At no point since 16th September 1992, when only political anoraks (and not even all of them) had ever heard of Tony Blair, has the Conservative Party stood any chance of winning an overall majority at a General Election. If it fails to win one this time, then it will never win one again. And no one expects it to win one this time. Even before the rise of Nick Clegg, such a victory was psephologically impossible.
So we are barely a week away from seeing once and for all the complete non-existence of The Tory Threat, the bogeyman behind New Labour. Throughout the existence of New Labour, the Tories have had no intention of changing anything that it had done or would do, and have in any case been incapable of beating it at the ballot box for Westminster. What would happen if the Labour electorate ever cottoned on? We are about to find out.
It did during Summer 2008.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, one gets the impression the Tories are fighting the election as if it was still Summer 2008.
No, it didn't, not really. The swings required were still off the chart.
ReplyDeleteBut your second point is correct.