Tuesday 6 April 2010

Obligatory General Election Post

Did you hear the one about a bloke who went to see a monarch about dissolving parliament? If not, you'll be sick of reading and listening about it by the time polls close at 10pm on May 6th.

I'm not going to rehearse the reasons why, despite having a rotten crabby record, I'll be out campaigning for Labour in this election. Nor why the Tories would be much worse for the labour movement than even a Brown government determined to make the working class pay for the crisis finance capital got itself - and ourselves - into. And there's little point rehearsing why the far left are hurtling pell mell down what Dave Osler
aptly calls "the parliamentary road to lost deposits".

Instead, I'm going to talk about what I plan to do with this blog. I might occasionally write something about the big national election stories, especially if there's a chance of showing the Cameroons in a bad light, but something tells me very few readers will be tempted to vote Tory anyway. No, the blog will be concerned with two niches.

First will be the circus that is the election in my constituency, Stoke Central. I don't know if it holds the record for most candidates in this election, but it's got to be in the top five. There are at least 11 confirmed, plus another to declare. If anything, for election anoraks this will prove a more interesting campaign than years where they simply weighed the Labour vote. And there will be posts relating anecdotes from door knocking, local gossip and wheeling and dealing, and maybe interviews with some candidates (if I can be bothered).

The second niche will be the far left. For once you're not buying into official optimism to say Respect have a chance of winning three seats. But outside of that, I doubt TUSC will unsettle many Labour nerves -
David Henry in Salford probably has the best chance of causing an upset, and it's one I doubt many Labourites of the centre and the left would shed any tears over.

In total I reckon the organised far left (Respect, TUSC, SSP) are standing in 62 seats, excluding unattached independents and Scargill's SLP. Is anyone the wiser?

Apart from the political ramifications of this election, for once this
is an interesting contest. The Greens, UKIP and BNP pose significant challenges in a handful of constituencies. The polls are volatile but still indicate no clear favourite. And on top of all that the wretched and undemocratic first past the post system could finally meet its Waterloo in a hung parliament. It will be messy. It will be tight. But one thing is clear: what happens matters.

11 comments:

Derek Wall said...

Those on the left should go to the constituencies like Brighton Pavilion where we can win and put some work in.

I am having a good campaign in Windsor.

My General Election facebook is here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=275358301499

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this, sounds interesting and I'll keep checking out the blog to see what you post about the big election.

I can't help but get a little bit excited even though the thought of voting and campaigning for New Lab makes me sick but they are the worst of all the evils here in Thanet South!!!

Interested in hearing your reports, on the ground, embedded in Stoke.

Cheers

Stupot

aberfoyle said...

Crystal ball says, after voting Labour, buy a lotto ticket.The odds are better of a win than Labours.

Sangeeta R. Goswami said...

Hii Phil
Me and some of my friends hv started an E-magazine called Reader's Quotient, it is totally for a noble cause of funding education to needy children, I came across ur blog in my quest to search talented writers and felt worth to inquire if u shall be interested to come along with us
If yes pls contact us at sangeeta.goswami@readersquotient.com

Waiting for ur revert

Regds/Sangeeta
www.readersquotient.com

David Ellis said...

Very much looking forward to your reportage.

ID said...

"And on top of all that the wretched and undemocratic first past the post system could finally meet its Waterloo in a hung parliament."

Indeed. And this would be a good thing. Which underlines the silliness of calling for a vote for Labour. If Labour are re-elected, no 'Waterloo', no matter what cynical promises Brown makes now. They are made to be broken.

Mind you, it ain't gonna happen. My guess is that New Labour's share of the vote is likely to be similar to the disaster of 1983. The difference will be in the slippage of the Tory vote since then - they will probably struggle to gain 40% of those voting. But a 1983-style Labour vote of around 30-32% will be a disaster that should sweep away a lot of the despicable scum who make up New Labour. That will be something to celebrate.

Like Phil Woolas' seat in Oldham East and Saddleworth. There is a very good argument for a tactical vote for the Liberal Democrats in a marginal seat. If Woolas loses his seat, that would be a Portillo moment all over again. It would both increase the likelihood of a hung parliament as the outcome of the election as a whole, and drive a racist sociopath out of Westminster.

Then this scum could fuck off and join the BNP - which is the place he really belongs. Woolas is a symbol of why it is utterly unprincipled to call for a vote for New Labour candidates.

Brother S said...

I don't agree that you have a 'rotten, crabby record', Phil. I have always found you to be principled!

ModernityBlog said...

Not sure that Labour will get defeated.

Clearly most people loath New Labour, but the spectre of a Cameron govt is probably more frightening.

So Phil are you taking the New Labourite line on the Digital Economy Bill?

Phil said...

Mod, given everything I've written these last three years, do you think it's likely I've become a convert to the Digital Economy Bill?

ModernityBlog said...

Not sure Phil,

I don't remember.

aberfoyle said...

Labour is a lost line of hope,corrupted by education and affordability.State paid school dinner, or do you have a shilling.