UK Labour thrashed in local elections
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am by David FarrarThe results are yet to be announced for the London Mayoralty (Zimbabwe is almost faster with its results) but the expectation is that Boris Johnson has won it off Ken Livingstone, as Labour have been mauled across the board.
Pundits said a loss of more than 200 seats would be very bad for Labour. Well they have lost a staggering 331 seats – a once in a generation annihilation. In fact Labour only came third in the popular vote with 24% behind Lib Dems on 25% and Conservatives on 44%.
It is now being openly speculated that Prime Minister Gordon Brown may be rolled before the election. He is lucky in that there is no general election needed for two years, but unlucky in that that gives lots of time for discontent to simmer.
Congrats to all my friends in the Conservatives – must have been a good night of celebrations.
Tags: Boris Johnson, Conservatives, Gordon Brown, Ken Livingstone, Lib Dems, UK Labour
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
I’m sure the celebrations have started in London but we’re not quite there yet with an actual result – despite the initial possibility that it’d be in at 4pm this afternoon. The stats change minute by minute but there’s 4 constituencies to go and Boris is ahead by 4% on First Preference votes. I started this comment 5 mins ago and in that time the margin has jumped from 2% to 4%.
It might be worth pointing out at this stage that this is also the highest turnout for quite some time for London at around 45%. It’s been fun to watch the campaigning and see how this is going.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 am
No great surprise, but just realize the logistics and geographics of the Tory victory. Labour controls NO councils in the south of England. The Tory’s have made the break through in Bury in the industrial rust belt of the north and have even made progress in Wales.
Vote:Labour fatigue again is the prime cause-much the same happened to John Major in 1995 before the Blair UK victory in 1997.
Tony Blair was hated by many UK residents but he was a hell of a lot better than Gordon Brown.Look for UK Labour to start splitting with many deserting the New Labour banner back to the old dogmatic Socialist Left who can’t get elected. Watch what happens if and when “Red Ken” gets booted out by Boris.It’s great what elections can do for a holder of a seat subject to a ten percent swing-look for retribution against Brown and against New Labour policies.
I have visions of old labour calling for re-nationalisation, singing The Red Flag and calling for the abolition of diplomatic relations with the USA.
Old Labour in the UK are “the flat earthers” of the Universe- think of people like Tony Benn,Neil Kinnock and others who were divorced from reality with their loony views.
Does anyone know if the local elections have taken place in Scotland yet ? The Tories have been a disaster north of the border.Any successes there would see a monumental move politically in the UK.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:09 am
Shame that Conservatives in the UK and NZ did not do more to capitalize on growing discontent with the outcomes of socialist policies. Like they might grow some balls and offer some real alternatives.
I don’t think they’re in touch. If they were, they might understand more about just how utterly pissed off people are with leftism, and offer something more substantial than the weak and unimaginative Labour lite alternative that they presently think will win if for them.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
looks like the wheel of fortune has come full turn.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Last Scottish local elections were 2007 if I recall correctly.
Brown brings whole new meaning to most-boring-PM-ever.
This is going to be an interesting couple of years here.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 am
Easy tiger. Boris is also going to deliver a handy win in London in less than an hour, if they hurry up the counting. The Evening Standard late edition had the headline “Boris is new mayor or London”… so they called it nice and early.
Ken is toast. We’re on the bubbly already and are just waiting for the BBC to announce it.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
I bet Tony Blair is thankful he’s not there now.
Vote:Essentially Labour have lost through the “It’s Time for a Change”. Next time it will be the Tories.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
Auckland should note that while there is the GLC they still have many small boroughs to look after local affairs.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:33 am
I must say I watched again the Parkinson interview with Tony Blair and could understand why he was so popular for so long and why I am sure he is sadly missed by many.
You often don’t know what you’ve lost till its gone.
He came across as a thoroughly decent man who believed in his causes and most remarkably, for a politician, I never squirmed once, even though he covered a wide range of topics many of which were “squirm” material in most politicians hands.
At the end I felt I was always be pleased to have him round for dinner and indeed would be pleased to number him among my friends.
If you get a change – watch the interview. I am sure it will run again, somewhere, and maybe especially now.
Vote:This interview reinforced the Blair behavior portrayed in “The Queen”.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
Owen, you could say the same about Clinton. Some people still speak in the same tone about him…. of course history shows that Billy boy wasn’t that great after all.
The BBC are repeating this interesting factoid. Gordon Brown is from Scotland, his home constituency is run by Torys and London is NOW run by the Torys. Ahem… the BBC has just announced
1,43761 votes to 893867…. you read it here first.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
Owen, you could say the same about Clinton. Some people still speak in the same tone about him…. of course history shows that Billy boy wasn’t that great after all.
The BBC are repeating this interesting factoid. Gordon Brown is from Scotland, his home constituency is run by Torys and London is NOW run by the Torys. Ahem… the BBC has just announced
1,43761 votes to 893867…. first preference votes.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
Frank Field for British Labour leader !!!!!!
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 am
And I quote, “lets get cracking tomorrow, and lets have a drink tonight!”.
And what a great acceptance speech by Boris.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am
Aarrgh, that will teach me for blogging and clicking submit before I get the end results…..2nd preference votes didn’t help Red Ken at all, diddums.
Apologies for the multiple posts.
Ok, back to the bubbly
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7381585.stm
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
Speech here -> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7381585.stm
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Ahhhh, I am trying to post the video which is taking ages to post here… http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7381585.stm
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I had a post all ready but Neil at 10.06 said it all. For Labour it was their ‘Thursday Night Massacre’.
What I really what to see now is the ‘spin’ from our resident Labour apologists.
RogerN/GWW3/Toms/Sonic/James/Tane … where are you, hullo, hullo.
Vote:May 3rd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
What immediately came to mind when I read this post… political comeuppance for the left!
Last year, when Australian Labor came to power, the usual suspects brayed and gloated about a new left-wing political world order (PhillipJohn/Roger Nome certainly comes to mind – as does Sonic and possibly Tane). This exposed a born-to-rule mentality for all to see. Now… will they acknowledge that they have to earn the right to govern? And can they do so without mentioning (irrelevantly) National and the 90s in the same sentence? No?
Vote:May 6th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Neil wrote:
Owen McShane wrote:
Agreed and agreed.
Occasionally the media have compared Clark with Blair, but in my opinion, they couldn’t be more different.
Blair spoke with conviction and eloquence. This is in total contrast to our PM’s crass, vitriol manner of speaking. Blair believed in the ‘third way’ governance, Clark believes in ‘her way’.
Vote: