tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post221037586978875943..comments2024-01-23T16:53:02.428+00:00Comments on Mark Thompson: What if Iain Dale's prediction was right?Mark Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744387583593537268noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-11749927598903494602010-01-12T13:46:39.057+00:002010-01-12T13:46:39.057+00:00Wouldn't Cameron wait for a poll bounce to cal...Wouldn't Cameron wait for a poll bounce to call another election as Wilson did in 1966. This would be very attractive if Labour did fold in on itself following the election.<br /><br />I also wonder how safe Clegg is following his effective ditching of most lib dem policies. We are often told how democratic the lib dems are and I wonder how much say your policy group (whatever it is called, sorry don't know) in the dump this week.<br /><br />It seems to me that Clegg is to the right of the majority of his activists (maybe not members?).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-46391663239062689862010-01-10T08:40:21.456+00:002010-01-10T08:40:21.456+00:00And you take no lessons from the example of H. Wil...And you take no lessons from the example of H. Wilson's 1964 government?<br /><br />Surely germane parallels abound with the election outcome Dale and you posit.Cardinal Richelieu's molehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07355424371874064362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-50825530712221648672010-01-10T01:59:43.874+00:002010-01-10T01:59:43.874+00:00Bear in mind that Dale is going to favour the Tori...Bear in mind that Dale is going to favour the Tories on impulse in any seats that he thinks are too close to call. I still reckon we'll get 80 and Labour won't lose as many as Dale thinks to the Tories either.<br /><br />We're going to be hung.<br /><br />And you're going to give me a tenner :PJennie Rigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14893281560181289667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-70865877492900801972010-01-10T00:39:19.521+00:002010-01-10T00:39:19.521+00:00In such a situation, not all the implications woul...In such a situation, not all the implications would be for the Conservative Party. Labour feelings at having missed out on retaining some degree of power through a hung Parliament by a whicker would be ambivalent in the extreme, leading to a decades-long implosion from which the party may not survive.Frugal Dougalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07459572116047155640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-75428021742842129062010-01-09T21:34:33.895+00:002010-01-09T21:34:33.895+00:00What will be interesting is to see whether Cameron...What will be interesting is to see whether Cameron's promise to introduce fixed-term parliaments survives if the arithmetic is tight.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-77334118061780526952010-01-09T20:28:33.225+00:002010-01-09T20:28:33.225+00:00Very interesting thoughts
Cameron would have to ra...Very interesting thoughts<br />Cameron would have to radically reshuffle his front bench to address that situation.<br />The biggest winner / loser (depending how you look at it) would have to be William Hague, whose credentials, oratory skills and popularity within the party could hardly be shoved off to the Foreign Office when he so obvioulsy needs to be at hand to keep the ship afloat. He could be the next First Secretary of State with Malcolm Rifkind keeping the FO ticking along with Hague on a promise of the Foreign Office after a second general election win... <br />Isn't speculation fun!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-7522359579725422002010-01-09T19:05:15.540+00:002010-01-09T19:05:15.540+00:00'He would have to listen to his backbenchers v...'He would have to listen to his backbenchers very closely'. <br /><br />No he would not. He would have to spell out in words of one syllable, to individual MPs if necessary, that he was not going to spend the next 4 years in the nightmare scenario of the theatre show 'Whipping It Up' being hijacked by every interest group, and digging dirt on the 'usual suspects'. <br /><br />He would have to call the shots - if individual MPs started to piss about and play silly buggers he would call another General Election which they might well lose.<br /><br />He would have to be very tough and bluff or a gang of 'bastards' would start to develop very quickly. <br /><br />Anyone starting the old 'Well you can count on my support to bring back fox hunting if you put me in the Lords / roll out the barrel of pork / let me sleep with your wife' will have to be given short shrift or the thing will spread like an epidemic through the party.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com