zorro
May 9, 2015
@Zorro; “I donât accept your premise about PR/AV. People should see that their vote counts for something and means something.”
How many times does it need pointing out, if people really so wish for the popular vote to be taken into account then both the Tories and UKIP are political toast as far more people in the UK voted for europhile and left-wing parties than did not, should they be the new governing coalition, if so it will likely be the end for anything politically right of centre. Why do you think so many small parties, often radical, often of the political left, can survive in other European countries if it is not due to the PR/AV system?
May 8, 2015
I watched throughout the night as the results came in, and again and again when the bar chart of the changes in the parties’ shares of the votes came up UKIP’s gain corresponded more closely to the losses of Labour and/or the LibDems than to any loss suffered by the Tories. It has to be borne in mind that support for the LibDems collapsed very early on in the last Parliament and Labour took the lion’s share of the people who abandoned them, so many of those represented in the bars for the LibDems’ losses should really have been added to the Labour losses. And because it seems that in the later stages of the campaign the Tories managed to frighten some UKIP supporters into voting Tory to ward off the “Labour/SNP” bogeyman, while Labour was apparently less successful in pulling back UKIP supporters, the overall effect of UKIP may well have been the opposite of that usually assumed, UKIP may have actually helped the Tories win their contest with Labour in the same way as the SNP although not to the same extent.
May 9, 2015
Denis – What about the Conservative gains over and above the pollsters’ estimations ? Where did they come from ?
It was all neck and neck until the Tory press started printing charts directing UKIP voters how to vote tactically and the risks of a Lab/SNP win.
The Daily Mail and their columnists give thanks to UKIP sympathisers who held their noses and voted Conservative.
Oughtn’t the Conservatives do the same ?
May 9, 2015
That is a good question.
May 9, 2015
@Anonymous; “It was all neck and neck until the Tory press started printing charts directing UKIP voters how to vote tactically and the risks of a Lab/SNP win.”
No it wasn’t “neck and neck”, the opinion pollsters simply got it wrong, it’s clear that far more people just simply didn’t know who to vote for until perhaps actually standing in the polling booths. In the end some rejected UKIP, just as some rejected the LDs, whilst others rejected Lab and in some seats they rejected the Tory party, perhaps in favour of Labour, the headline example being in Wirral West. The switching of votes, overall nationally, was far to widespread to simply have been just one parties supporters providing tactical support for another to try and neuter another parties influence.
In many seats the stats seem to be suggesting that much of UKIP’s support came not from Tory voters but from Labour – as (later) comments by senior UKIP people seem to also acknowledge. UKIP have been repositioning themselves as a eurosceptic party that is politically centrist, primarily in an attempt to attract the disaffected left-wing “working class” vote, but more importantly for them this will allow UKIP to survive as a political force should the UK in fact decide to remain within the EU post 2017.
May 8, 2015
UKIP with 3.73m votes get 1 mp.
The SNP with 1.45m votes get 56 MPs.
And this is referred to as democracy? How so?
May 8, 2015
It is even worse than that as many more than the 3.73 million would have voted UKIP but did not do so in order to vote for the stop Labour/Libdum candidate. The voting system depresses their true support, even before it cheats them on the number of seats.
May 9, 2015
UKIP came second in 115 constituencies, and if we had adopted my simple suggestion for reform of the House of Lords there would now be 115 UKIP candidates awaiting the Royal summons to become members of the new second chamber, Second Members of Parliament.
115 SMP’s plus 1 MP = 116, divided by 1300 would be 8.9% of the elected parliamentary representatives across both chambers, and while that would be less than UKIP’s 12.6% share of the votes it would be much closer than 0.15% of the MPs as it will be now.
May 9, 2015
In fact 118 constituencies, so it would be 9.2%.
May 9, 2015
@Bob; I bet you would not be saying that if the positions were reversed, UKIP had 56 seats and the SNP had a single seat.
It’s called democracy, get over it, or get out of the kitchen! Otherwise what of the fact that far more people did not vote for either the Tory or UKIP parties, never mind euroscepitc policies, should both Cameron (and Farage) accept they lost the popular vote and thus allow a Labour lead SNP/LD/PC
/Green coalition or pact government to take residence in Number 10 on Monday morning even though they collectively have fewer MPs?…
May 8, 2015
You will surely never get child benefits back (or personal allowances for some) from this tax borrow and waste lot.
May 8, 2015
Redwood for the new cabinet please
May 8, 2015
Seconded. Get some sanity in there and get rid of the reds in blue clothing.
Tad
May 8, 2015
Hear hear.
Many congratulations to you, what a result .
May 8, 2015
Secretary of State for England perhaps?
May 8, 2015
Well, I see no reason why not. The PM can’t blame anyone else or say there are objections. He now has full responsibility for his government’s decisions. How will he handle it? He no longer has the Clegg fig leaf and we will see the PM in the altogether. Will he measure up to the task?
zorro
May 9, 2015
Indeed is he a LibDem or will he now become a real Tory. Will he appoint the Pattersons, Goves, Cashes, Rees Moggs or will he stick with the Ken Clark, Greg Clark, token women and (finger up his bottom and rather likes it….) Anna Soubry types?
So will he stick with the greencrap, EUphile, HS2 loving, tax borrow and piss down the drain types?
We shall see very soon indeed. Will he actually be serious in his EU renegotiations or will he just be looking for PR spin and fig leaves?
May 9, 2015
@LL; I do wish you would define what you mean by “real; Tory”!
Seems to me that that your “real Tory” is just a euphemism for ‘how I want the country run’…
May 8, 2015
“Conservatives also strongly believe that Europe is our continent, not our country.”
Well real Tories do, but does Cameron? I suspect (given his record) that Cameron just like Heath and Major is actually a no nation Tory who will have us subsumed into the anti-democratic & socialist disaster that is EU if he can.
May 8, 2015
Cameron’s Conservative Party has groomed the public into thinking they are patriotic .
They will be lead like lambs to a referendum which will give carte blanche to the Eurocrats .
EU has won the 2015 General Election .
May 8, 2015
Sorry AdS, I canot agree with that. I think this election has shown quite clearly that, in spite of horrifically biased campaigns and scaremongering by the MSM (and in particular all of our favourite broadcaster), the English and/or British public are nowhere as near as stupid or easily influenced as the aforementioned organisations like to think.
In fact, this strikes me as being one of the first elections I can remember that the electorate has actually voted FOR a party (or parties) rather than against them.
If only the anomaly of the misrepresented vote share could be addressed.
May 8, 2015
This is the first chance I have had to post my thoughts, and I see some have already made similar points to the ones I wished to make.
Firstly, I would be churlish not to congratulate the Tories on their victory, and I’ve sent texts to several MPs already this morning to say well done, but with victory comes responsibility, and the new government has to work for everyone. A majority should not be seen as a licence to go back on promises made, as is so often the case. It just isn’t good enough for the Tory leadership to later turn around and say, ‘ah, but what we really meant was………….’. We’ve had enough of cons thanks, we want honesty, integrity, direction, and a government that puts the UK first, second, and every place thereafter.
I truly believe Miliband and Sturgeon posed a very real danger to the UK, and that fact wasn’t lost on the voting public. Somebody had to stop them, and the people understandably turned to the best chance to keep them out. So the Tories shouldn’t pat themselves on the back just yet, because people voted for them for largely negative reasons. Their own danger is just better hidden than Miliband’s, and a victory by default is no victory at all.
It is incumbent upon the new Conservative government to do the statesman-like thing and not be sneaky, especially where our renegotiations with the EU are concerned, and I envisage a lot of hassle on that score nearer the time. It is largely for that reason, I urge all of us to push for John Redwood to be given the post of Foreign Secretary. I can’t think of anyone I would rather see in that high office. Previous occupants have proven woefully inadequate. We now need someone with ministerial experience we can all rally behind, who will keep the unrepresentative pro-EU people well away from any and every position of influence.
Tad Davison
Cambridge
May 9, 2015
I do wonder what the PM really thinks about the result? All alone with all those Eurosceptic Tory MPs to deal with…… and no Nick to help him…. I do think that he is still shell shocked at the result and wondering how he will now govern…. I could be wrong of course đ
zorro
May 8, 2015
Already the EU junker are expecting Cameron to ‘keep Britain in’ – a job he will have no problem doing.
Interesting to see how how the ‘sceptical’ Tories deal with that one. Any comments JR?
May 8, 2015
Well said on the BBC today JR, they were exactly the right words. I just wish I had your confidence in Cameron. I will be very surprised if he changes his direction on the EU to deliver anything significant. So far he has given us nothing but his vague and largely vacuous Bruges speech.
We shall shortly see if he appoints all the green crap spouting, EUphile, high tax borrow and waste lefties and even home secretaries who ban advocates of free speech – as he did last time. Hopefully he will cancel all the green grants and HS2 as his first act and enact the ÂŁ1M IHT now (five yeas late) and cut income tax to 42% max instead of the idiotic 47%!
May 8, 2015
I’ll say one thing, whatever you say about Cameron he’s managed to nail a “sitting duck” election in contrast to your many remarks about throwing the election over the last however many years.
May 8, 2015
I said a couple of days ago that I thought the Tories would just scrape through but it is no thanks to him. It is mainly thanks to the dreadful vision of Miliband & the SNP. Not many in England wanted that combination so they voted to prevent it. They had no other options to prevent it.
May 9, 2015
Also as I suggest before many UKIP voters held their noses and voted Tory just to prevent the even worse Labour/Libdems getting back
May 8, 2015
Congratulations. I can’t say I expected that outcome! Lots of work ahead.
Peter van Leeuwen – you may now rejoin the debate.
May 8, 2015
I did.
Few in England wanted a Miliband dog being waived by an SNP tail. The libdems were always going to be demolished for having such silly policies when in power. How can a serious party put people like Ed Davey, David Laws and Vince Cable in government?
It is however a victory despite Cameron’s lack of vision – no credit is due to him at all.
May 8, 2015
What a delicious irony that UKIP has taken so many votes from the Lame Dim’s and Labour as to gift the Conservatives a majority .
Cameron must be furious . No coalition partner to provide an excuse to wriggle out of a referendum .
In a sense I feel FPTP has served us well this time .
A pity that we couldn’t have had more UKIP MP”s to wreak havoc like they have in Brussels .
May 9, 2015
PR would have made it more interesting and reflective of opinion…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32601281
zorro
May 8, 2015
Wagged not waived
May 8, 2015
Well done Dr JR . I fully endorse your comments this am. – particularly your views on our relationship with Europe . From the votes cast so far showing UKIP with only one seat , the cry must certainly go out for electoral reform ; the positive response UKIP have received surely implies they must be given the recognition they deserve . I an so pleased that the SNP will not be able to snap at the heels of the Labour Party and create the sort of havoc they would like in Westminster .
In signing off I also want to want to see you in the Cabinet occupying an influential role managing our economy .
May 8, 2015
JR in cabinet under Cameron! He even fired Patterson and Gove.
May 8, 2015
Yes, I agree. If CMD is to maintain credibilty and is genuine about EU revision he should include Eurosceptics in his cabinet.
May 9, 2015
Never mind Eurosceptics – silly word, imprecise to the point of meaninglessness–what we want is a few Europhobes. The only reason JR can even begin to try to persuade us that the Tories are Eurosceptic is the meaninglessness of this word–I bet Cameron says he is sceptic when it suits.
May 9, 2015
I love Europe, but hate the EU that is wreaking such damage to it.
May 9, 2015
Postscript–EUphobes I really meant
May 8, 2015
@Bert Young; “In signing off I also want to want to see you in the Cabinet”
It is my opinion, that our host is probably far more powerful outside of Cabinet, being able to speak his mind freely on a daily bases and not be constrained by “collective cabinet responsibility” but of course if he feel he can serve the country and the eurosceptic voice better from within…
May 9, 2015
Maybe Patterson as chief DECC minister? More likely a version of Davey with no understanding of physics or engineering- probably female to maintain equality in government.
May 8, 2015
Being consistently right always seems to be a disadvantage, for those seeking promotion in politics, quite the reverse it seems.
May 9, 2015
He would outshine the boss, and that can’t be done. It happens a lot you know…
zorro
May 8, 2015
“Conservatives also strongly believe that Europe is our continent, not our country. ”
It’s not only Conservatives who believe that. I’m looking forward to having that EU referendum which I hope will actually happen now.
Tony Benn said that the EU was more about the creation of a European Empire than the creation of free trade zone. I don’t believe most people, however they might have voted this time, want to be part of that empire.
They do, though, want to be part of a United Kingdom, which includes Scotland. Just how the main Unionist parties recover from the SNP onslaught is hard to know right now. It has to be attempted though. Surely it can’t get any worse?
The Conservatives need to lead the charge for Unionism. The word ‘Conservative’ has to go North of the Border. Its time for the re-emergence of the Scottish Unionist Party, run by Scots, for Scots. It wouldn’t do anyone any harm if there were more than a few policy disagreements with the English Conservatives. It would show they weren’t just lapdogs of the English establishment!
May 8, 2015
Well done John thank you for all you continue to do for us in Wokingham and congratulations. Very good summing up in this latest post.
Reply Thank you
May 8, 2015
Mike
Absolutely agree
Well done John, let us perhaps hope that Mr Cameron will at last recognise talent when he sees it, with a well earned cabinet position for our host.
A well balanced and sensible post which sums up the situation well.
A huge amount of work still needs to be done, let us hope that Mr Cameron is up to the task, because he now has absolutely no excuses.
We wait and see, as only time will tell.
May 8, 2015
Congratulations on retaining your seat.
It remains to be seen what the relaxed leadership actually does about England and Europe now.
May 8, 2015
Mr Redwood,
May I congratulate you and your party, and in particular Oliver Colvile and Johnny Mercer who fought hard and honest campaigns in marginal seats.
I hope that Mr Cameron doesn’t just take this election in isolation and take it as a mandate purely on the economy. I’m sure you and the analysts will read between all the lines and consider all election/referendum results over the past couple of years and come up with the right conclusions and solutions.
So, I will ask twice as loud and twice as often (particularly as it looks like the word ‘coalition’ can no longer be used as an excuse):
1. Please can we have an in/out referendum on the UK’s EU membership ASAP?
2. Please can we have an English Parliament (or at least steps toward a federal UK based on fairness and equality) and/or an English First Minister.
3. Please can the Defence budget be ringfenced at an absolute minimum of 2% of GDP?
How about your party saying a big Thank You to the people of England and stop treating the English like 3rd class citizens?
Have a good day, and thank you for providing us with this outlet for our frustrations and rants.
May 8, 2015
I think one of the main things that this election has shown is the need for electoral reform. Scotland had its own parliament and yet gets a disproportionate number of seats at Westminster. Surely there is something wrong with a system that allows UKIP to come second in a huge number of seats, to gain more votes overall than the SNP, yet just get one MP. The Greens also polled quiet well (although I’m against them) and deserve better. Meanwhile the Lib Dems, in spite of their reduced support and getting less votes than UKIP, get more seats than UKIP
I’ve always supported the FPTP system which works well when there are perhaps two or three parties, but now it seems time for change although I’m far from sure that the alternative vote sought by the LibDems is the best choice. At least hopefully the Tories will be able to push through the Boundaries Commission report and stop the Gerrymandering.
May 8, 2015
@EP
I favour the Alternative Vote. Under this system a voter can send a message to the main parties, whose dominance remains despite widespread contempt for them, while also voting for or against their preferred/ detested candidate with their second vote. We need to encourage single issue parties, the pressure that UKIP, SNP and to a certain extent Plaid have brought to bear has been invaluable to their demos.
Alternative vote retains the perceived benefits of strong government that FPTP gives at the same time as giving voters a louder voice.
#EdBalls (:
May 8, 2015
I have always considered that a slightly fairer system would be a reduction in directly elected MPs to 500 and then 100 extra MPs allocated, in proportion to the percentage of UK vote share of each party (at least 1%of votes needed). In that way, no vote will be a ‘wasted’ vote.
May 8, 2015
Those of us who live overseas would also deserve a designated MP, perhaps one for N&S America, one for Europe and one for N. & F. East and Asia.
The old MP in the UK could not be bothered to reply to my letter.
May 8, 2015
Fully agree – I am an expat. I think the French have such an arrangement. It makes much more sense.
May 8, 2015
Dear Jagman–I agree. Having seen the hardly believable situation of the huge UKIP vote yielding just one seat, the sheer unmitigated preposterousness of that result means something must be done. I would till now have disagreed but a joke’s a joke and this isn’t funny.
May 9, 2015
That is the system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, and the Tories are happy with that because their level of support in Scotland is similar to that just achieved by UKIP across the UK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliament_general_election,_2011#Votes_summary
In fact their leader Ruth Davidson is only in the Parliament because she was top of the Tory list for Additional Members for the Glasgow region, where she scraped in on the 6.1% of the votes cast for the Tory party.
But the Tories still much prefer FPTP for elections to the UK Parliament, because with their higher level of support across the UK as a whole it gives them a chance to get a disproportionately high number of MPs – they have just won 51% of the seats on 37% of the votes cast – and exclude nuisances like UKIP from Parliament.
May 8, 2015
I feel that we’ve been governed by the Scots for generations â but in the past they masqueraded as Labour voters.
The rise of the SNP has done the rest of the UK a huge favour â because itâs now likely that the Labour Party will never be in power ever again.
Youâre right â pushing through the Boundary Commission recommendations should be a top priority as should be fraudulent Postal Voting (a tightening of which was probably why George Galloway lost his seat).
But, all in all, a very positive election for England â the future looks much brighter today.
May 8, 2015
As you say:- “The rise of the SNP has done the rest of the UK a huge favour”
Cameron would certainly not have won without:
A. Miliband being completely useless and
B. The dreadful threat of the SNP tail wagging the Miliband dog.
Still at least Miliband has acquired a nicely carved (with landlord robbing threats and other economic idiocies) tomb stone, ready for when he eventually needs one. In the mean time he can perhaps use the list to remind him of his total immorality and stupidity.
May 8, 2015
The immorality of trying to buy tenants votes by using money robbed off landlords that is. This while surely knowing full we that it would help neither in the long term.
The law would just have created lots more pointless jobs for lawyers and lots of extra hassles for both landlords, tenants and the courts. Thanks goodness we are free of this dreadful man and his side kick Balls.
May 9, 2015
LL .Milliband being completely useless- A lot of voters think Cameron is useless too. A good point was made by Clarkson today and was read on Today R4 while waking up. My bird first looked disapproving, then chuckled and said ” Well he was only saying what a lot of people thought but didn’t say. That’s why I voted for Cameron”. I didn’t but a lot of men would have looked with horror at the two Celtic ladies through the eyes of a person with a huge mortgage, no money coming in and a wife nagging about her lack of spending money.
May 8, 2015
As I mentioned the a few days ago, I think a constitutional convention before the in/out referendum would be a worthwhile approach, so recommendations by end of 2016. The GE results do appear to flag the need for Federalism (home rule), 2 vote MMP and renegotiation with the EU (+the usual Lords, boundaries etc). Statesmanship not just performance is required, we will now see if the PM has it.
In the meantime congrats to all the workers/members/campaigners of parties on all sides; without them this momentous election would not have happened.
May 8, 2015
Phew! I can now let my 4 bedroom vacant property to 2 students or unrelated people, in order to comply with coalition laws. My son’s non-dom landlord will not have to sell up and go elsewhere and the talented French people, which make London the 3rd largest French city, will not have to take the ferry back when le Cloon, as they call him, is replaced.
Mr Cameron has been very fortunate and presumably he knows that he owes much of his luck to Ukippers who could not face rule by Ed and Alex. Mr Carswell and the BBC have estimated the UKIP vote around 4 million, for which he is the only MP. The percentage of the national vote is put at 13%. 63m x 13%= 8.3m. The SNP had 50% x 5.3m= 2.7m. Last year UKIP had 27.5% and some may have voted to keep your party in power, while ex Labour kippers will have reduced their poll.
If your government decided to give Scotland complete federal control of tax in return for no more subsidies and change the electoral system to PR, the SNP would have half the number of seats and Labour, Conservative, UKIP and Greens would be fairly represented. With EVEL, what could be better for England? You would also be wise to change the rest of the UK to PR too, as 37%+ 13% + NI conservatives would give a majority of MPs with views close to your own.
May 9, 2015
The figures for Ukip votes were wrong in my entry, as I looked up electorate without deducting those not exercising the vote or in prison etc. However, many Kippers, Labour and Dums will have been counted as Tories, when they are really anti Sturgeons.
May 8, 2015
“Scotland had its own parliament and yet gets a disproportionate number of seats at Westminster.”
Scotland sends 59 MPs to Westminster to deal with those matters which are reserved to that Parliament and not devolved to the Scottish Parliament; the same electoral quota is used in Scotland as in England and on that basis there would be 57 for strict proportionality, but 2 extra are allowed because of the greater geographical difficulties in defining constituencies.
May 8, 2015
Nature abhors a vacuum and first past the post (FPTP) voting, abhors contests with anything but a binary choice. It certainly got its own way in Scotland in SNP versus Labour!
FPTP did its best to bring the contest back to a binary choice in England. Excellent strategy by the Conservative team made FPTP work for them. The constant poking of the SNP after the Scottish Referendum loss, wound-up Scottish nationalism. That gave birth to “Atilla the Hen” (Nicola), and the vision of Scottish hordes assimilating the English Labour Party, Borg Collective style.
Hence the contest, as of today, has gone binary, “Call me Dave” versus the “Scottish Borg Queen”. But; with such a small margin in the HoC, Cam will spend a lot of time appeasing his own right wing. He will certainly want to avoid another John Major style “put up or shut up” moment. Also; a lot of the “possible coalition sweeteners”, in the manifesto, will get quietly dropped from the agenda.
All this and Osborne grinding the economy to a standstill for no good reason, except an out of date ideology. So; if you are not expecting a lot of unearned income, you may want to think about a family strategy to survive the next five years.
Don’t forget, Osborne will be forced to give up the slash and burn the public sector austerity, about 2017/18, if not before. Same as last time.
May 8, 2015
@EP; Before trying to construct alternative voting system in favour of your beloved UKIP do please consider were pro-EU parties like the Greens will be today under the same electoral system you claim would help UKIP, yes indeed there might be more UKIP MPs but their gained voice might well be drowned out but the increased voice from the pro-EU left…
May 8, 2015
Thank you for maintaining a website from personalised attacks on Labour or other political parties and for continuing to draw attention to the fundamental unseen economic issues underlying life in Britain. I hope your contribution will be recognised by a move to the front bench in the next government.
May 8, 2015
Loyalty, they used to say, was the Tories’ secret weapon. I hope and pray Conservative MPs remember this. Each and every one now has the power to pursue the bee in his or her own bonnet, and many such bees undoubtedly will be good and desirable. They should sternly resist the temptation.
Bagehot called the shire Tories “the finest brute vote in Europe”. There will be much worse things to be in this knife-edge parliament.
May 8, 2015
Yes the new line, esp from the BBC, is that the Conservative govt will be held to ransom by the ‘extreme’ right. The oleaginous blairite apparatchik Jonathan Powell has just used the term ‘nutcases’ to describe right wing Conservative MPs (he did not say, but I am sure you would be covered in this classification). A feature ignored in this campaign is how routinely leftists insult people on the centre right. Let’s remember if we add up Conservative, UKIP policies, DUP, and to be fair to them LibDems, c. 60% of the country have voted against tax-borrow-spend (‘anti-austerity’) policies espoused by the Labour Party and the fringe left, and amplified by the BBC. I am heartened by the common sense of the British people.
Conservative MPs need to be united and disciplined behind the manifesto. Let’s make sure we get some of the key things through early in the new Parliament. justice for England, Fair Votes, sensible tax reforms etc, the EU referendum enabling legislation etc. a few lost by-elections and some of these things could become more difficult.
May 8, 2015
Selling the BBC would be a good start.
May 9, 2015
@Bob; “Selling the BBC would be a good start.”
Yes and then get an even more left wing PSB service from Ch4, whilst paying for it via a surcharge on our subscription or PAYG accounts, not to mention via the shop tills and paid for TV advertising…
Might I suggest just better regulation of the entire UK broadcast/media industry, with perhaps even better (cross media) ownership regulations?
May 8, 2015
I said some weeks ago that I found it difficult to see any good outcome of this election, now I think we have got one of the worst possible outcomes. We have the SNP nearly sweeping the board in Scotland and now having a Tory government in London against which they can rail, probably leading to demands for a second independence referendum which they would be more likely to win leading to the break up of the UK. And we have the prospect of an “in-out” referendum on the EU which those of us who want “out” are very unlikely to win, especially now that UKIP is a weakened force. If the Tories and just parts of the mass media can frighten people into voting Tory, as they have done, then the “in” side plus almost all the mass media will have an excellent chance of frightening them into voting for “in” even if they would really prefer “out”.
May 9, 2015
Speaking as a not a natural Conservative supporter , I’d argue that it wasn’t the worst. That would have been the Tories and Lib Dems in coalition again, with the Lib dems exerting enough influence to spike the EU referendum plans. I’d be surprised if David Cameron really wanted a clear majority, he certainly would not have expected it – no-one did!
He’d have been happier to not have that referendum. But he stuck with it now. He can’t get out of it. Surely not?
I don’t buy the argument that we need UKIP to win the referendum. 2017 is as good a time as any. There’s plenty of anti- EU support on the left. Having UKIP lead the fight for that referendum is an embarrassment. IMO.
Unfortunately, they aren’t a weakened force anyway. They got 13% of the vote. They’ll bounce back from their disappointment at only landing one seat. That’s always going to happen with a new party under a FPTP system of voting.
May 9, 2015
It was UKIP that got us that referendum.
To that end, mission accomplished.
But a measly 5 UKIP MPs (and Farage) would have satisfied us. It wasn’t too much to ask, was it ?
Reply Conservative MPs secured the referendum , not UKIP
May 9, 2015
Reply to Reply–Dear John, You are alone in believing this: even the Torygraph gave due credit to UKIP
May 9, 2015
@Anonymous; “It was UKIP that got us that referendum.”
The only thing UKIP got us was a coalition in 2010 that stopped the country having such a referendum, had it not been for that UKIP factor five years ago this issue could have been done and dusted for some years by now…
“[a referendum pledged] To that end, mission accomplished.
Something I said weeks ago, something I said yesterday, each time I’ve said it people like @Anonymous (and others) have challenged me, I’m glad that @Anonymous has finally accepted that UKIP have made themselves irrelevant, and thus perhaps one reason why people rejected the need for UKIP MPs.
May 9, 2015
“Thereâs plenty of anti-EU support on the left. Having UKIP lead the fight for that referendum is an embarrassment.”
In 1975 the “out” side was mainly led by the left, in the form of Tony Benn and Peter Shore, and that actually helped the “in” side to win.
Despite what you are told by journalists, UKIP is not a “far right” party, in fact overall it is now pretty close to the political centre ground.
May 9, 2015
Denis – I think you’re right that this is (if not THE worst) one of the worst outcomes, for the reasons you state.
The Daily Mail editorial today:
“High praise is also due to Nigel Farage. Since he took the Ukip helm, he has stirred up the political world, giving a voice to millions who felt disenfranchised.
It is thanks to him that passionate public concerns over such matters as mass immigration and EU interference are at last openly discussed â occasionally, even by the BBC. Ukipâs single seat in the new Commons is a pitifully poor reward for a party that attracted nearly 13 per cent of the popular vote.”
Fat lot of good.
They were the chief cause of the UKIP collapse. I despise the rag for what it has done.
5 UKIP MPs including Farage (not much to ask, surely) would have given the Redwoodians some much needed strength from outside the party. Instead the Daily Mail did a complete hatchet job on UKIP and have killed them off.
The Redwoodians no external threat to point to when their leader turns Left into the EU maw.
At least I can say that I didn’t fall for it.
May 9, 2015
@Mondeo Man; “They were the chief cause of the UKIP collapse. I despise the [Daily Mail] for what it has done. “
I despise title for its more usual content but the Daily Mail called it correctly and thus much kudos to them for perhaps alienating a sizeable section of their readership and thus putting morality before commercial profit, who needed such a party built on nothing but social scapegoating, something the DM learnt in the 1930s in a most painful, if not pitiful, way.
I’ll spare our hosts possible use of the blue pencil, do your own research on the publication and its owner during the 1930s (etc ed- a long time ago and nothing to do with the current business ed)
May 8, 2015
“One nation” What nation is that then? Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland or the other one, known by Westminster as Britain……………………………………
May 9, 2015
How about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
May 9, 2015
I’m afraid that one began to break up in 1998 and will never be put back together.
May 9, 2015
@Old Albion; Iâm afraid th[e UK] began to break up in 1998
Actually long before 1998, before even the loss of the Empire, the embryonic SNP was around before the second world war. I suspect the date you are grappling for is 1922, if not before…
May 8, 2015
John,
Congratulations upon your re-election. It is interesting how one set of possibilities have now been removed – with a new set now coming into view (eg keeping the lights on, let alone the EU Referendum…)
May 8, 2015
“Conservatives also strongly believe that Europe is our continent, not our country.”
That was yesterday .
Can put those dangerous ideas back in the cupboard for the next four and a half years .
May 8, 2015
Congratulations Mr Redwood , from a UKIP voter, hope that now you have a majority we will get some proper conservative policies and that you are successful in standing up for England.
May 8, 2015
‘One Nation’ Conservatism = dripping wet big state, big spending government.
That is what we have to look forward to – Cameron couldn’t have been clearer.
No change then – an electorate faced with the choice of picking the prettiest horse in the knackers yard choose Conservative.
I do hope the party enjoy their brief moment in the sun until reality dawns and the electorate realise that the ‘recovery’ is just another debt bubble.
The penny may also drop that the ‘2 million new jobs’ are largely poorly paid part time positions that don’t pay a living wage without subsidy.
May 8, 2015
UKIP achieved over 12.5% of the vote and 4 million votes. Under FPTP we got just one MP which is a travesty of democracy.
Unless you vote for Labour or the Tories (in England – and the SNP in Scotland) you are effectively disenfranchised by the electoral system.
If the Conservatives are to deliver “good working of UK democracy” they have to deliver electoral change. FPTP does not work in a multi-party democracy. We need a system which means every vote has the same weight. That means PR.
Will the Conservative Party deliver? Of course not. They’re not interested in a “good working democracy.” They’re only interested in retaining the electoral advantage FPTP gives them.
May 8, 2015
12.5% x 44m electorate is 5.5m. Across the whole UK population 12.5% is 7.87m. Where does the 4m come from?
May 9, 2015
UKIP received 3,881,129 votes or 12.6% of the total of 30.7 million votes cast.
Not the total electorate.
They didn’t stand in every constituency though. Thy fielded 495 candidates so I’ll leave it to anyone who wants to know to calculate what their average was in constituencies in which they did stand!
May 9, 2015
And to estimate the numbers who voted tactically. The EU Election vote for Ukip was over double the GE.
May 9, 2015
About 0.7 million of those 30.7 million votes were cast in Northern Ireland, with UKIP getting only 18,000. So for Great Britain rather than for the UK as a whole UKIP got a slightly higher share of the votes, about 12.9%. I only mention this because opinion pollsters usually only sample Great Britain, rather than the whole UK.
May 9, 2015
All the numbers are available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results
May 8, 2015
Absolutely right, Boudicca.
May 8, 2015
The big question in my view â as it goes to the heart of how a democracy functions â is why there was such a large gap between the pollstersâ results and the actual vote.
Why is it that those who intend to cast their vote further to the Right feel ashamed to admit it?
If they privately feel their vote is for the good of the country, what forces are stopping them from declaring this?
Has it become more socially acceptable to be left-wing, despite the damage left wing policies cause? If so, why?
May 8, 2015
Well when you answer a poll you can answer differently, freely and how you like there are no consequences, when you get to a poll both is is not the same. You think do I really want Miliband’s Labour, higher taxes and the SNP too. Perhaps I had better vote for the stop Labour/Libdum candidate after all.
Similarly if you ask people if they think the government should invest in green energy, give more to the poor, give more to the third world, or would they pay more tax for the NHS, or do they often give to charity, and buy organic food ….. people often say oh yes.
But when push comes to shove perhaps they really want cheap energy, never give to charity and want lower taxes. A poll is not a real poll booth which has real consequences. Neither really does the MEP elections, so you get a different result there with UKIP winning outright.
May 8, 2015
Kenneth,
The official answer to why the polls got it so wrong will be a few weeks in coming but I’d say it would have to be that the Labour and Lib Dem vote just didn’t turn out as the pollsters expected. The sampling methods used in the exit polls would have been the same as in prior polling and that was almost spot-on. The only difference being the turn -out factor, which wasn’t, of course, relevant for an exit poll.
I’d attribute this reluctance to vote, mainly, to Labour’s lack of a commitment to trust the electorate on the question of the EU, but others would be have their theories and reasons too.
May 9, 2015
Antony Wells is almost as mystified as anyone else:
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/9411
but doubts that there was a late swing of the required magnitude.
May 9, 2015
Dear Kenneth–It is nothing like that–What it is is that the Left (the ordinary folk Miliband talks about) get a charge out of being asked, which boosts their feeling of importance–The Right do not need this effect, at least not to anything like the same extent.
May 8, 2015
“It is called democracy”. . . . .being in the EU certainly isn’t. Nobody voted for what this has become . . a massive dictatorship is on it’s way. And Cameron wants to be sat at the table – at any cost to the REAL people of this nation.
May 8, 2015
First congratulations are due to the Conservative campaign team for the success they have achieved – which I imagine has exceeded their expectations as well as just about everyone elses.
Your comment about the primacy and good working of democracy applies on two levels. One is the one nation aspect you refer to. The other is the skewed result that FPTP has produced in seats won vs votes cast. That situation will not change, but the Conservative party needs to weigh carefully the potantial consequences that a sense of disenfranchisement of many millions may cause in the future.
May 8, 2015
No congratulations are due to Miliband and the SNP for presenting such an unpalatable alternative that even Cameron could win.
May 8, 2015
Congratulations both to you and to your party Dr Redwood.
So much for Sturgeon’s attempt to ‘lock’ the Tories out of Parliament. With a majority you have a mandate from the British people to govern the whole of the UK and that includes Scotland whatever the SNP may say.
Take a hard line with the SNP but don’t punish all Scots for the actions of one despicable party.
May 8, 2015
I visited Ireland recently and was impressed with the sensible way they have spent their taxes, with none of the silly expensive stuff we have in SE England. The original separatists may have been had other intentions but when confronted with no subsidies, they seem to become good at saving money. This is not to say that they are not very fed up with the banks and EU. As to wind farms, they have a campaign with whole houses covered with pictures of pylons and turbines, with alternatives taking much less space. They are even considering nuclear. And when gay marriage comes up, they don’t just spring it on the electorate and do it anyway, they have a referendum and public debate.
Scotland would probably settle down in the same way, once the sums were done.
May 8, 2015
“Take a hard line with the SNP but donât punish all Scots for the actions of one despicable party.”
These two statements are contradictory. The SNP is the party favoured by the majority of the Scots who voted, so taking a hard line with them will be punishing the Scots for not voting for someone you approve of.
Alienating the SNP will only alienate more Scots and lead to a break up of the Union.
May 9, 2015
The majority of seats won is not the same as the majority of people who voted. You must surely know that?
May 8, 2015
“Congratulations both to you and to your party Dr Redwood.”
I echo those words!
May 9, 2015
Dear Max–It is undeniable that Sturgeon opened her hatred filled mouth against the Tories many many times too often–I suspect a lot of voters decided to support Cameron precisely because she was so continually OTT in this way
May 8, 2015
Just wondering – how much do pollsters get paid? And will they be required to resign or pay back their wages?
I’d have been sacked by now if I was as inept at my job!
May 8, 2015
One could conclude that the Conservative’s pollsters were better at their job than Labour’s .
I think it is a pretty underhand way to influence the outcome of an election but if it was banned it would just take a different form .
May 9, 2015
I’d be more inclined to forgive the political pollsters. They usually get it pretty close. There must have been something unusual happening this time. We’ll have to see just what that was.
We should be less forgiving of economic forecasters. They’re hopeless and hardly anyone seems to delve into their previous forecasting record before believing a new set of forecasts. The UK Treasury, the IMF, the power-that in the EU like the ECB are all just as bad as each other.
Just swallow this dose of austerity they’ll tell you, and growth will be back in a few years complete with budget surpluses and rising prosperity. Ok there may be some small temporary increase in unemployment they might concede, but it will be well worth it in the end.
Did any of these forecasters accurately predict just how it really would turn out after the GFC? Of course not. No one would have followed their recommendations, otherwise.
Any predictions of what was supposed to happen before the GFC were just economic fantasy. No conventional economist got that right.
I believe the price of a printed version of the Treasury’s economic forecast costs about ÂŁ60. For that they will tell you how the Govt will be in surplus by 2018. I’ll tell you, for free, now that it just will not happen!
May 8, 2015
Even Electoral Calculus, which for some time had been giving perhaps the most optimistic predictions for the Tories on the basis of the published opinion polls, did not predict that the Tories would get over 6% more votes than Labour; they had the Tories with a lead of just over 2% and reckoned that would lead to a hung Parliament with the Tories as the largest party but 46 seats short of an overall majority:
http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/homepage.html
In 2010 the Tories got 7.3% more votes than Labour, which was not quite enough for an overall majority, this time a lead of 6.3% has been enough.
May 8, 2015
It is a poll (many do not tell the truth) it is not a prediction – betting odds are and were a better guide. Though they were still not expecting quite an overall majority.
May 8, 2015
I suppose just a very small swing can change many seats. I have to say if I was ever contacted by an opinion poll my response would be the exact opposite of my intention!
May 8, 2015
Congratulations! Great show! Very entertaining!
Just a pity a great show is not the same as a democracy: almost 4 million votes â rewarded with one representative, fewer than 1.5 million votes rewarded with 56, etc. etc. A non-representative parliament cannot be considered a democratic institution. Sorry.
May 8, 2015
Ha Ha welcome back PvL. How we’ve missed you!
“A non-representative parliament cannot be considered a democratic institution.” Sounds a lot like your beloved EU one, does it not?!
May 8, 2015
Your group of MEPs more fairly reflect popular opinion than your 650 MPs.
May 9, 2015
Agreed. But they have no influence as 1/27th of the EP (which votes pro-EU as directed by their domestic leaders).
May 9, 2015
@DaveM: Cheer up! It’s almost 10%! (73/751)
In the intergovernmental branch (European Council) it is 1/28, but the UK still punches above its weight due to the intelligence of its arguments. đ
May 9, 2015
@PvR; “the UK still punches above its weight [within the EU] due to the intelligence of its arguments”
Hmm, is it really due to our ‘brain size’ or due to the size of our wallet and the fact that our wallet always seems to be hanging out of the back pocket when ever the EU needs extra cash?! Funny how, once the reality struck that the UK just might really mean it when we talk about leaving “Le Club” people like Jean-Claude Juncker start talking seriously about the desirability and need for Treaty changes, no doubt to accommodate a continuing UK membership…
May 8, 2015
On results in so far , number of votes per seat:-
DUP – 23,032
SNP – 25,972
Tories – 34,350
Labour – 40,367
PC – 60,564
LibDem – 291,595
Green – 1,130,276
UKIP – 3,811,896
May 9, 2015
Dear Simon, These figures are indeed shocking but it is a mistake to think that supposedly proportional representation systems achieve what the name suggests. For instance, under “pure” percentage PR systems, as in Germany or Israel, there is always a minimum threshold for representation. So while Ukip would have won many MPs, the Green Party’s 1.1 million votes would probably have resulted in no presence at all rather than the one seat they managed under the existing system.
May 9, 2015
@outsider:
There is no reason to believe that British people are less green than Germans, Belgians, Dutch, which all have a fair representation of that school of thought, and more people will vote for these parties when they see there is a chance of not wasting there vote. FPTP stifles democratic development, new schools of thought getting any chance.
Is it a surprise that after more than 100 years trying, you still have your life long hereditary peers? Some countries like the Netherlands have no threshold for representation.
May 9, 2015
Alth0ugh I would have liked more UKIP representation in Westminster I think FPTP served us extremely well this time around .
It delivered the Govt which the greatest number of people voted for .
P.R. would have deliver a Govt which nobody voted for .
In life we have these things called choices and I think one of the attractions of P.R. to the suicidally risk averse old world is that it avoids decision in favour of compromise .
May 8, 2015
The rules are well known by voters before the election.
No one forces voters to vote the way they do.
If these third and fourth and fifth placed parties were really popular they would have won.
If a Government governs with no thought for the views of those who voted for the opposition parties then the next election will often find them out.
We had a vote on proportional representation and there was no majority for it.
Looking at nations with various PR voting systems I dont see electors get more of what they were expecting or better democracy.
May 8, 2015
Even a lottery has rules which are known beforehand as well as voluntary participation. All other elections in the UK (Scotland, N.I. ,Wales, EU) have forms of proportionality built in, so one doesn’t need to go far for examples.
The irony is that a party in power is never keen to change the rules. Yesterday and today are the first times I hear UKIP talk about PR. (good point! and the aren’t even my closest friends! đ )
Doing what the majority of people support is democracy. In representative democracy that becomes selecting representatives and programmes trusted by a majority of the people at the ballot box.
May 9, 2015
“Doing what the majority of people support is democracy….”
We had a referendum on AV.
A mild form of PR.
There was no majority for it.
May 9, 2015
Dear Edward–Despite the appallingly unfair result for UKIP, in the context of what they are trying to achieve (viz establishment on the ladder for the future) they have made progress, which is certainly not easy to do on FPTP. Next time, the fear of the SNP will perhaps not be so acute. The best news recently is that Nigel Farage has said that after a well earned rest he may put his name forward again in September. Roll on 2020.
May 8, 2015
It all depends on how you define democracy, Peter. Traditionally the UK has used the first-past-the-post system because it wanted decisive government (so it was said) rather than the endless negotiation and re-negotiation of a kaileidoscope of small single-interest parties jostling for position. Is Belgium really better governed that the UK?
May 8, 2015
Singapore and China also have decisive government.
Belgium may have several parties but they aren’t “single interest” parties.
I fear the Britons don’t study what they don’t understand (anything not expressed in English for instance).
May 8, 2015
Welcome back Peter vL
You are totally correct, we do not and never have had a democracy in this country. Its really vanishingly simple we should get to vote for a party to lead the country all this rotten boroughs nonsense is 2 centuries out of date.
We should not have an unelected chamber the house of Lords and we should now have a federal UK with an elected parliament in England , Scotland, Wales & NI
We certainly do not need 650 MP’s making up the numbers
May 8, 2015
I’ve argued with a (Conservative) friend staying with me for a week, that in face of the looming SNP success the Conservatives could leap forward and start preparing a more federal structure with at least four parliaments next to the H.o.C. (SNP and England included). Now that the Tories have overall majority there is no need to win over SNP, but England and Scotland still look very different to me.
May 8, 2015
Yes, Peter, it is indeed something that we should be ashamed of.
May 8, 2015
Unlike your puppet vichy parliament that is almost totally subservient to your precious EU
May 8, 2015
Argument? Or off-loading hostility?
May 8, 2015
Peter
It’s far worse than that.
The Conservatives probably have quite a few million reluctant voters who wanted to vote UKIP but were scared of a Miliband/SNP coalition.
Let’s hope the Tory party acknowledges this and gives them the full and fair referendum they were promised.
May 9, 2015
đ đ And the Tories better hurry: among Brits under 40 years, only 20% would vote to leave the EU. And that is before all the goodies that we are going to give you in order that you stay đ đ
May 8, 2015
Of course it is not democratic to get on FPTP vote every five years for people who lie about what they will do anyway.
May 8, 2015
Still better than MEP election we do not even have a Demos there for any real Democracy to reside.
May 8, 2015
Not worse but better: you have peoples (demos – plural) and your own (UK) people now have elected MEPs who reflect much better the popular opinion.
May 8, 2015
The parliament at Westminster is whollly representative, just not on an arithmetically precise proportional basis.
May 8, 2015
1 representative for almost 4 million voters?
Still I expect it to take a few more decades before the UK will mange to reform its FPTP system. Reform of the Lords is already being tried for a century, such is the power of “tradition”and “we’ve always done it this way”
May 8, 2015
Quite right, Peter!
May 9, 2015
Peter vL
It’s good to see you back.
I’ve missed you more than I thought I would.
May 8, 2015
JR: Congratulation on the victory.
I would suggest the priorities should be as follows:
1) English votes for English laws (along the lines you suggest).
2) Redefine the constituency boundaries.
3) Depoliticise the BBC
Then come the next election, we might have a more level playing field.
Time thereafter to do the EU referendum
May 8, 2015
Spot on
May 8, 2015
With a totally yellow Scotland it may prove difficult to leave the EU without breaking up the UK. Changing constituency boundaries won’t help here.
May 8, 2015
BBC announces new New Top Gear presenters:
Farage, Clegg and Miliband
May 9, 2015
Wouldn’t it be hilarious .
Clegg and Miiband waxing on about Zil’s for bureaucrats and promising to ban private transport for plebs .
Vying to ban diesel , confiscate and crush historic cars and offshore car production .
As for the competitions set them a task of changing a spare wheel , or just getting the bonnet open .
May 8, 2015
Congratulations on the victory and I would like to show my appreciation of your Diary..no personal attacks and many well worded explanations, although I don’t always agree with them! I tried to find equivalent blogs from other MPs of whatever Party but failed to find one that is of this quality.
From the new Government, my personal wish is for a buoyant Stock Market and economic stability; for my family the availability of occupations that make full use of their talents, and affordable housing in the areas of their choice – even Wokingham! – so they can pay off their student loans. In my (part time) work with disabled people I would hope for as few restrictions on their lives as possible and a fair deal for those that care for and support them. This latter job can be very tough and the pay doesn’t reflect what is faced on a day-by-day basis by many dedicated folk. It’s a field that is always bottom of the list as it lacks the PR value of nurses, police, firefighters et al.
May 8, 2015
Did I notice correctly that not a single minister was elected today? The former spitzenkandidat* â now prime-minister â Mr Cameron may appoint ministers, but hasn’t done so yet. Most likely he will appoint from his MPs, Tories would go after him if he didn’t, but I doubt that he is legally required to do so. Will all the aspirant ministers first be vetted and approved by parliament before being able to take their post? Can’t wait to see it! đ
*leader of the largest party.
May 8, 2015
Congratulations to you and Mr Cameron on your victories.
I look forward to scrutinising your government’s performance and manifesto delivery without you continually telling me that none of this was possible because your party was in coalition, as you have for the past 5 years. No more excuses please.
You will need to be on your mettle regarding all aspects of the EU referendum.
May 8, 2015
While I still want “Justice for England” within the UK I’m afraid that the more pressing problem now will be to find ways to persuade the Scots, and many of the English, that Scotland should remain a part of the UK and so head off its total disintegration.
May 8, 2015
I think the input of the Scottish Tories is important. Full Fiscal Autonomy could be a good offer as the SNP would likely reject and this may rather upset their voters, however two (or more) big risks:
1) seen as opportunist
2) they accept, in which case UK government has turned back on the 55%
May 9, 2015
Dear Denis–The Scots hate what they see as the English parties much more than they do the Union
May 8, 2015
Interested to see that UKIP polled comfortably more votes than the Scottish Nationalists. And not just a few more but over a million more.
I hope the ‘one nation’ vision David Cameron wisely spoke about will hive the Nationalists off to their own corner where they can do little damage to the rest of us. Let them see if they can build a better Scotland from taxation they raise in their own country and without calling on England and Wales for hand-outs.
May 8, 2015
UKIP final votes = 3,881,129 = 1 seat
SNP final votes = 1,454,436 = 56 seats
May 8, 2015
If he had an ounce of decency he would give Douglas Carswell a cabinet position to with responsibility for the referendum to acknowledge the huge ukip vote.
May 8, 2015
The electorate have spoken and surprised just about everyone. Though your party have a majority it is not I hope going to be an easy ride for any government they form. They have the chance to start acting like real conservatives and I hope there are still about 100 MPs of your persuasion to ensure that they do.
Labours economics and scaremongering have been rejected in England. I suspect much of the conservative vote was to keep a Labour and SNP cabal at bay, not necessarily a wholehearted endorsement of the conservatives.
You can now treat Scotland to all that was promised last year. They should run an unsubsidised economy and be responsible for their own tax collection. This might concentrate the minds of the SNP. For sure they must have no voting powers in the H o C on anything they already control in the Scottish Parliament.
The Lib/Dems who always claimed the high moral ground, but were found to be wanting in it’s application, have paid the price. Perhaps you can now ensure that we get an intelligent and realistic policy on dependable cheap energy.
There is a big question to answer on the fairness of our voting system. FPTP was perhaps okay when you had three parties. It is not now. When the SNP with 1.5 million votes gets 56 MPs and UKIP with 3-4 million votes gets one, it is very bad for democracy.
You 100 Eurosceptic MPs need to watch DC like a hawk and anticipate the ducking and diving involved in the EU referendum. DC has no mandate to water it down, after a meaningless renegotiation. The question is, do we wish to be part of political Europe and completely lose our sovereignty, or do we wish to be a trading partner only. There is no halfway house that carries with it any integrity. Nigel may not have made it to the H o C, but all that he stands for has not gone away. You dismiss it at your peril.
Having said all that, I am glad to see you are back along with my own conservative MP. Just understand the powerful position you are in and use it wisely.
May 8, 2015
Congratulations MR JOHN REDWOOD you won well in your constituency.
Thee ESTABLISHMENT pulling together and coupled with house prices going up won this election, the thought of the snp being in government was to much, even labour members were secretly wanting the con party to win.
MR JOHN REDWOOD you have been GRANTED every thing you wanted.
Time is short.
I wish you well on your crusade with your friends, you are now the LEADER.
May 8, 2015
Worth noting that under PR UKIP would have had 83 seats, apparently. UKIP polled nearly 4 million votes, and there were huge swings in many areas to UKIP, sometimes from a standing start, and yet only 1 MP. Mr Redwood, you and your Conservative fellows may well be delighted, but the situation is serious and the removal of effective representation for a significant sector of the population is something to be addressed urgently. FPTP was appropriate/satisfactory when only 2 Parties represented most of the population. However, now the situation is very different, and Nigel Farage has again set the ball rolling on this pressing issue of electoral reform, with a meaningful form of “PR” (not AV).
May 8, 2015
My congratulations to you, JR.
Overall, I hope that the absolute majority for the Tories may strip away the excuses used by Cameron for failing to implement policies which the Conservative electorate expect. May you also find significant and not the erstwhile minimal leverage in achieving aims expounded by you on this blog-site. I live in hope but not in expectation.
May 8, 2015
An analysis of the results.
Sinn FĂ©in: as they have 4 MPs but do not take their seats this means that the total number of MPs in Westminster is 646, so to have a majority you need 324 MPs.
UKIP: showed that a a small party that appeals to unrepresented voters can easily unseat MPs belonging to larger parties. No wait that was the SNP. UKIP showed that 12% of the population put leaving the EU above everything else.
SNP: showed that a a small party that appeals to unrepresented voters can easily unseat MPs belonging to larger parties. Scots may also not be too happy if political parties keep representing forming a coalition with them as being a disaster for the UK.
Lib Dems: showed that going against your key pledges can result in your party losing seats. Also you have a 1 in 7 chance of being the new leader.
Labour: lost 40 seats in Scotland to a party that wants to form a coalition with them. Lost 8 seats to the Conservatives, gained 10 seats from the Conservatives, and gained 10 seats from the Lib Dems. May focus more on winning English and Welsh seats in the next election, while maintaining good relations with the SNP.
Conservatives: went from being in a coalition of 353 (majority of 29) to being a single party with 331 seats (majority of 7). So a backbench rebellion of 8 MPs will cause major problems for the Conservatives as the Lib Dems are unlikely to continue supporting them. Labour, the SNP, DUP, Plaid Cymru, Greens, and the SDLP may also be unwilling to support the Conservatives. So Conservatives backbenchers will now be able to exert more influence over party policies.
Finally new elections cannot be called without the support of 2/3 of parliament. So unless Labour thinks they’ll win more seats there won’t be early elections.
May 9, 2015
Outstanding.
May 8, 2015
You have always fought for England Mr Redwood and as it is England who won it for the Conservatives do you think this will get through to your leader?
O r will his first task be to try and divide England up under the guise of devolution?
England must now have a voice which means a First Minister and an English Parliament.
Congratulations Mr Redwood as the post of Prime Minister is taken could you be England’s First Minister?
May 8, 2015
Well done, great result, I was expecting around 295 seats with Lib Dem and DUP support.
There was an icing on the cake with that result in Leeds as well
May 8, 2015
Congratulations John for all your efforts for this site let alone your local duties you deserve it.
Hopefully now we will get a real parliament and I along with 1000s of others you will fully address the Scottish situation.
Give them full fiscal powers which gives them the opportunity to look after their own as they feel fit. As previously mentioned the new government will have to be hard but also fair for the 55% who voted NO.
When they have full control of taxes etc cancel the Barnet Formula and at the same time to get them dragged kicking and screaming into the real world the new Energy Secretary should be announcing that as from the 1st August this year the English Parliament will stop paying all subsidies and constraint payments on ALL renewable energy generators, turbines, solar and bio mass boilers. Turbines that are not fully operational and connected to the National Grid will not qualify for any payments by that date. This will send a clear message to Holyrood that nothing from here on out will be free, if they wish it to be so they must raise the capital expenditure. If they wish to update or construct new power lines for their beloved turbines, fight austerity or the bedroom tax it will be the Scottish Government that finances the projects.
Once the Scottish public start living in the real world then just maybe a lot of them will think twice about being ” fully independent”. This I feel will give the best type of support for the Unionists. The SNP will be answerable to their electorate and not able to blame Westmimster.
One would hope that Mr Cameron will be true to his word about subsidies and with such a small majority it would be hoped that at long last you and your collegues will be listened to.
It was quoted today on the radio that reporters worry about there being a plan to finance all the projects that the threatened cuts are earmarked for. Slashing subsidies and constraint payments plus higher taxation on the land owner payments would be a very good place to start. The billions that have been wasted on all the green crap is criminal.
The country needs to raise funds and what better place than to do it from old policies not properly thought out by the Lib/Dems Secretary of State for Energy.
In reality you could always close down the DECC is it really really needed?
May 9, 2015
Turbo. Agree 100%. Let’s hope JR and other ‘nutcases’, as defined by the civil service, keep Mr Slippery on the right track. Perhaps form a breakaway group if he thinks he can ignore this side of the argument. Also, the way to keep the UK intact would be to introduce PR. Then the separatists would have the same proportion of the vote in Scotland as in the referendum and not be excluded by split voting in the GE. In England the Conservative vote would include Eurosceptics and Envirosceptics who are excluded at present.
Many people voted against PR because the established parties and papers ganged up and a non- elected peer was wheeled in to warn about a non existent threat from the BNP.
May 8, 2015
Nice appearance on the BBC at lunchtime. It at least seemed to entertain Mr Aaronovitch. Never have I woken up feeling the sense of relief I felt this morning.
May 8, 2015
Congratulations John.
I’m not sure I read into the results what you do though.
Some things seem to be glaringly obvious and are being missed by the metropolitan elite once more.
May 8, 2015
Congratulations John. In the end I held my nose and voted Tory to stop Labour and especially the SNP governing England. Cameron says Scotland has spoken – well so has England and yet Cameron has pledged to honour his promise of more devolution to Scotland, Wales & NI but not a mention of anything for England.
John, the power of Tory backbenchers is going to be even greater due to Cameron’s small majority. Will any of them take the opportunity to demand some form of equity for England and I do not mean the insulting sop of English vetoes for English laws or even English votes for English laws? Not only does it mean putting an instant ban on Scots & Welsh MPs having any say on matters which are devolved to their own legislatures but it means addressing the English Question a.s.a.p. i.e. who governs England.
The Tories have been given a second chance in England. You have no Lib Dums to blame now. Please do not let England down.
May 9, 2015
Exactly right, they mustn’t let England down.
We seek only fairness and justice, not ‘nationalism’ like many in LibLabLeft outrageously make out.
May 8, 2015
There is a warning in these election results that the commentariat have not picked up.
One of the reasons why the Lib Dems did so badly is that they alone out of the two coalition partners were refusing a referendum on Europe or any renegotiation of our relationship with the EU; and they got severely punished for that by the electorate. The Conservatives who were offering a referendum actually made gains. Cambridge City is a good example where Liberal MP Julian Huppert lost the seat to Labour by an amount which was less than the UKIP vote.
Likewise, Labour’s refusal to support a refeerendum on Europe was the major cause of their huge loss of votes to UKIP.
Note that in the main the Conservatives did NOT lose votes to UKIP.
It is now clear that any political party which wants to succeed in the UK will have to wholeheartedly support the referendum and the renegotiation which must accompany it. Juncker has to understand that obdurate refusal to renegotiate will result in the rejection of the present arrangement by the electorate.
As for the SNP, there can be no Independence for Scotland within the EU; any desire to dissolve the Union and remain in the EU is an indication that the SNP is driven by anti-English sentiment, not a desire for Independence.
May 8, 2015
‘Juncker has to understand that obdurate refusal to renegotiate will result in the rejection of the present arrangement by the electorate.’
Juncker fully understands. See his comment on an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy to destroy the EU. If such a conspiracy does not exist outside Juncker’s fevered mind it should do so. The EU is directly responsible for the mistaken belief by the Scots that they can substitute EU hegemony for English hegemony on the island of Britain.
May 8, 2015
Perhaps Juncker has seen the recent opinion poll that found 45% of Brits want to remain in the EU; 33% want to leave.[1]
[1] 20 April 2015 https://yougov.co.uk/news/2015/05/05/eu-referendum-lead-12/
May 9, 2015
It should not be necessary to point out that opinion polls cannot and should not be relied on.
A general election is however a definitive statement of public opinion.
May 9, 2015
The barrage of opinion polls conducted before this election were used to manipulate public opinion, not to gauge it.
Opinion polls need to be treated with the utter contempt which those who plan, make and publish them deserve.
May 9, 2015
sjb–Why wasn’t the question more like the Scottish one viz Should the UK be independent (or similar)? As I have said before the Scottish result would have been much more in favour of the Union if they had been asked whether they wanted to break it up. I cannot begin to understand why Cameron didn’t think this obvious–He left it late to engage his brain.
May 8, 2015
Wholehearted congratulations to you, Dr Redwood and halfhearted ones to your party.
I would like to see included in your leader’s speech a big thank you to the UKIP voters who lent you their votes despite not wanting to.
Clearly there were many as the newspaper campaigns were directed at asking UKIP voters to vote tactically in order to save the country.
As it is nearly 4 million English people have 1/53rd of the representation that the Scots do. And only the same representation as one independent constituency of a few thousand voters despite them having more voters than the LibDems and SNP combined.
Oh well. Never mind.
If I had been terrified into forgoing my vote for UKIP to give to the Conservatives and then seen a jubilant Tory Party saying that this had been a ringing endorsement of them I would be fuming.
I hope your party can be sensitive about this and not forget what people have just done for it.
In thanks a full and fair EU referendum as soon as possible would seem a good reward. This is what people were promised and what many of them will have sacrificed their UKIP votes for.
I hear a lot about renegotiation and one nation. Nothing about a referendum here.
The Scots nationalists have disproportionate clout. It is difficult to see how we can remain one nation and how the existing iniquities can but only get worse.
Once again. I’m glad you’re in, John (I never doubted it) Perhaps putting you on the front bench could be part of the reward for those who have returned to the Tory fold too.
May 8, 2015
I’m sorry you thought fit to delete my comment this morning John but I really would like to know when we can expect to see some significant reduction in gross immigration.
When we are going to get the bonfire of the quango’s.
What will be the excuse when the deficit is not eliminated by the end of Parliament and why we haven’t scrapped the HRA.
I see there is a rout of the bond market taking place, does that signal an early rise in interest rates or are we going to resort to money printing again.
Best news, the treacherous Clogg and fiscally challenged Ball have gone. England is a better place.
Well done on your re-election.
May 8, 2015
Justice was done for most. Good work was done in the last parliament and good it has been largely rewarded for that. Perhaps a role for Jon Redwood this time round. Great news, I can can get on with my life without the threat of the country tanking again for a while.
May 8, 2015
Many, with short memories seem to think they are safe in Tory hands . Aside from the dire state of our current account deficit (which nobody is willing to discuss) and the existence of millions of jobs that are too poorly paid to exist without subsidy…
May I draw attention to :-
– The ERM catastrophe during which ÂŁ27 billion of taxpayers money was thrown away trying to save Mr Major’s blushes
-The ‘Maudling boom’ after which a note was left for Jim Calaghan reading ‘sorry to leave it in such a mess, old cock’
-The Barber boom of the early 70’s.
-Harold Mcmillans lavish spending plans that led to the resignation of his entire cabinet. .
May 8, 2015
I was delighted to see that you are once again an MP and extend my warm congratulations. Your willingness to speak for England and effectiveness in making the case for its fair treatment in the Union is much valued.
Indeed this new Government has ” much to do to reassure the nation”. At least it will not be constrained any longer by coalition considerations thwarting implemention of Conservative policies.
As for the late coalition, in my view the fate of your erstwhile partners saw treachery receive its just reward. Rejoice, rejoice!
May 8, 2015
Many congratulations to you and the Conservatives, John. I look forward to reading more sage words in the future. I hope you will achieve fairness for England, do whatever is necessary to boost productivity growth and much else besides.
Well done!
May 8, 2015
Congratulations John. Thank you for allowing us to have our say on so many topics.
Do hope now there is a clear majority David Cameron can now get down to the real issues.
Mainly coming out of Europe. It’s going to take a long while so could we get started very
SOON! We can then run our own country.
May 8, 2015
Congratulations on your re-election John Redwood – atleast you attempted to slightly broaden the political debate from the meaningless soundbites and drivel selected for us by the BBC.
I do think , that you and your party are ducking some fundamental issues with the economy – understandably as the consequences are too terrible to be fit for public debate!
May 8, 2015
My congratulations to Dr. Redwood for his deserved re-election.
I would hope that the Conservative Party leadership will listen to Mr. Redwood on issues such as Europe and energy but I doubt they will.
May 8, 2015
A glorious victory, Dr JR, and congratulations on your own formidable contribution and safe return.
Very high on the list of things to do is to redraw the electoral boundaries so as to remove the Scottish gerrymander. For example, the Scottish constituency formerly called Western Isles has 25,000 enrolled. Compare this to the Isle of Wight with 100,000.
One questions whether 25,000 (Scots ed) should have four times the voting power of 100,000 tax-payers. Reducing Scottish representation to reflect Scottish enrolment would be advisable and should not be seen as anti-Scottish discrimination.
It’s merely ‘equality’, and nothing trumps equality, as we know.
May 9, 2015
“A glorious victory”
This sort of triumphalism must not be allowed, Dr Redwood.
A lot of people have just voted for your party when they didn’t really want to. They must not be ignored or taken for granted.
May 9, 2015
@bluedog; “Very high on the list of things to do is to redraw the electoral boundaries so as to remove the Scottish gerrymander.”
With the political death of the Scottish Labour party does this actually matter any more, and the likelihood of DevoMax and EVEL/EVEN?!
“Itâs merely âequalityâ, and nothing trumps equality, as we know.
One thing trumps âequalityâ and that is fairness, thus the last thing the new Tory government needs to risk in the next five years in is an accusation of “gerrymandering” themselves… I’m not saying that there should not be a electoral boundaries review, normal demographic changes make it a necessity, nothing to do with perceived electoral advantage/disadvantage – if you get my drift…
May 9, 2015
There’s no fairness in the coercive equality that has become the staple of our society. Diversity on the other hand…
Hope you appreciate the triple full stop ending, as practiced in your own posts…
May 10, 2015
@bluedog; Diversity (nor equality) has nothing to do with the population figure of a give area and were those people live, if you really think that “class” and such like still has any bearing on who people vote for you are truly out of touch by at least 35 years!
May 10, 2015
Where did I mention class? Nowhere.
May 11, 2015
@bluedog; You protest to much, were did I mention “Diversity” (or equality)? Nowhere…
May 9, 2015
Islands are especially difficult when it comes to defining constituencies which bear some correspondence to communities. As I recall on the Isle of Wight most of the islanders said that they would prefer to have one MP for the whole island rather than having part of it attached to the mainland for electoral purposes. As for the Western Isles, like Orkney and Shetlands there has long been cross-party agreement that the geography is exceptional and so they should be treated as two exceptions from the usual rules. That doesn’t particularly worry me, just two exceptions, and in any case the way things are going pretty soon nobody outside Scotland will need to worry about it any more and then the English sticklers for perfect equality of parliamentary constituencies will be happy.
May 9, 2015
I’m not sure I’d call it a “glorious” victory for the Tories when they only increased their share of the votes cast by 0.8% over 2010:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results
That 0.8% increase achieved by the Tories was actually smaller than the 1.5% increase achieved by Labour, and it was far less important than the SNP’s 3.1% increase concentrated just in Scotland which wiped out 40 Labour MPs, and of course the LibDems’ loss of 15.2% which put all their 57 seats up for grabs.
May 9, 2015
Well, if an outright majority isn’t glorious I don’t know what is. Cameron has prevailed in spite of himself.
May 9, 2015
I am tired of hearing about Scotland.
Did you see the BBC map on election morning, how small the yellow flash at the top looked? Demographics are interesting.
Let it have home rule, within the UK if it wants, at least that’s what the referendum showed.
Then perhaps we can move on in our lives.
The English nation is the elephant in the room.
May 10, 2015
You English need to have a bit more respect for yourselves and be prepared to ditch Scotland. I feel embarrassed being Scottish with the continual begging bowl being put out. We get more than our fair share from public expenditure. All citizens should be treated equally in the UK and that is why we are a UK. If my fellow Scots want border controls and trade competition with England then so be it. If you think you have too many Poles then wait for the Scottish exodus.
May 11, 2015
Remember the Major years Johnny ? – for the sake of the party AND Blighty – one hopes you learnt your lesson… unity, Unity, UNITY !
By all means make constructive criticisms of Cameo (should the need arise), but, do not become a ‘bar-steward’ – that way only leads to a Liebore government – which in turn leads to the emasculation of us all !!
May 16, 2015
Major was ejected from office because he pursued the wrong policies that destroyed his party’s trump card of economic competence. If there had been a bit less ‘unity’ amongst the senior ranks disaster could have been averted.
We can’t really blame JR for not backing a lame horse that was about to jump over a cliff…
May 16, 2015
‘One nation’ is just a silly attempt to broaden the appeal of the party by being all things to all men (and women).
I’m reminded of when BL introduced the Austin Maestro – it was another confused concept – the managers could not decide whether it was competing against the Escort or the Sierra..it was just stuck in the middle of the range. The buyers were just as confused.
It was a car designed by a committee that didn’t really understand what the buyers wanted – a bit like the Conservative leadership really.
The car had many quality problems as many of the workers felt disenfranchised from the leadership of the organisation…a bit like how many Tory mp’s must have felt.
The Conservatives MUST decide what they stand for, have a clear vision and stick to it.
Emphatically not Mr Cameron’s Blue Labour agenda.
If they go on trying to borrow some of Labours worn out old clothes they are doomed…