Election Night 1983 : The Anniversary

[You kip if you want to...]

I guess I'll have to wait for July 5, 2015 to celebrate a British election actually worth celebrating...

...and then spend the next five years despairing when he's even more timid than Hollande.

He meant the Attlee election's 70th.

[You kip if you want to...]

I'd never considered how fast this was all over. Foot conceded before 2am.

Strange how the BBC is focusing near completely on the SDP and Labour.

[You kip if you want to...]

The crowd at the Finchley count laughing at Thatcher asserting that she's filled with "humility".

[You kip if you want to...]

So much smugness from the party which went from 50 in the polls to 25 in the space of 18 months. But I guess that's the SDP (or the LibDems, however the case may be) for you...

[You kip if you want to...]

Was 1983 was the time of the Liberal-Social Democrat Alliance?

Their first election

[You kip if you want to...]

Hattersley making the case that it'd could've been worst.

And that's why Labour were out for another 14 years. Also a potential mistake the party's made since 2010, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.

[You kip if you want to...]

b]Without[/b] hindsight, I was surprised how moderate the Tories were. The wets like Prior, Gilmore and  Rippon came over well. The parties MP's views also surprised me, 35% of them in favour of an economic stimulus, hardly any of them wanting to cut welfare and not one Eurosceptic anywhere. They came across as competent and united. Unfortunately for Britain this wasn't the case and the party became a bunch of free market Crazies.

When you actually saw the raw results coming in for the Tories as well, it really hit home just why they probably won't win in 2015. Some of the stronger Tory seats are marginal at best these days exactly because of what you're saying here - just look at Finchley (and Golders Green, of course)!

That, and Labour's attitude immediately after 2010 was just completely different, but that goes without saying.

[You kip if you want to...]

b]Without[/b] hindsight, I was surprised how moderate the Tories were. The wets like Prior, Gilmore and  Rippon came over well. The parties MP's views also surprised me, 35% of them in favour of an economic stimulus, hardly any of them wanting to cut welfare and not one Eurosceptic anywhere. They came across as competent and united. Unfortunately for Britain this wasn't the case and the party became a bunch of free market Crazies.

When you actually saw the raw results coming in for the Tories as well, it really home just why they probably won't win in 2015. Some of the stronger Tory seats are marginal at best these days exactly because of what you're saying here - just look at Finchley (and Golders Green, of course)!

That, and Labour's attitude immediately after 2010 was just completely different, but that goes without saying.

Yeah, I agree completely. You could also see beginnings of large scale tactical voting against them, in those southern results like Torbay.

And what's interesting is that 2010-15, Labour are winning back sections of the electorate that defected from them along with Williams, Jenkins, Rodgers and Owen and have sat there for what will be 32 years in 2015.