Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Small Tory landslide, not many noticed

Apathy–disdain coalition beats support and opposition into distant second and third places

David Cameron has been backed by more than nine out of 10 of Conservative members who voted on his mini-manifesto statement of aims and values. But nearly three quarters of party members (73%) did not bother to vote. Of the 65,000 who did take part, 92.7% voted in favour of Mr Cameron's vision and 7.3% voted against.”

Cameron described his almost 25% endorsement as “overwhelming…a united party going forward”.

In other news: Lib Dem MP says new tax plans are “a slippery slope towards more right-wing draconian policies”.

Update: In other other news: Bad-tempered ageing Scottish cabinet minister says: “I have... no personal ambition to attain any other high office”.

4 comments:

jams o donnell said...

Hmm I can't help but fel that the next election will see a fair drop in turn out. THat may hurt the other parties more but it will probably hit us more.
If only we could present a united front rather than fratricide. I can't help but feel pretty pessimistic about our chances of a fourth term. Stating the obvious I know....

Tom Freeman said...

I don't know... turnout's usually higher when people think there's more of a difference between the parties and when they think it'll be a close race.

On the second count, I think a hung parliament's more likely than at any election in a long time - even last year, when we only got about 3% more than the Tories (and the polls had been saying pretty much that for months), I didn't meet anyone who thought the Tories could possibly win, or even force a hung parliament.

But now, people seem to think a Tory win much more likely... could help us. especially with getting some votes back from the lib dems once blair's gone?

jams o donnell said...

I would expect that we will pick up some of the seats we lost to the Lib Dems last year what with disaffected labout voters returning "home". In the event of a hung parliament I would think Lib Dems are a bit more likely to get into bed with the tories. Whatever the outcome I am not sure the party with the most seats will serve a dull term... err I meant full term but dull term seems right too!

jams o donnell said...
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