Monday, May 09, 2005
Now that the numbers are more in from the british election, a few thoughts.
The tory conservatives got far fewer seats than the ruling labour party, but that obscures that the vote was pretty close. 31% to 33% or something*. Labour lost many votes to the L-D because of the war, and some of that would return if the election got closer. But the british national party also did well, better than expected. I'm unclear on whether the BNP is the national front, neonazis, or if it's merely nationalistic in the sense of SNP or Plaid Cymru. But I'm guessing if people thought the tories had a shot, some BNP support would split off,and it would then be a matter of the Liberal-Democrats respond. I also have little sense of how Mr. Brown would govern if given a chance. So everything's in play right now. Can Blair (aka Bliar) find a working coalition to move things in parliament, or will there be gridlock leading to embarrasment leading to a new election? As I explained to a friend who lives near Shropshire, British politicians can become embarrased; American politicians never do.
*The British popular vote was Labour 35.6%,
Conservative 32.7%, Liberal Democrat 22.3%, other
4.4%. Yet Labour won 56% of the seats. This is bound
to increase interest in proportional representation in
Britain, -Richard from ballot access news.
The tory conservatives got far fewer seats than the ruling labour party, but that obscures that the vote was pretty close. 31% to 33% or something*. Labour lost many votes to the L-D because of the war, and some of that would return if the election got closer. But the british national party also did well, better than expected. I'm unclear on whether the BNP is the national front, neonazis, or if it's merely nationalistic in the sense of SNP or Plaid Cymru. But I'm guessing if people thought the tories had a shot, some BNP support would split off,and it would then be a matter of the Liberal-Democrats respond. I also have little sense of how Mr. Brown would govern if given a chance. So everything's in play right now. Can Blair (aka Bliar) find a working coalition to move things in parliament, or will there be gridlock leading to embarrasment leading to a new election? As I explained to a friend who lives near Shropshire, British politicians can become embarrased; American politicians never do.
*The British popular vote was Labour 35.6%,
Conservative 32.7%, Liberal Democrat 22.3%, other
4.4%. Yet Labour won 56% of the seats. This is bound
to increase interest in proportional representation in
Britain, -Richard from ballot access news.
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