Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Friday

Peter Hoskin

Nick Clegg gives the Tories the go-ahead

So Nick Clegg has finally spoken – and his words will be welcomed by the Tories.  In an address outside of the Lib Dem HQ on Cowley St, he reiterated his previous argument that “whichever party gets the most votes and the most seats, without gaining a majority, has the first right to form a government.”  But added that “it seems this morning that the Conservative Party have the most votes and the most seats … it is for the Conservative Party to prove that it is capable of governing in the national interest.” What this means in practice isn’t 100 percent certain – although it doesn’t sound good for

Martin Bright

Massive Failure by the Tories and Lib Dems to Manage Expectations

The old political hands in the Labour Party at least knew that they had to talk down their prospects (beyond the usual nonsense about fighting to win). Lord Mandelson was right to fight this election as the underdog because this now looks in some ways like a victory.  In fact this is a massive achievement for the Conservative Party. When David Cameron took over in 2005 many Tories would have settled for this result. They should always have been fighting a two-election strategy. But the Conservative Party allowed itself to get overexcited about the possibility of outright victory. The Liberal Democrats allowed themselves to dream and find themselves bitterly disappointed

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

There may be Tory trouble ahead

Will the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs elect an emergency chairman today? If so, the mission would be to warn Cameron off doing any deal with the LibDems. Most Conservatives will wake up today judging the Cameron campaign to have failed. In the view of many, he will have failed to honour his “change to win” promise: they all changed, as he asked, but he didn’t win. There will be a price to pay, and perhaps one of the heads around Cameron will have to roll to assuage the discontent. Any Lib-Con deal over voting reform will be anathema to many recently-elected as well as existing  Tory MPs. A new

Peter Hoskin

Peter Mandelson is open to the idea of Brown going

Peter Mandelson has just tossed a firecracker in to the arena.  Asked on the Beeb whether Labour might get rid of Brown to accommodate the Lib Dems, he replied: “There will be a number of permutations … I’m not ruling anything in, or anything out.” So, in other words: yes.

Peter Hoskin

Let the recriminations begin

Let’s rewind to 10pm yesterday evening, when the exit poll was released.  Most politicos – myself included – were incredulous.  We could just about believe that there might be a hung Parliament with the Tories as the largest party, but a reduced number of Lib Dem seats?  After Cleggmania and all those recent opinion polls?  Gedouttahere. But, this morning, that exit poll is looking a good deal more prescient.  After an evening of erratic results, Sky’s projection matches it almost exactly: 309 seats for the Tories, 259 for Labour, and 54 for the Lib Dems.  So we’re on for a hung parliament, and all the backroom discussion and subterfuge that

Thursday

Peter Hoskin

Election Night live blog

0843, JGF: The result in Hampstead and Kilburn is remarkable. The local Lib Dems were convinced that they would win. But Glenda Jackson survives by 42 votes with the Tories in second. 0639, PH: A dejected sounding speech from Nick Clegg. 0638, PH: Clegg says “this has been a disappointing night for the Lib Dems – and we obviously didn’t achieve what we hoped to achieve.” 0637, PH: In his acceptance speech, Nick Clegg is going big on the voting problems of last night. 0634, PH: Some good news for the Lib Dems: erm, Nick Clegg holds in Sheffield Hallam. With an increased majority. 0620, JGF: Jon Cruddas holds on,

Peter Hoskin

Tory confidence?

Just under two hours to go until polls close, and Tory types around Westminster seem fairly confident that they can snatch a majority.  Their argument remains the same: that a combination of their party’s concentrated firepower in the marginals and their motivated voting base will swing it for them.  And their demeanour is slightly more relaxed than you’d expect.  Maybe they’re just tired, maybe it’s all show – but, in true Catchphrase style, I’m simply saying what I see. CoffeeHousers seem just as confident, if not more so.  Over in our poll on Spectator Live, 60 percent of you think we’ll end up with a Tory majority.  27 percent go

David Blackburn

The best and worst of the campaign: David Cameron

Cameron’s best moment: the sunshine of the final TV debate David Cameron has had a peculiar campaign.  For the most part, the big set-piece occasions haven’t quite caught fire, while many of the Tory leader’s successes have been the relatively low-key and impromptu successes of the campaign trail.  Having said that, it was the biggest set-piece event of them all – the final TV debate – which gave Cameron his best moment of the election.  Here, he was energetic, direct and, most importantly, optimistic.  And he even managed to sell the Tories’ school reform policy in a straightforward and engaging way.  In his closing statement, Cameron did what he always

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A last blast of polling

I have just been looking at the last wave of polling done for Euro RSCG, who have done much of the advertising for the Tories. The polling, done by one of the big polling firms, was carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday. It shows that 49% of those surveyed expect Cameron to be Prime Minister after the election, up from 46 percent in the last sample which ended on Saturday. Only 16 percent expect Brown to be PM post-election. The data also shows Lib Dem momentum slowing in the final days of the campaign and Labour picking up a bit.

David Blackburn

Best and worst of the campaign: Nick Clegg

Clegg’s best moment: the first TV debate No one could have predicted that 90 minutes of television would have such an impact. But this election has been dominated by the strange re-birth of Liberalism, engendered by Nick Clegg’s performance in the first TV debate. Television is a medium determined by empathy. Clegg embodied the frustration and contempt that many voters feel for the two established parties, and he expressed his alternative vision with ease and clarity in contrast to Cameron and Brown’s garbled debate. The nation swooned. Honourable mention: being the first leader to undergo a Paxman interview. Clegg’s worst moment: the immigration question in the third TV debate Before

David Blackburn

Best and worst of the campaign: Gordon Brown

As we wait for the polls to close, and the final countdown to begin, we at Coffee House thought it would be a good opportunity to look back on the campaign as a whole. And, so, here’s the first in a series of three posts identifying the best and worst moments for the main party leaders. We’ve started with the man who remains Prime Minister for the time being: Gordon Brown. Brown’s best moment: the Citizens UK speech As it happens, choosing Brown’s best moment of the campaign is easy. Alongside so many gaffes, scowls and lies, the flashes of proficiency tend to stick out – and none more so

Brian Reading

How a cow won the 1970 election

The conspiracy theory of history is rarely right; the bungle theory is rarely wrong. So it was at the 1970 British general election. I bungled. The polls gave Labour a 3 percent lead; instead the Tories won. Historians disagree on why this was so. Some blame the margin of error in opinion polls. Others say there was a late swing. If so, I was to blame. It was the Sunday before the Thursday polling. We were panicking. Our Tory backroom boys gathered together three or four future cabinet ministers. I asked how were we to deal with inflation – more important in those days than the budget deficit. We agreed

Peter Hoskin

The party leaders vote

David and Samantha Cameron leaving the polling station in Spelsbury Gordon and Sarah Brown arrive to vote in North Queensferry Nick and Miriam Clegg vote in Sheffield

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Predicting election results is a fool’s errand

Why is predicting this election so difficult? Because voters themselves don’t know what to do. Before each of the last seven elections, Ipsos/Mori ask voters if they might change their minds. In 1983 and 1987, about one in seven said yes. This time, almost half of the British electorate may change their minds. This explains why 2010 has been the most volatile election in recent memory – with all thee parties having been ahead, in some way, during the campaign. And it also explains why prediction is a fool’s game. My gut still tells me ‘small Tory majority’ but I have learned never to bet on my gut. The press

Martin Bright

Message to the Tories: Grow Up About the New Labour Era

I have been deeply disappointed by Tory negative campaigning in the past few days. The Cameroon coup was inspired, in part, by Tony Blair, so to decry 13 years of New Labour is deeply hypocritical. The message, pioneered by Oliver Letwin, was that praise would be given where it was due. Britain has become a better place since 1997 and that is true for readers of the The Spectator as much as (and perhaps more than) anyone else. At the same time, Brown’s leadership of the country and his party has been woeful. The Labour Party has only itself to blame for this. It should have put up a candidate

David Blackburn

Nigel Farage in plane crash

Guido reports that a two-seater aeroplane carrying UKIP’s Nigel Farage was circling in the air before crashing near Buckingham. Farage is understood to have walked away from the accident with only minor injuries and is now on his way to hospital. More details to follow. UPDATE: Reports are inconclusive, but it seems that Mr Farage was pulled semi-conscious from wreckage and may be seeing a heart specialist at Horton General Hospital Banbury.

Peter Hoskin

As the polls open, a topsy-turvy campaign closes

Now’s the time, dear CoffeeHouser. After nearly three years in Number Ten, Gordon Brown is finally subjecting himself to the wishes of the British public. And, signs are, he won’t like what they’ve got to say. Putting the strong possibility of a hung parliament aside, last night’s opinion polls had Labour on or around Michael Foot levels of support. A few folk, like Marbury, have observed that it’s almost like the campaign didn’t happen. And they’re right: there is a peculiar symmetry to the electoral calculus. After all the mood shifts of the past four weeks, we’re back broadly where we started: with the Tories looking to gain either a

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

A Country Election

There’s been a sad lack of country music in these parts lately. But now that the campaigning is done, it’s time to make amends for that. So here’s a country playlist for the election. Like you know, if country music can’t explain something most likely it ain’t worth explaining… Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton offer a succinct (if partisan and less than generous) summary of Britain’s journey from 1997 to 2010: Holdin’ On To Nothin’. Non-Labour voters (and disappointed Labour members) suspect Gordon Brown should be singing: Pretend I Never Happened by Waylon Jennings. On the other hand, Gordon takes his text from Emmylou Harris and Calling My Children Home.

Martin Bright

The Labour Party Must Look to the Next Generation Now

I have just watched the last images of the election campaign on the Ten O’Clock News on the BBC. David Cameron was surrounded by some seriously off-putting party apparatchiks (why not choose some of the perfectly presentable and normal-looking young people for CCHQ rather than these awful gargoyles?), meanwhile Gordon Brown was struggling to fill a room and Nick Clegg was being mobbed.  I remember a Labour spin doctor (OK it was Damian McBride) telling me that he knew Gordon could never win a beauty contest against David Cameron. He didn’t seem to have twigged that modern elections are beauty contests – that is one of the reasons Tony Blair