The insanity that has been the last week of British politics looks to be coming to an end. Somehow a coalition made up of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives will be ruling Britain (at the pleasure of the Queen, of course.) The Tories did go further than I imagined they would to make this deal happen, a referendum on AV and several cabinet posts to name a few. It seems Nick Clegg will be deputy PM, with other Senior Lib-Dems, including Danny Alexander and Vince Cable, in important roles. Yet, I’m unclear as to how this...
Continue reading...election
Another unelected Prime Minister for the U.K.?
A bit ago, I made a (likely inebriated) prediction to Estes that I suspected that David Miliband, who had served as Foreign Secretary in the last Labour government, would be Prime Minister before 2011. And, gosh darn it, it looks as though it might be closer to reality. Gordon Brown today announced that he will resign as soon as a new government is formed, an action that had been predicted would be a necessary preerequisite to any deal with the Liberal Democrats to form a government. The Lib Dems had first approached the Tories because the Tories...
Continue reading...With Apologies to Howard Dean: What Happened Yesterday
(Some quick thoughts while Estes collects his) Well, the U.K. voted yesterday. The results were not terribly surprising: The Tories won a plurality of seats, but not enough to form a majority government. This much was expected. However, what was not expected was the relative strength of Labour or the precipitous downfall of the Liberal Democrats. I’ll start where the story is now, and move on to what I suspect happened. The onus is on Gordon Brown to form a government, and if he cannot, to step down and allow somebody else to do so. I don’t...
Continue reading...What happens tomorrow and Friday
Tomorrow, Britons will go to their polling locations and elect a new House of Commons. This much is certain. What happens next is anybody’s guess. Currently, there is no parliament, but as required by law, there is still a Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. And, until the votes are tallied, and the “winner” is summoned to the palace, Brown will remain the No10. As according to convention, Brown, as the P.M., will be the first asked by the Queen to form a government. It is widely expected that Labour will do terribly tomorrow, and that the Tories will...
Continue reading...Polltracking the Revolution
Here’s a handy little interactive widget to play with to see how everybody’s doing in the horsey-race that is the upcoming U.K. election: http://cloud.del.co.uk/clients/betfair/betfairelection/tmg-tracker/tmg-election-chart.swf The important thing to know, for those not completely fluent in U.K. electoral politics, is to get a majority and build a majority government, a party needs to win 325 seats. Current polling seems to suggest that the Tories are closing in on 333-335, while Labour + Lib Dems are only at 286 (317 if you count all the “others”). Of course, Labour and the Lib Dems may not, or even probably won’t,...
Continue reading...Reader response time
Got a very nice email from a reader: I read your recent post about the possible fraud in Togo’s 2010 election, and your insight of the importance of democracy and deep concerns really impressed me. I think you might find this video interesting. Along with the point you mentioned in your post about how this election could be fraud and how this process could be really hard to challenge in such a political climate, this video covers from many perspectives about the current battle for power and people’s protests, it also briefly touches on Togo’s political history,...
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