General Election Aftermath

First the bald statistics
Conservatives 306
Labour 258
Liberal Democrats 57
Others 28

However in the current climate of equal interest is the popular vote :
Conservatives 36.1
Labour 29.1
Liberal Democrats 23
Others 11.9

(all expressed as percentages)

This was the election where everyone was diaappointed. Whatever the final outcome it brought to an end 13 years of New Labour government. Labour returned to its roots, in other words the seats it won in 1997 across the South and East of England have now been forfeited. It lost many seats in the midlands and retreated into the north of England and Scotland. For the Conservatives this was not a qualified success , in 2005 under Michael Howard, they had been potrayed as "the nasty party", five years on and in spite of 4 years of "Dave" telling us they'd changed, their percentage of the vote only rose just over 2%. Finally the Lib Dems, after the hype of Cleggomania the harsh reality of too many second places in an electoral system that doesn't award silver medals.

For the Conservatives, the Thatcherites who never went away will question the Cameron model, they'll pour scorn on his arguments over social inclusion, and the base won't want deals with Clegg preferring minority government. For the Lib Dems it's all about whether they can reject Cameron's seduction attempt, will they hold out for political reform, which of course the Conservatives will never give. For Labour barring a minor miracle they'll need to walk over, lick their wounds and find a new leader in time for the next election that might only be months away.

At the moment wise men are keeping quiet, only a couple of backbenchers are calling for Brown to go as leader, but many more I assume are thinking it. Cameron, will survive to fight another election, he'll hope to consolidate his position by winning an overall majority next time. For all the moaning of the Tory right, they don't have any more cards to play. A move to the right might sway those who voted UKIP/BNP on May 6th but at the risk of losing the much craved centre ground. As for the Lib Dems , its a damned if you do and damned if you don't scenario. Whatever way Clegg turns, he'll alienate some of his supporters.

An electoral system whose supporters have claimed that its big advantage is that produced strong, stable government with a clear winner has in 2010 done nothing of the sort, and as a result we are entering one of the most interesting periods of British politics I can remember.