Ed Miliband has finished off a lot of labour careers. Himself, Curran, Balls, Johan Lamont, Dougie Alexander.... and David Miliband. He will now have to wake each day and ask. Was it worth it?
I have to say I am very sad to see Nick CLegg resign.
In 2010 He and the lib dems made a massive decision to join a coalition which they stood by for the entire 5 years. They did what they had to do and they for once put the country before the party and themselves.
That alone should and must never be forgotten. History will judge them kindly even though the ballot boxes were quite cruel.
Well done Nick I hope that this is not the last we see off you. I say the same about Danny Alexander.
Clarke is the history not the future. I'm a Conservative that supported Clarke in 2001 and wants an In vote, but we can't resist a referendum now. Its time to hold a vote and let the public decide, if they decide out then so be it. I think the party will respect the public's choice and we'll have a line in the sand drawn.
Polly Toynbee has moved from being stuck in the seventies to being stuck in the nineties. There is no great division on Europe in the party - we'll have a referendum. Let the people decide.
I think they'll decide by two to one to stay in and David Cameron will then retire as the man who won two elections (second outright) and two referendums (AV and Europe).
I have to say I am very sad to see Nick CLegg resign.
In 2010 He and the lib dems made a massive decision to join a coalition which they stood by for the entire 5 years. They did what they had to do and they for once put the country before the party and themselves.
That alone should and must never be forgotten. History will judge them kindly even though the ballot boxes were quite cruel.
Well done Nick I hope that this is not the last we see off you. I say the same about Danny Alexander.
Well said
Can't agree more. As Lord Steel said some naive decisions were made but were made in the national interest.
Clearly the assumptions most punters have been making about Next Tory Leader have changed dramatically, but the odds haven't yet changed as attention is focused elsewhere.
"Yes - Labour's Liverpool redoubt - hope they can find a seat for her PDQ - or might Cameron bring her into the Lords? She only lost narrowly..... " CarlottaVance
Hope she come back to the Commons. she is a fighter. Having seen the vandalism and abuse heaped on her I can understand why the welfare system remained unreformed for so long and we ended up with record numbers of children brought up in households where no one had ever worked.
There's a scene in the Simpsons where Sideshow Bob and his brother Cecil are in jail together, and Bob says: "I am not looking forward to writing your Christmas card this year," and Cecil replies, "Nor I yours".
Just emerging bleary-eyed after a nap after a very long night. Just in time for Clegg's resignation statement followed quickly by Ed's.
I've learned that complex computer models based solely on polls are useless. Rubbish in - rubbish out!
Had six winning bets (Clegg to go in 2015, Watford Con, Richmond Park Con, Kingston Con, Lab seats in Scot, Brighton Pav Green) but two big losers (Lab minority gov and Lab most seats). About £200 down.
Ironically my investment in Berkeley Homes Group has risen by £6000 this morning now the threat of mansion tax has gone. A small consolation.
Mine were mostly arbs. or else well-hedged; e.g., Labour most seats plus a series of Tory seat bets. Many thanks to Antifrank for the advice on his blog and this forum, and Pulpstar.
I agree about the computer models. One of them predicted that Colchester, Eastbourne and Eastleigh were all 100% safe. Ha ha!
"John McTernan is a British Labour Party political adviser, political strategist and commentator. He was interviewed under caution by the British police when a Number 10 Special Adviser in the cash for honours controversy, then the director of communications for Ian Gray Labour leader in Scotland who went down to a landslide defeat in 2011, then for the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, from September 2011 to June 2013 who was removed by her own party caucus. Most recently appointed by Jim Murphy in December 2014 to help revive the Scottish Labour Party."
56 out of 59. Get used to it. The NATS won huge and Salmond's back virtue of the people of Gordon. Ho Ho Ho.
how's that holding the balance of power going for you ?
Ed giving in to your demands ?
The prospect of Alex writing the budget was the final nail in Labours coffin. The icing on the cake was the addition of the #edstone.
Now the SNP are going to have to listen as well as speak in order to negotiate a sensible and workable constitutional system with the Conservatives. Being stroppy will just leave them on the sidelines.
Ed Miliband has finished off a lot of labour careers. Himself, Curran, Balls, Johan Lamont, Dougie Alexander.... and David Miliband. He will now have to wake each day and ask. Was it worth it?
Just think of Gordon Brown hadn't nobbled all the talent coming through before he was leader. Labour could have some good options now. Short term gain long term pain.
Sorry to see Clegg go, he had a tough hand to play and got no thanks for it.
Were it not for his ridiculous U-turn over the boundary changes I might have agreed with you. However, what sort of man makes a speech in favour of something then votes against it when the time comes? Politics will be better for his departure.
56 out of 59. Get used to it. The NATS won huge and Salmond's back virtue of the people of Gordon. Ho Ho Ho.
how's that holding the balance of power going for you ?
Ed giving in to your demands ?
The prospect of Alex writing the budget was the final nail in Labours coffin. The icing on the cake was the addition of the #edstone.
Now the SNP are going to have to listen as well as speak in order to negotiate a sensible and workable constitutional system with the Conservatives. Being stroppy will just leave them on the sidelines.
Labour is becoming a party of very limited geographical reach: London, the English core cities and Wales. They need to choose a leader who can appeal beyond those strongholds. And to devise policies that are relevant beyond those strongholds.
EPG, one important lesson is that Cameron has won without the right-wing fringe that has gone over to UKIP. He won without them. He doesn't need them. A divided right was supposed to be doomed to defeat. He has shown it is possible to build up sufficient support in the centre-right to get a majority.
The obvious business solution when a large incumbent is losing out to a small, more agile, localized competitor is to buy them out and promote their team. How much would it cost for Labour to acquire the SNP?
The obvious business solution when a large incumbent is losing out to a small, more agile, localized competitor is to buy them out and promote their team. How much would it cost for Labour to acquire the SNP?
Good idea, but a reverse takeover would work better.
So, urrrrrm, who else do Labour have? As if a catastrophic result wasn't bad enough for Labour, the Shadow Chancellor and Foreign Sec also lost their seats.
Last time there was such a lack of choice that Ed Milliband was somehow (s)elected. Can't imagine who they end up with now.
Clearly the assumptions most punters have been making about Next Tory Leader have changed dramatically, but the odds haven't yet changed as attention is focused elsewhere.
Sajid Javid at 12/1.
If the Tories don't go for him for next leader then they are idiots. Comprehensive educated self made man who grew up in one of the toughest areas of bristol. Apart from the banking he has got the perfect story.
Have to admire how British parties quickly and cleanly dispose of failed leaders (or they dispose of themselves) and move on, compared to the U.S. Gives real hope for renewal and adaptation.
In the U.S., who leads the House Dems? Nancy Pelosi. Who leads the Senate Dems? Harry Reid. Who's leading the charge to be next president? Hillary who flopped spectacularly in 2008 and Jeb of the unending Bush dynasty.
Starz Although to be fair only 3 times have the Democrats or Republicans picked a losing candidate in the general election for a subsequent general election, Dewey, Stevenson and Nixon
May I congratulate and thank all on PB who kept it going last night.
Congratulations also to Antifrank, SO, JackW, RCS100 and any others I've missed who called this right. Commiserations to others: I hope the Labour supporters - BenM, BJO etc will stay.
An absolutely fascinating night and days to come!!! The best election night I can remember since 1992.
I do feel sorry for the LibDems: they did the right thing in 2010 and didn't really deserve this.
The Tories have been like a crocodile, they've smiled broadly, given them a lift across the river and then gobbled them up.
And they seem to have done this to SLAB as well.
A few thoughts:-
1. How will EU leaders react? They will need to take Cameron a lot more seriously now.
2. I hope the Tories will not become hubristic. They are entitled to gloat now - especially Cameron, who must be delighted to have proved himself - but I do hope that they will be magnanimous and gracious in the next 5 years. I echo what Fenster said last night on this.
3. I very much hope those bone-headed EU-obsessed Tories don't ruin things over the next few years. We do not need a rerun of 1992-1997 thank you very much.
4. How to deal with Scotland? A sensible federal solution which recognises that Scotland is to all intents and purposes a separate country is needed.
5. The Tories must not rest on their laurels. Next time they won't face a crap Labour party. They still need to come up with a Conservatism which works for all, for those who are not wealthy or privileged, for those who don't live in London, work in the City, for those in all parts of the country. And they need to do this from now and every day.
6. Labour need to do the hard thinking they've avoided for the last few years about what it means to be a social democratic left of centre party. Sixth-form seminar socialism is not the answer, as Phil Collins put it. Any one of us could come up with better ideas than they have been able to.
7. Galloway, Livingstone and their ilk need to be tied to that tombstone and sent somewhere so far away that we will never hear of them again.
So, urrrrrm, who else do Labour have? As if a catastrophic result wasn't bad enough for Labour, the Shadow Chancellor and Foreign Sec also lost their seats.
Last time there was such a lack of choice that Ed Milliband was somehow (s)elected. Can't imagine who they end up with now.
EPG, one important lesson is that Cameron has won without the right-wing fringe that has gone over to UKIP. He won without them. He doesn't need them. A divided right was supposed to be doomed to defeat. He has shown it is possible to build up sufficient support in the centre-right to get a majority.
But all analysts agree that Tory Ukippers went home to save England from Scotland, while northern Ukippers quit Labour.
Clearly the assumptions most punters have been making about Next Tory Leader have changed dramatically, but the odds haven't yet changed as attention is focused elsewhere.
Sajid Javid at 12/1.
If the Tories don't go for him for next leader then they are idiots. Comprehensive educated self made man who grew up in one of the toughest areas of bristol. Apart from the banking he has got the perfect story.
The guy who tipped Lab 226-250 in the Post pullout also tipped that. Draw your own conclusions.
Have to admire how British parties quickly and cleanly dispose of failed leaders (or they dispose of themselves) and move on, compared to the U.S. Gives real hope for renewal and adaptation.
In the U.S., who leads the House Dems? Nancy Pelosi. Who leads the Senate Dems? Harry Reid. Who's leading the charge to be next president? Hillary who flopped spectacularly in 2008 and Jeb of the unending Bush dynasty.
The voters did a pretty through de-dynastificiation job, too. Ended the career of the younger Miliband, booted out half the Balls-Cooper family, fended off Will Straw. The only black mark is Neil Kinnock's son - pity Labour couldn't put up his wife instead.
EPG, one important lesson is that Cameron has won without the right-wing fringe that has gone over to UKIP. He won without them. He doesn't need them. A divided right was supposed to be doomed to defeat. He has shown it is possible to build up sufficient support in the centre-right to get a majority.
But all analysts agree that Tory Ukippers went home to save England from Scotland, while northern Ukippers quit Labour.
Frankly the analysts have demonstrated pretty decisively in the last 24 hours that they know and understand very little.
EPG, one important lesson is that Cameron has won without the right-wing fringe that has gone over to UKIP. He won without them. He doesn't need them. A divided right was supposed to be doomed to defeat. He has shown it is possible to build up sufficient support in the centre-right to get a majority.
Couldn't agree more Fernando. I have longed for this day for years.
RobD Maybe, but the EU referendum will loom large first, Redwood already on BBC this morning saying what he wanted to see, Andrew Mitchell being asked now for his views
The Tories have confounded the polls to finish with a majority for the first time in 23 years yet I can't help but feel sad.
Listening to Clegg's resignation 'If our losses today are part-payment for every family that is more secure because of a job we helped create, every person with depression who is treated with the compassion they deserve, every child who does a little better in school, every apprentice with a long and rewarding career to look forward to, every gay couple who know their love is worth no less than everyone else's, and every pensioner with a little more freedom and dignity in retirement, then I hope our losses can be endured with a little selfless dignity.' combined with this tweet (https://mobile.twitter.com/IainDale/status/596626820398723072) makes me feel that we've made a terrible mistake in destroying the Lib Dems and that history will remember Cleggy as the best PM we never had.
Even with Miliband he seems to have been at ease and even made a few decent jokes.
@Cyclefree - I got the main event completely wrong in outline. I did well in Scotland and in my selection of constituency bets in general, and was early last night to see that the Conservatives were outperforming the exit polls enough to get an overall majority. So I did well financially, but I'm not claiming that I was any great seer of what we got. The exit poll was a bombshell to me.
EPG, one important lesson is that Cameron has won without the right-wing fringe that has gone over to UKIP. He won without them. He doesn't need them. A divided right was supposed to be doomed to defeat. He has shown it is possible to build up sufficient support in the centre-right to get a majority.
But all analysts agree that Tory Ukippers went home to save England from Scotland, while northern Ukippers quit Labour.
Frankly the analysts have demonstrated pretty decisively in the last 24 hours that they know and understand very little.
more importantly the electorate was nowhere near as stupid as Labour hoped they would be.
EPG, one important lesson is that Cameron has won without the right-wing fringe that has gone over to UKIP. He won without them. He doesn't need them. A divided right was supposed to be doomed to defeat. He has shown it is possible to build up sufficient support in the centre-right to get a majority.
But all analysts agree that Tory Ukippers went home to save England from Scotland, while northern Ukippers quit Labour.
Frankly the analysts have demonstrated pretty decisively in the last 24 hours that they know and understand very little.
The analysts? I think you mean the pollsters: I am talking about where Ukip won votes and where they underperformed. People who look at realised statistics, not predictions. And the chief analyst making this case is Nigel Farage himself.
Comments
Shows that the so-called expert commentators know very little indeed...
Miliband's So Sorry.
Activate the Youtube!
Himself, Curran, Balls, Johan Lamont, Dougie Alexander.... and David Miliband.
He will now have to wake each day and ask.
Was it worth it?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000801
Ambition can be a terrible thing.
how's that holding the balance of power going for you ?
Ed giving in to your demands ?
Clearly the assumptions most punters have been making about Next Tory Leader have changed dramatically, but the odds haven't yet changed as attention is focused elsewhere.
Sajid Javid at 12/1.
Hope she come back to the Commons. she is a fighter. Having seen the vandalism and abuse heaped on her I can understand why the welfare system remained unreformed for so long and we ended up with record numbers of children brought up in households where no one had ever worked.
That's the Milibands, that is.
I agree about the computer models. One of them predicted that Colchester, Eastbourne and Eastleigh were all 100% safe. Ha ha!
"John McTernan is a British Labour Party political adviser, political strategist and commentator. He was interviewed under caution by the British police when a Number 10 Special Adviser in the cash for honours controversy, then the director of communications for Ian Gray Labour leader in Scotland who went down to a landslide defeat in 2011, then for the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, from September 2011 to June 2013 who was removed by her own party caucus. Most recently appointed by Jim Murphy in December 2014 to help revive the Scottish Labour Party."
Is this guy an SNP sleeper?
so no different than the last Parliment.
Now the SNP are going to have to listen as well as speak in order to negotiate a sensible and workable constitutional system with the Conservatives. Being stroppy will just leave them on the sidelines.
Except the new leader will unilaterally discard Milibandism in all its forms
"Do it the same way, but next time, TRY HARDER"
Last time there was such a lack of choice that Ed Milliband was somehow (s)elected. Can't imagine who they end up with now.
In the U.S., who leads the House Dems? Nancy Pelosi. Who leads the Senate Dems? Harry Reid. Who's leading the charge to be next president? Hillary who flopped spectacularly in 2008 and Jeb of the unending Bush dynasty.
Overnight count (1): The Cotswolds
Friday count (7): St Ives, Warwick, Kenilworth, Blyth Valley, Wansbeck, Hexham, Berwick.
Looks like all 8 will be blue.
Majority: 21,477.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000991
Official
Congratulations also to Antifrank, SO, JackW, RCS100 and any others I've missed who called this right. Commiserations to others: I hope the Labour supporters - BenM, BJO etc will stay.
An absolutely fascinating night and days to come!!! The best election night I can remember since 1992.
I do feel sorry for the LibDems: they did the right thing in 2010 and didn't really deserve this.
The Tories have been like a crocodile, they've smiled broadly, given them a lift across the river and then gobbled them up.
And they seem to have done this to SLAB as well.
A few thoughts:-
1. How will EU leaders react? They will need to take Cameron a lot more seriously now.
2. I hope the Tories will not become hubristic. They are entitled to gloat now - especially Cameron, who must be delighted to have proved himself - but I do hope that they will be magnanimous and gracious in the next 5 years. I echo what Fenster said last night on this.
3. I very much hope those bone-headed EU-obsessed Tories don't ruin things over the next few years. We do not need a rerun of 1992-1997 thank you very much.
4. How to deal with Scotland? A sensible federal solution which recognises that Scotland is to all intents and purposes a separate country is needed.
5. The Tories must not rest on their laurels. Next time they won't face a crap Labour party. They still need to come up with a Conservatism which works for all, for those who are not wealthy or privileged, for those who don't live in London, work in the City, for those in all parts of the country. And they need to do this from now and every day.
6. Labour need to do the hard thinking they've avoided for the last few years about what it means to be a social democratic left of centre party. Sixth-form seminar socialism is not the answer, as Phil Collins put it. Any one of us could come up with better ideas than they have been able to.
7. Galloway, Livingstone and their ilk need to be tied to that tombstone and sent somewhere so far away that we will never hear of them again.
Oh :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ6TgaPJcR0
Listening to Clegg's resignation 'If our losses today are part-payment for every family that is more secure because of a job we helped create, every person with depression who is treated with the compassion they deserve, every child who does a little better in school, every apprentice with a long and rewarding career to look forward to, every gay couple who know their love is worth no less than everyone else's, and every pensioner with a little more freedom and dignity in retirement, then I hope our losses can be endured with a little selfless dignity.' combined with this tweet (https://mobile.twitter.com/IainDale/status/596626820398723072) makes me feel that we've made a terrible mistake in destroying the Lib Dems and that history will remember Cleggy as the best PM we never had.
Even with Miliband he seems to have been at ease and even made a few decent jokes.
A true emotional rollercoaster.
No more Etonians. Dave can't win here...
Wow, just wow.
I take comfort in that.