Banishing The Shadows

Even the Greens have their uses, and they are highly likely to take Bristol Central from Thangam Debbonaire. Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Copper, Wes Streeting, Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall also all have majorities ranging from small to microscopic. We probably ought not to use a term like "decapitation strategy" these days. But you know what I mean. Our candidates should ordinarily be local. But you do not have to live in Britain to stand for Parliament, Andrew Tate is sound on Gaza, and him versus Phillipson would be tremendous fun. Anyway, someone should do it. Someone should do all of them, as the excellent Leanne Mohamad is already doing Streeting.

When I tell you that there is going to be a hung Parliament, then you can take that to the bank. I spent the 2005 Parliament saying that it was psephologically impossible for the Heir to Blair's Conservative Party to win an overall majority. I predicted a hung Parliament on the day that the 2017 General Election was called, and I stuck to that, entirely alone, all the way up to the publication of the exit poll eight long weeks later. And on the day that Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, I predicted that a General Election between him and Keir Starmer would result in a hung Parliament.

To strengthen families and communities by securing economic equality and international peace through the democratic political control of the means to those ends, including national and parliamentary sovereignty, we need to hold the balance of power. Owing nothing to either main party, we must be open to the better offer. There does, however, need to be a better offer. Not a lesser evil, which in any case the Labour Party is not. We have made a start.