Posted on 05/05/2005 7:59:15 AM PDT by tellw
The Vote is under way!
If they don't, they should be able to get pretty dang close though. REMEMBER, Staffordshire South, which is a conservative seat, is not holding an election this time because of a recent candidate death. That should go Conservative when they hold the by-election to come.
On 595 seats:
LAB 343 (-44)
CON 184 (+29)
LD 56 (+12)
Tories up to 184. If they don't hit 200 they'll come within a whisker of it.
The trend is for them to get 194 right now, IF they do not gain or lose any more seats.
187 Tories now...a full 22 more than in the last Parliament
Enfield Southgate looks like the Tories' big win of the night...hopefully this is something they can build upon.
This is hardly a victory for the Conservatives.
They faced an enormously unpopular Prime Minister.
Twenty or thirty seats more than the last Parliament is hardly an improvement.
Considering how poorly the Tories did in 1997 and 2001.
Plus, the Tories did very poorly in their races against Lib Dems and did not get very far in their marginals against Labour.
Remember, Blair's majority is still a pretty strong majority, a majority that most Prime Ministers would kill for.
It's also even bigger considering that this is their third victory.
Most governments who've won three victories have had nothing like Blair's new, if reduced, majority.
The Conservatives are losers.
And deserve to be.
1) They committed political suicide with their matricide of Lady Thatcher.
2) They were rather squishy on the War in Iraq.
3) Several top tories openly campaigned for Kerry, thus ensuring little to no help from the GOP-- the most successful conservative party in the world, not to mention the best organized.
4) They failed to offer any substantial differences between them and Labour. Their feeble tax cut promise of four billion excited no one.
TORIES gain Forest of Dean from Labour
Lab 346 (-45)
Con 188 (+30)
LD 56 (+12)
Make it 5!
Forest of Dean goes from Labour to Tories.
Qwinn
Won't the majority of the seats in Ulster be won by the Unionists?
They're Ulster's equivalent of the Tories, aren't they?
I think they were squishy and ran a truly amateur campaign, but given that, I think their gains can only be attributed to other domestic issues--i.e. crime and immigration,the NHS and transport failings-- and if they don't follow through on those issues, they deserve to die.
My understanding is no they are not.
Nor do the Tories, mindful of the Catholic vote/sensibilities, allign themselves with them.
Feh!
Our company has an office in Harrogate. Looks like it went strong for the LD. Figures. I never did like them very much. :-)
I think that's the ball game.
The Tories will be under 200.
Blah.
Can't say they don't deserve it.
I think they get to 194 or 195.
They're pretty much already at 195 (started with 165 and have captured a net 30 seats from others). 5 more to go.
Qwinn
Also, there seemed to be a ton of tactical voting tonight, which does not bode well for the Conservatives in future elections.
Basically, enough leftist voters deserted Labour to give them a scare, but if anyone thought the Tories had a real chance of winning, these voters would run back to Labour and bang.
Think of tonight as the ceiling of Tory support. It won't increase much, but it can sure go down alot more.
Good luck with that whole Brussels thing, you're gonna need it!
Hear, hear.
You are right.
The Labour couldn't make a comeback until Blair and New Labour stole the Toy agenda - and the Tories dropped the ball by kowtowing to the europhiles in the party, bring in the UK in the ERM which caused a financial crash.
Now, they are Conservatives are slowly winning back the territories lost. I think the Labour position is much more vulnerable (not only in electoral terms) after tonight. Let's hope the Tories continue to build on it.
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