Crewe & Nantwich goes blue! A safe Labour seat in the heartland of third-generation unemployment and broken dreams, yet the by-election has resulted in an incredible 17.6% swing to the Tories. And it’s not even a bad news week.
It’d take just an 8% swing in a General Election to ensure a Conservative majority. The Conservatives are at a natural disadvantage in elections: with many seats in the countryside, a Tory government needs a higher share of the popular vote than you’d expect to win one. Yet it now looks like they can do so. If the people of Crewe can vote Tory, the whole country can.
Surely Ed Balls is going to challenge Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership on Monday? I mean, he’s had to deny (twice) that he’s interested in Brown’s job, which means he’s raring to get it as soon as possible. Oh my, this is going to be absolutely glorious.
Watching New Labour, realising there was nothing new about it after all, tear itself apart over the summer. And with any luck, evaporate for a generation in its self-deluding fog of squandered potential, skyrocketing taxes, and endless red tape.
Posted on May 23, 2008
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