The election in review

It was another late night on Thursday, to watch and absorb as much election coverage as possible before I reached the point where, if I was to stay up any longer, it would no good to anything the following day at work. As it was, when I went to bed at 2pm, it was looking as if things might get quite interesting, that the LibDems might make real in-roads, and that maybe that the Labour majority would be a lot more severely slashed than predicted.

The next morning came and, rather disappointingly, the results were almost exactly as the exit-polls had forecast. Dull, predictable, and a retention of the status quo, although in the areas I had my eye on it was all change at least.

Here in Wimbledon the incumbent Labour MP lost out to the Tory candidate, and the constituency returned to its native shade of blue. In contrast, my home constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale bucked the trend and turned from being a staunch Conservative area to voting in the LibDems. I never though I'd see it happen, but it sounds as if the LibDems had been doing a great deal of campaigning locally, and I wonder if many others found the Tory pledges as off the boil as I did. As it was, Tim Collins was the only 'scalp' of the Shadow Cabinet that the LibDems managed in their plan of Conserative decapitation. At least it brought some rare media coverage to my native area.

The upshot of the results are that Blair admits he has been sent a message. Whether he does actually take this into account or not, we shall have to see, but we may see his ability to push through any old policy to be significantly checked. Furthermore, there's already dissent in the backbench Labour ranks as regards Blair's staying as party leader and PM. Blair has pledged to stay on, but turbulent times could well be in store.

On the opposition benches the Conservative didn't make the progress they'd hoped for, and, rather predictably, Michael Howard is stepping down as leader. This is fair enough though, as I believe Howard thinks he's given it his best shot, and the party still came up well short. Unlike that of his recent predecessors however, Howard's resignation is a rather more measured move, in that he's staying on until the procedure by which a new party leader is elected has been reformed. This does bring up the interesting question as to who may step up as a new leader. The Conservative party does seem to lack likeable, charismatic characters. With luck, someone may be waiting in the wings, and if one thing the country needs, it's an effective parliamentary opponent for Blair.

The LibDems did well in terms of share, but under the electoral system we current employ they have a difficult time of things making significant in-roads. They gained about a dozen seats to bring them up to 62, but you can understand their frustration when, under PR, they've have in the region of 150 seats.

Elsewhere a few independents got a look-in. George Galloway capitalised on the anti-war sentiment in East London, although I was pleased to see that Kilroy didn't get anywhere in his electoral hopes. I think people have seen through the tanned facade, not least through some of the documentaries aired on Channel 4.

Overall, it seems that each party failed to see the full picture. Labour needed to have their majority slashed to finally become aware of the public disquiet with the way they've been running things. I still don't think the Conservatives see where they've gone wrong, and I'm unsure if a new leader will change this. A uncertain future may still lie ahead there. As for the LibDems, they've done well to capitalise on national anti-war sentiment, but seemed to have focused their sights on capturing Tory seats, where in hindsight they should have be sureing up their current seats from Tory attack and plotting their course to make more in-roads into Labour territory.

In the end, the result was far from remarkable. It was predictable, and was accurately predicted. The fact that each party has squabbled for the middle ground on the same themes haven't helped matters, as the distinctiveness and endearing values of each party is in grave risk of being lost, leaving a bland middle-ground political mulch, inspiring few to vote and failing to enthuse the electorate in backing a distinctive road ahead. The Conservatives also lost out from an excessively negative campaign, while Labour similarly was too transfixed by the vampirish stare of Howard and did too little to highlight their successes. The LibDems also need to work on delivering a more decisive blow through more distinctive policies.

The new parliament will likely head in two directions. We may see change and a greater regard by the government for the dissenting opinions of the public, or we may seem much of the same. For the sake of politics in this country, I'm hoping for change.