Britain re-elects moron

[Mercutio]

Since I don't fully understand British election rules, I'm not sure this is 100% accurate, but current projections show that the British have voted to allow Labour to retain control of the house of Commons, thereby granting another term in office to someone whose mouth moves every time George Bush thrusts his hips forward.

I thought you Brits had better taste and judgement than that.

 

[time]

You need to look at the opposition (and its history) to understand why, despite a very significant protest vote, the citizens were unable to bring themselves to change the government.

 

[GMac]

Exactly - the only serious alternative (i.e the Tories) was much, much worse. Blair's personal credibility got shot to pieces as a result of his actions over Iraq, and a lot of regular Labour party voters stayed at home as a result. However the Conservatives were working from such a small base seatwise that they would have needed a huge increase in the overall popular vote to get in, and frankly they still don't appeal to enough of the electorate to get that (far too right-wing). End result is a much-reduced Labour majority in parliament (nearly 100 seats less than before), but still enough to work with. Blair's proably all but done as PM, even though Labour got back in - he'll no longer be able to railroad through measures that elements of his own party aren't happy with any more, and he owes Gordon Brown a big debt of gratitiude for keeping a lot of the party faithful onside (and the voters, thanks to his sound economic policies) - I can see him lasting another couple of years (up to his 10th anniversary of coming to power in 2007), then turning the reigns over to Brown and going off to earn a fortune on the lecturing circuit and write his memoirs.

GM

 

[Mercutio]

What the hell is wrong with the Liberals?

 

[Computer Generated Baby]

What the hell is wrong with the Liberals?

Well, Blair *is* a liberal -- of sorts. Of course, there is the Liberal Democrats, but they are sort of a niche party -- just not anywhere as niche as the Social Democrat & Labour Party, regional parties like the Plaid Cymru, and hardcore niche parties like the various die-in-wool Socialist parties, Sinn Fein (ouch), and British National Party (ouch).

Otherwise, it's the decades-old business-as-usual routine: Conservative versus Labour.

 

[sechs]

What's the record for the Lib Dems? A whopping 54 seats? They're not really an alternative to Labour.

I don't really see Blair serving out a full term.

 

[GMac]

The Liberals (or Liberal Democrats as they're known these days) haven't been a major political force since the Labour party emerged in the the 1920's - for the next 60 years or so they were very much a minority party with just a handful of seats (typically 15 - 20). It's only in the last couple of decades that their representation has grown to the level it's reached now - they often used to win by-elections on the back of protest voting against the government of the day but then lose the seats they'd gained at general eelction time. Nowadays though, they've proved they can handle government (in a coalition with Labour in the Scottish parliament) and they've also developed a set of policies that appeal more to the mainstream electorate (so they can retain the seats they've already gained). As a result they have the potential to become major players again, particularly if the Tories don't get younger (they still have too many holdovers from the discredited Thatcher & Major governments) and broaden their appeal (i.e attract consistent support in urban areas outside of London and the South East) - a lot of disaffected Labour voters switched to the Lib Dems last week as they were the one party who cosistently opposed Blair's policy on Iraq.

GM