Gordon Brown fails his first electoral test
James Forsyth 3:04amIn the first elections since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Labour’s national vote share fell to 24 percent. Labour’s worst result in a generation is bound to further undermine Brown’s position.
By contrast, the Tories had a good night. Their national vote share rose to 44 percent and they had a few spectacular results, including a win in Southampton and a performance that shows that they have friends in the north. However, the biggest prize may still await them: the London mayoralty. There is a growing consensus among political pundits that Boris Johnson has won. If that is the case, then May 1st 2008 might become the night when it became clear that the Tories are heading for victory at the next election.
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Herbert Thornton
May 2nd, 2008 4:15pmSo when can we expect a referendum about Europe? Or does this make no difference at all to peoples' hopes that there will ever be one?
John Miller
May 2nd, 2008 8:40pmIf he thinks it is bad now, just wait until March next year when all the VED notices (what we used to know as RFL or road tax to you and me)pop through the letter-boxes.
If Mondeo man was upset about the 10% tax rate band, the rising cost of living, the - well, you get my drift - what will he say when his road tax goes up by 110% or £200?
Predictably, Darling's solution was "buy a new car". Funny enough, old salt, in the credit crunch time, after you have devalued someone's car by £2000 as a result of your tax increase and with inflation at around 10%, it ain't that easy for most people.
Brown may or may not make a bit of a recovery over the next few months (he can hardly get much worse) but Cameron can look forward to Spring 2009 safe in the knowledge that the Brown Self Maiming Booby Trap for Big Boobies is well and truly primed.
mark
May 2nd, 2008 9:14pmJust a thought - but isn't it jolly good (in retrospect) that he did not call that election last year - he almost certainly would have won as he was still basking in the "he's not Tony, he's good with the economy etc" myth.
If he had gone to the country we would be looking at another 5 years of this lot - !!!!
Phew !