Primus Inter Pares - February 2005 General Election

[Antonio the Sixth]

Considering Livingstone's stance on the EU I'll be abstaining.

Oh come on, you're seriously going to let a bunch of despicable social darwinists win mecause "MUH EU!!!!"?

[White Trash]

Considering Livingstone's stance on the EU I'll be abstaining.

Oh come on, you're seriously going to let a bunch of despicable social darwinists win mecause "MUH EU!!!!"?

It's more than just "Muh EU", I don't like the idea of the UK signing onto the European Constitution. I'll probably end up biting the bullet and pulling the trigger for Livingstone anyway.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Considering Livingstone's stance on the EU I'll be abstaining.

Oh come on, you're seriously going to let a bunch of despicable social darwinists win mecause "MUH EU!!!!"?

It's more than just "Muh EU", I don't like the idea of the UK signing onto the European Constitution. I'll probably end up biting the bullet and pulling the trigger for Livingstone anyway.

Right now with these numbers the Tories will have a majority of their own. You know what this would mean for the NHS, public schools etc, right? With your vote, we might be able to reduce them to a minority at least.

[Phony Moderate]

I'm confused to why a hard-left member would support the following, entry into the Euro and adoption of the European Constitution. It makes no sense. They're most opposed to things, especially the Euro.

Because Ken Livingstone is a crazy person who should be nowhere near the halls of power let alone Prime Minister.

My vigorous opposition to him has little to do with his politics and everything to do with the fact that he's a goddamn nutjob, and his shambles of a government proves that.

Nah, he's more of a typical politician than a crazy person. The most controversial policy of his London mayoralty was the introduction of the congestion charge FFS.

This is the same guy who called Hitler a Zionist.

But that was probably not out of craziness...

[MAINEiac4434]

I'm confused to why a hard-left member would support the following, entry into the Euro and adoption of the European Constitution. It makes no sense. They're most opposed to things, especially the Euro.

Because Ken Livingstone is a crazy person who should be nowhere near the halls of power let alone Prime Minister.

My vigorous opposition to him has little to do with his politics and everything to do with the fact that he's a goddamn nutjob, and his shambles of a government proves that.

Nah, he's more of a typical politician than a crazy person. The most controversial policy of his London mayoralty was the introduction of the congestion charge FFS.

This is the same guy who called Hitler a Zionist.

But that was probably not out of craziness...

Yeah. Just general antisemitism.

[Phony Moderate]

I'm confused to why a hard-left member would support the following, entry into the Euro and adoption of the European Constitution. It makes no sense. They're most opposed to things, especially the Euro.

Because Ken Livingstone is a crazy person who should be nowhere near the halls of power let alone Prime Minister.

My vigorous opposition to him has little to do with his politics and everything to do with the fact that he's a goddamn nutjob, and his shambles of a government proves that.

Nah, he's more of a typical politician than a crazy person. The most controversial policy of his London mayoralty was the introduction of the congestion charge FFS.

This is the same guy who called Hitler a Zionist.

But that was probably not out of craziness...

Yeah. Just general antisemitism.

As I recall it was something along the lines of "The Nazi Party and Zionists did some kind of deal". I can't be sure, but that sounds more like a contrarian viewpoint (rather than genuine bigotry) that people under certain influences would express without foreseeing the reaction it might cause.

[Maxwell]

lel prime minister WIDDY

[Lumine]

Fun Fact, Widdecombe still doesn't get anywhere near a majority with those numbers (constituency boundaries really help Labour, particularly on the 2005 model)

[MAINEiac4434]

Fun Fact, Widdecombe still doesn't get anywhere near a majority with those numbers (constituency boundaries really help Labour, particularly on the 2005 model)

If the current numbers hold, Labour actually get 10 more seats than the Tories.

EDIT: even if you combine the New Labour and Liberal Democrat vote they're still up by five over the Tories.

[Intell]

I'm confused to why a hard-left member would support the following, entry into the Euro and adoption of the European Constitution. It makes no sense. They're most opposed to things, especially the Euro.

Because Ken Livingstone is a crazy person who should be nowhere near the halls of power let alone Prime Minister.

My vigorous opposition to him has little to do with his politics and everything to do with the fact that he's a goddamn nutjob, and his shambles of a government proves that.

Still the best candidate, imo.

Can't understand how anyone can see him as the best candidate after he basically singlehandedly reignited the Troubles.

And Tony Blair started Iraq. He is the best candidate for policies of social equality and social welfare, investment in social services and nationalisation to have a strong social democracy. I'd rather have a leftist in government, rather than some centrist who lean left, especially those who take the fight to labour, and reduce their # of seats.

Also to say Livingstone single handedly-started the war is ludicrous, as other prime ministers before him had failed the peace process in ways like this.

[Intell]

Considering Livingstone's stance on the EU I'll be abstaining.

Oh come on, you're seriously going to let a bunch of despicable social darwinists win mecause "MUH EU!!!!"?

It's more than just "Muh EU", I don't like the idea of the UK signing onto the European Constitution. I'll probably end up biting the bullet and pulling the trigger for Livingstone anyway.

Vote Labour! Good policies for the working class, will mitigate negative impacts of the EU,and not cut the NHS, education, and attack the working class and poor. We cannot afford a tory government, that will cause more division and less social equality and social mobility. Invest in British services, Invest in the Welfare State. Vote Labour!

[MAINEiac4434]

Current seat projection (Lib Dem and New Labour combined):

Labour: 30.9% (-9.8%), 274 MPs (-133), 50 seats short of majority
Conservatives: 35.9 (+2.3), 254 MPs (+71)
Liberal Democrats/New Labour: 30.9% (+14.4%), 91 MPs (+49)

[Antonio the Sixth]

Hung Parliament!

[Lumine]

This ends tomorrow.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Voting Labor, to keep out the Tories.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Voting Labor, to keep out the Tories.

[MAINEiac4434]

If these numbers hold, Labour would be four short of a majority. I imagine Livingstone would form a precarious minority government, considering a decent portion of his own party would be actively working against him, not to mention the Lib Dems and Tories.

[Lumine]

February 2005 General Election:

February 2005 - Livingstone hangs on

Labour Party: 34.9% (320 MP's)
Conservative Party: 32.6% (225 MP's)
Liberal Democrats: 19% (55 MP's)
New Labour: 7.6% (14 MP's)
Others: 6% (32 MP's)

It was one of the most bizarre campaigns seen in British politics, with a result which left all three major parties in an ironic situation of disappointment. Due to the economic crisis and the perceived low popularity of the Livingstone government Widdecombe and the Tories started the campaign in the lead, with Foster and Blair being close to Livingstone in terms of the vote. This lead lasted through the early campaign, with the Lib Dems and New Labour confidently betting on a 100 seats for their parties (despite running against each other on many seats) and the Conservatives dreaming of unseating Livingstone to win a small, but workable majority. That this didn't happen was a subject of much study and scrutiny, for during the other weeks the Labour vote stabilized and even saw a rise to a narrow lead, which was only secured in the last days.

Two main factors appeared to be decisive: one, that the Labour base chose not to abandon Livingstone despite their misgivings about the Prime Minister, giving further relevance to his domestic accomplishments and in the hopes that his reshuffled cabinet could turn things about. And two, the deep divisions in the Opposition. Whatever the dreams of Blair, Foster and Widdecombe, all proved unsuitable to capitalize on the election at the right moment. Blair, while truly successful in electing several New Labour MP's and proving more skilled at that than the old SDP, was not the man to draw a larger still defection from Labour, and took many votes from the center. Foster's dynamism appeared to be increasingly gone, fighting the election in a "one more heave" attitude that was perceived to hurt the Lib Dems in the polls. Widdecombe, despite her passion at the campaign trail, was the target of immense satire and attacks from the media, combined with positions that turned off swing voters and even social-liberal Conservatives.

A stunned nation woke up to see Labour retaining a victory in the popular vote despite a large swing against the government, losing them their majority but leaving a strong minority of 320 seats. The Conservatives, despite making decent gains in terms of MP's actually lost ground in the vote share, a fact which enraged CCHQ and the Parliamentary Party. New Labour lost several of their candidates and MP's (including Ruth Kelly), but more than a dozen MP's survived, including Blair, King, Milburn and Field. The Liberal Democrats, under Foster, woke up to the disappointment of not even breaking 20% and 60 seats, targets that were considered all too possible. Despite a failed attempt at building bridges with the Lib Dems (Livingstone was willing to offer electoral reform, but his party wouldn't hear of it), Labour eventually sailed on as an unstable majority, an early election expected for 2006 and 2007.

Tony Blair remained as head of New Labour as the MP's pondered on whether to actually start a new party, and Don Foster resigned voluntarily after his failure to achieve the breakthrough. The knives also came for Widdecombe, leading to her resignation a few days after the Queen's Speech.

[Kingpoleon]

Clegg and Blair!

[MAINEiac4434]

Unreal.

I feel sorry for the people in Northern Ireland that will suffer through this terrible result.