BEWARE THE STING IN THE P R TAIL

One of the main planks of the new Conservative – Lib Dem coalition will be electoral reform. I have no problem with this, I am a democrat and putting my own political views aside I cannot accept that it is fair to the electors that 29 per cent of them voted Labour giving it 258 seats and 23 per cent voted Lib Dem with a resulting 57 seats.

Such an imbalance has to change but beware!

After Nick Griffin was defeated in Barking where the British National Party also lost its council seats it was widely accepted this signalled the end of this fundamentally racist party. I would say far from it.

The BNP polled 563,743 votes that’s more than the party of government in Scotland – the SNP with 491,386, more than the Greens, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Fein, the SDLP or any of the Irish Unionist parties. Under a true p r system there would certainly be a BNP MP at Westminster now.

There are those who argue that the BNP should be banned but it is not a course I would advocate. I admit that I have shown my support for banning the Falange – the former party of Franco – in Spain but with many misgivings. For it is a truism that if you seek to ban the parties of the far right then somebody in turn will attempt to ban those on the far left?

It is by creating a fairer society that the BNP and its ilk become an anathema to all. By changing our society for the better we will snuff out the despair and despondency that feeds the BNP trough. However part of that change to a fairer society also involves creating a fairer electoral system. Fairer doesn’t mean fairer to the party we support but to all sections of the community. The fact that it could result in a BNP MP is part of the price that has to be paid – it’s called democracy.

IS THIS WHAT YOU VOTED FOR?

On Election Day I did a radio interview with Peter Cochrane at Talk Radio Europe from Downing Street. I said I believed that the Conservatives would be the largest party with Labour and the Liberals vying for second place – with a hung parliament in the offing.

On Friday I talked with Peter again and like most people was totally stunned by the outcome. Sure enough the Tories had won the majority of seats and votes compared with the other two but insufficient to form a government on their own. The big surprise was the collapse of the Liberal support. When the BBC issued its exit poll showing the Liberals actually losing seats both Conservative and Labour politicians said they didn’t believe it – but that is exactly what happened.

This election was a puzzle in many ways. It was the first televised debate campaign in which Clegg was the media star but in the end couldn’t make the breakthrough with votes and seats. There was a local election because the British voter elects his MP on a constituency basis so parochial issues also came in to play. Curiously the MPs expenses row didn’t seem to have a major impact although many culprits had opted not to stand and former Home Secretary Jackie Smith was given more time by her electors to watch blue movies with her husband – but this time at their own expense.

I firmly believe that had Labour MPs the guts to dump Gordon Brown in one of the many failed coups then we could be seeing another term for that party with probably David Milliband at the helm. Their own cowardice will see them on the opposition benches for at least this parliament.

Even on Monday it seems that Brown along with the Lords Mandelson and Adonis was trying to bounce the Lib Dems in to a coalition by offering them untold offerings of election reform. They seemed to have learned nothing and it was the Labour MPs who had to haul them back to reality by pointing out that what they were offering – they would not accept.

It would appear that a Conservative – Lib Dem government is in the offing with events moving faster than I can type. Given the events of the last five days it is difficult to remember that this was exactly the outcome the opinion polls predicted on the eve of the election. Is this what Britons voted for? Probably not because given the wide spread of the nation different areas such as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had their votes elsewhere. Yet a new era of politics is upon the nation – its crazy polling system has guaranteed it.

WILL BROWN BE TOAST?

The British General Election is upon us and unless the opinion polls have it very wrong these are Gordon Brown’s last days in government.

I like to draw a difference between the man and the politician but in the prime minister’s case I am not so sure they aren’t the same thing.

I could say I am sure he was nice to his mother and old ladies – but after last week’s encounter when he insulted a pensioner who was going to vote for him I’m not too sure.

There are myriad stories about how unpleasant he was as Chancellor, as a Cabinet colleague, as Tony Blair’s next door neighbour, how he always went missing when there was dirty work to be done – Westminster tittle tattle or fact? I suspect the latter.

When your sole plea to the voters is – you may not like me but I’m good at my job – well, it sounds very desperate, doesn’t it? Especially with the disaster zone of the British economy that
was created under your stewardship.

The problem for the Labour Party is it has known for 18 months or so that even with the economic crisis the voters were more likely to support the party if they dumped Brown.

As we know from the various failed plots they never had the guts to finish the job – so they left Brown a wounded, angry beast.

For those acts of cowardice alone I believe Labour’s MPs deserve to be cast in to political oblivion. Nothing has ensured a Cameron or Clegg victory more than their indecision.

I now head off to London to witness their slaughter. I may even see the obnoxious Lord Mandelson humbled! Hope springs eternal. See you next week.