The United Kingdom Elections 2010

[Furunculus]

i don't think the country will ever forgive the liberals if they:
1. prop up labour in power
2. go back on their promise to support the mandate of the country, which the tory's convincingly won in votes and seats

it would be exactly the kind of opportunism that Clagg has tried to persuade the electorate that the Lib-Dems are free of.

[JAG]

i don't think the country will ever forgive the liberals if they:
1. prop up labour in power
2. go back on their promise to support the mandate of the country, which the tory's convincingly won in votes and seats

it would be exactly the kind of opportunism that Clagg has tried to persuade the electorate that the Lib-Dems are free of.

But the problem is his party will never forgive him if offered PR he turns it down for those reasons. Indeed I think if he was offered PR and turned it down, he would not be Lib Dem leader for long.

Plus your point #2 is flatly wrong, he said whoever got most votes / seats had the first OPPORTUNITY, not that they had the promise of the Lib Dems support, nothing like that at all. He merely pointed out his opinion which isn't even what is constitutional anyway, so its a mute point. But as I said, Lib dems will never support the Tories and if offered PR they will have to accept it.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Well, I wake up to discover Gordon Brown is still in Downing Street.

It is confirmed that it is formally a hung parliament. Her Majesty has said that she won't see anyone until after lunch, but the civil service mandarins are now able to be released with their contingency plans. I see no prospect of Brown resigning yet.

[Furunculus]

But the problem is his party will never forgive him if offered PR he turns it down for those reasons. Indeed I think if he was offered PR and turned it down, he would not be Lib Dem leader for long.

Plus your point #2 is flatly wrong, he said whoever got most votes / seats had the first OPPORTUNITY, not that they had the promise of the Lib Dems support, nothing like that at all. He merely pointed out his opinion which isn't even what is constitutional anyway, so its a mute point. But as I said, Lib dems will never support the Tories and if offered PR they will have to accept it.

i think not:

1056 Lord Ashdown says Clegg is a man of "honour and integrity". He says that Clegg has proven by keeping his word (that he would support the party that won the most votes) he is worthy of public trust even though it was not necessarily in the party interest to do so. He challenges Cameron to act in the interest of the country rather than his party.

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of the 26 undecided's i have located on the telegraph election map have found 11 safe cons, 9 safe labs, and three safe labs, with two labs that will probably fall to the cons, which makes the remaining seats an even split between the cons and lib/lab at 13 a piece.

would put the cons on 304 using current numbers.

[Tellos Athenaios]

2. go back on their promise to support the mandate of the country, which the tory's convincingly won in votes and seats

But that is precisely the point: the Tories don't have that. They have about a third of the electorate in terms of popular vote, never mind now that they have far more in terms of the seats even if it still isn't a majority in terms of seat count. Nobody in his or her right mind can possibly claim that amounts to a `clear majority' or `mandate of the country' or `popular support' or any other sort of moral high ground based on which such a party should be given preferential treatment in the race for government.

As far as the Lib Dems are concerned; Clegg must now make good on his promise to his party, that he can stand up for their ideas and put those into working government/law practice. If PR is worth so much to the Lib Dems and he is offered that, then he has little choice: he can hardly say at next election when Lib Dems loose out on yet another 5 to 10% of the seats based on what amounts to little more than institutionalised rounding errors: “But c'mon: was I to give up my dislike of X just 'cause it means our party would be twice as big as a result?”. And after such an election in which Labour, despite everything, still manages to be twice as big as the Lib Dems (basically); I really don't think his party is going to swallow that line. If they do, they deserve another 10000 years out of power.

[Banquo's Ghost]

One of the most extraordinary patterns of this oddest of elections has illustrated why the British have never had a revolution worth the name. After all the sleaze and corruption and disillusion, incumbency appears to have been an advantage for those in marginal seats.

Where the sitting MP stepped down in favour of new blood, the voters nonetheless punished the party. Where they clung on, they kept their seat!

Most odd.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Nick Clegg has just executed Gordon Brown. He has reiterated his earlier assertion that the party with the most votes and seats has the right to try and form a government and it is the national interest that should take precedence over party concerns. In other words, Cameron should be able to try first, which means Brown ought to resign.

That was a pretty statesmanlike statement. Stout fellow.

[al Roumi]

One of the most extraordinary patterns of this oddest of elections has illustrated why the British have never had a revolution worth the name. After all the sleaze and corruption and disillusion, incumbency appears to have been an advantage for those in marginal seats.

Where the sitting MP stepped down in favour of new blood, the voters nonetheless punished the party. Where they clung on, they kept their seat!

Most odd.

It is an interesting point, although I'm not so sure about the links to a lack of revolutionary zeal.

My take on it is that those MPs who chose to stay on were 1) confirmed of local support after (or unscathed by) the expenses, 2) people voted for their MP as an individual - not their party, 3) others (i.e the now imaginary Clegg swing) voted the most secure way to keep the Tories out.

Edit:
Where there was a new party candidate, voters must have considered it a more open competition than between a known quantity (incumbent & their party) and the opposition.

What amazes me is that any working class person can be fooled by the conservatives that a millionaire playboy like Zac Goldsmith is going to do anything to further their interestes. Amusingly, he found it neccessary to remind people (perhaps himself mostly) in his speech that he would work in the interests of the constituency, lol.