Iain Duncan Smith won

[ciphergoth]

On the good side, the Tory party is dead forever now, they've written their own epitaph and it reads "Too old and too mad to live". And on the good side, this might in the long term mean that the Lib Dems become the opposition, causing a leftward shift in UK politics.

On the bad side, all sorts of far-right nonsense will be lent media legitimacy through coming out of the mouth of the leader of the Official Opposition.

Overall this was the result I hoped for.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1542000/1542554.stm

Comments

What I said on DBAM...

[babysimon]

I still haven't decided if it's a good thing or not. But it was fucking predictable (now I come to think of it ;-). This election has been:

* The first and last time they've used the electoral system in question. They hated it and will pick a new one next time.
* Spoiled by Thatcher mouthing off.
* Out of a mix of solid (if unlikable) politicians and nobodies, they've picked a nobody.

And this is exactly what they did in 1997. And 1991!

What's the betting that after six months of single transferable random number generation and loud rattling noises from the RoboThatcher, they'll elect another nobody in 2005?

Evil laughter

[countess-sophia.livejournal.com]

I'm undecided on how good a thing this is. On the one hand I think: 'yes! they are really fucked now'. On the other hand I do not underestimate the ability of Blair and co to fuck up, which means there is a chance, however remote that this worthless little man might become PM, which would be bad, to say the least. And it's certain that Duncan Smith will lower the tone of British politics - even more appeals to the prejudices of the Daily Mail is the last thing our country needs.

Soph xxx

Re: Evil laughter

[ergotia.livejournal.com]

Well, I hope this means they have written their own death warrant, but given that my view is that there will be a global swing to the right and a global recession following the recent US events I am not quite as sanguine as I was last week..

xxx

[dr-d.livejournal.com]

I was hoping for a Ken Clarke win. Mostly cos of the effect it would have on the Labour party. Tony Blair is such a fucking coward that if a right-wing bigot mouths off he feels he has to follow where they lead or the National Front won't vote for him. I expect to see Labour follow the Tory lead on things like asylumn, and wouldn't be surprised to hear them talking a lot about "voluntary repatriation" sooner rather than later. At least Ken Clarke wasn't a raving loony. Either way, the Tories were fucked, but I suspect we may be fucked right along with them.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I worry about that too, though I don't think even Blair will swing *quite* that far right. But on the other hand, I think Ken Clarke is a relatively smart guy, and I worried that he might have been able to salvage the Tory party. Even before this year's General Election, he was the first (and indeed the only) person I could think of who might be able to lead the Tory party into some semblance of credibility.

We need not worry that they'll gain any credibility with IDS as leader.

BTW do you like my cow?

[babysimon]

Lovely cow. Think it works better as an occasional sweetener than used frequently.

Like my chinese people?

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Cool. Did you Photoshop it yourself?

[babysimon]

It's a closeup of a picture I saw in the Pompidou centre and quite liked. Unretouched by me.

Oh, and you misspelt "gimp". Hope this helps.

Re: Evil laughter

[countess-sophia.livejournal.com]

That?s precisely what I fear.

I also think that people have been way too blas? about writing off the Tories: the poison is still there and with the right people in charge they could easily be back to haunt us. One can only trust a viper when one has seen its head cut off, and that hasn?t happened yet.

[jhg.livejournal.com]

"Tony Blair is such a fucking coward that if a right-wing bigot mouths off he feels he has to follow where they lead or the National Front won't vote for him."

An exaggeration, but an otherwise perceptive insight. (Though we should expect such things from you, I grudgingly suppose).

And interestingly, seems to tie in pretty well with Paddy Ashdown's view - the view of an honest, intelligent man, who knows Blair personally quite well.

There was a very interesting intierview with him in one of the weekend papers, I forget which one. Either the Times or the Guardian. Much of it was about Mr. Tony Blair.

To coincide with volume two of his memoirs/autobiog coming out.


J

[adjectivemarcus.livejournal.com]

But how long will it take them to die and how much pressure can they put on the government while they do it.

Michael Howard and Liam Fox, for fucks sake!

[ex-meta.livejournal.com]

Let's face it, the UK could use a shift to the left.

Maybe one day it'll even be appealing enough to tempt me back.