The Election is over....

Newsflash Michael Howard has stated his intention to stand down from the leadership of the Conservative party, once the system of renewing that position is put in place. Now would be a good time, in my opinion to bring back William Hague, the best leader of the party in many years.

There was an election yesterday.. as you may know of course. That Tony Blair was returned to power for a record third time earlier this morning was only really a matter of time once the campaigning had all but finished.

I, like many other people interested in politics, stayed up and watched it on TV.. until around 6:10 this morning. A quick check on the net for a few specifics and asleep by just after 6:30. I do this every general election, and so am now sitting in front of the screen having a well earned day off, having been up now for the better part of an hour.

Well, so Tony Blair has a vastly reduced majority. That can only be a good thing for this country. He won't have the ability, as he has in the past, of riding roughshod over parliament whenever the hell he wants. His majority is down from 167 seats to just 66, going by the latest BBC forecast. There are still some results yet to come in. The Tory's share of the vote has changed very little in real terms, yet they have secured gains of 35 seats as we speak, and with maybe a couple more to come.

The Lib Dems have had a fair turnout to be honest gaining another 11 seats so far. I did smile at Mr Kennedy's comments made in the early hours that "The era of three-party politics right across the UK is now with us". I'm sorry Charles.. what was that again?

Labour	353
Conservative	196
Lib Dem	61
Others	12

Even with gains of 20% on their 2001 results, His total representation in government is just 11% of the total number of seats, leaving 88% (12 "others" excluded) of parliamentary seats held between the two major parties. Okay, my maths is a bit rough having only had a few hours sleep, but it doesn't look like a convincing three way battle to me.

It seems that there were only two main areas of Lib Dem policy that have managed to gain them the extra support in the first place, these being that they were the only party to oppose unreservedly the war in Iraq, a key factor in this election, and that of a massive student vote in favour of the abolition of impending tuition fees. Tuition fees, if introduced will still be a major factor in those constituencies that have a large student population next time around, but with a few more vocal exceptions the war in Iraq, given that slowly the country is working towards a full democratic government, will be all but ancient history.

Well, let's have a look at how the spread of seats would look if we had proportional representation, which I'm sure will be mentioned in the coming days. This is of course an ideal that all but the winning party under current electoral policy will always agree with. So, how would the new parliament shape up if they truly represented the will of the people..

Labour	234	(353)
Conservative	214	(196)
Lib Dem	146	(61)
Others	51	(12)

(The results are changing as more results come in, but I'ts close enough for the purpose of illustration)

That looks a bit more representative of the real choice that people have made. Labour are holding on to their still very large majority of seats with a very narrow practical margin of popularity. If we ever did get proportional representation introduced in this country, I don't even think that they would be the leading party today. It's of course difficult to judge with so much tactical voting going on across the country, but I wouldn't be surprised if people voted for their party with no tactics involved then Conservative and Labour would be now in coalition with Lib Dems bringing up a rather poor third place.

You all know my political leanings by now.. for those new to this blog, that's conservative.. but I do have to mention one Labour candidate that I felt sorry for, on losing their seat this morning. Oona King, a very able MP for Bethnal Green & Bow for the last eight years, lost out to George Galloway. He's obviously become well known for his alledged ties with Saddam Hussein over the last few years. I can't comment on that, as I don't know the full story, but I saw his declaration this morning, and thought.. "Oh well, another Labour kicking.. whatever!".

Then he opened his mouth. I will be looking forward to PMQs with relish now. I dare say that I will disagree with much of what he says, but along with the likes of Tony Banks, Ken Livingstone and in previous times Tony Benn, I like any politition that says what they mean regardless of what others may think. He first praised the work that she had done over the last eight years and was as gracious in his personal victory against Ms King, as she was in defeat. I genuinely felt sorry for her. She has been doing some sterling work by all accounts, in one of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the country, and will no doubt be back before too long.

I have to say though, that how ever vociferous a candidate has been regarding other polititions, and they all play the game to some extent, it's a first to decry the presiding officer and call for their resignation within minutes of winning a seat. Yes, I'll be looking forward to his speeches in the months to come.

On a more local note, Andrew MacKay has made further increases on his previous results now enjoying the support of just about 50% of the area's electorate. Labour have managed to lose yet another seven percentage points, in their quest for total anihilation here. Congratulations to a job well done, and may you have further successes such as this in the future.

Admittedly, Labour are never going to be a big player in a constituency that is in almost full employment, and has no recent manufacturing history, or a high student population.

If I extrapolated this to say that Labour/Liberal seats tend towards those areas that have higher unemployment, strong histories of manual labour.. be that mining, farming or heavy industry.. or lots of young idealists, then that probably fits in with the general trends toward party loyalties across the country.

I've been writing for ages now (I've just looked.. this has taken the thick end of three hours. I must go and do something more practical), and I think I should stop.. so I will.. but don't worry, I've not finished my political opinionating over this election just yet.

More to follow.

Cheers

Liam