Posted on 05/05/2005 7:59:15 AM PDT by tellw
The Vote is under way!
The Tories would have to win 12 of the remaining 23 seats outside of Ireland to get to 200.
Assuming that the they have one in reserve (the by-election called because of the Lib Dem who died). That means they have to win eleven out of 22.
Let's knock out the Northern and Scottish seats.
It's not gonna happen.
All I know is that it took Labour 18 years to claw back into power after Thatcher booted them out. Last election should have been a time for rebounding, but as we all know, nothing happened and 2001 was virtually a copy of 1997. This is the first time the Tories have shown any signs of life in about a decade, so while it's not a romp back into power, it is something.
There is no question, however, that I am not a fan of a good number of Conservative MPs. I remember some of them actively supporting Kerry and I found that to be rather disturbing. The Ken Clarkes of the Conservative Party are nothing nearly conservative, and I think the squishiness of that element of the party has damaged their credibility on the whole. It is unreasonable to say, however, that the Tories have not taken some kind of step forward tonight. Anything's better than what they had before, and they made up some ground, especially in London.
Undoubtedly, there's a lot of dim bulbs in the voting booth. Here in the US, too. Heck, in some places, a Democrat could rob a bank on national television, say "it's for the children", and get 75% of the vote in his or her next election. I saw many tonight on the BBC saying things basically to the effect of "I voted Labour because I just did". I think in some ways, it says more about the electorate than the Conservative Party. Yes, the Conservatives have trouble finding a message and YES they should get back to their old ways, but we cannot avoid at least some blame on the electorate that refused to turf their unpopular PM.
Getting too tired to write properly now.
Time to go to bed.
See you all the 29th May for the referendum in France.
The trend is currently for 195 right now.
Woohoo! Make it 196... Reading East just fell to the Tories :)
Qwinn
OK everyone, my joints hurt, so here's one more update:
Conservatives gain Reading East from Labour
Lab 347 (-46)
Con 190 (+31)
LD 57 (+12)
PREDICT:
Lab 357
Con 196
LD 63
Others 12
Northern Ireland 18
Majority: 68
Bah, they don't even have to "find a set of principles"... there was nothing wrong with Maggie's principles to begin with. They should publically apologize for what they did to her, and adopt her platform in toto from then on, perhaps reprioritizing immigration, etc., but otherwise run as the Thatcher party, as they should always have.
Qwinn
They should start on a fight against the cockamamie EU Constitution .
So how is it going? Better than expected?
yes.. but the UK was in a state of near utter ruin when she took over.. and her opponents were boobs.
Let's face it, most people are socialists at heart, and enjoy sucking on the government's teat. The differences between the Tories and Labour is more about class/social status than it is about actual real world positions.
Well, at first it seemed as though a bit of a blue wave was going to crash into British politics, and the Tories DID make some solid gains, but will likely finish below 200 seats. Judging from the recent polls I had seen, however, Labour's majority is going to be smaller than expected (I had seen predictions ranging from 80-110). Labour has a projected majority of 68 right now.
I hope, for the Brits' sake, that it doesn't take the country being at the brink again for them to wake up.
Excellent, and thanks for taking the time to answer.
It will have to take just that. The people of UK are hardcore leftists. They let hooligans run wild, and if you fight back, they'll throw you in jail. About the only good thing you can say is they've stuck by our side.
No problem ;)
Check it out! Tories capture Ludlow from the LibDems!
Qwinn
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