A View From Middle England - Conservative with a slight libertarian touch - For Christian charity and traditional belief - Free Enterprise NOT Covert Corporatism

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Tony Blair better than Michael Foot?

In the General Election of last month, New Labour won "an historic third term" but seem quite quiet about saying so since the election. Well, they probably have good reason to be quiet, because the facts give rise to no real right to celebrate.

In 1983, Michael Foot was deemed to be a failure because he lost the election then gaining Labour only 20.6% of support from eligible voters. In 2005 Tony Blair wins with 21.6%.

How does Tony Blair's "One Per Cent" gain make him any better to run the country than Michael Foot? The answer lies in the fact that in 1983 third party politics was not strong, but in 2005 the Liberal Democrats took a sizeable chunk of votes and that doesn't include "fourth parties" which garnered more votes than ever. The electorate is splitting away from two-party politics, whether we like it or not.

No wonder the grin on Tony Blair's face is weakened. No wonder Jack Straw no longer smiles benignly when on international trips. Their "historic third term" is based only on the vagaries of an electoral map and not on the wholehearted support of the British people.

http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/publications/briefings/election2005.pdf

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