Highs and lows
Being up 11 seats overall is pretty good, towards the higher end of predictions (especially with the BBCs +1 exit poll last night). The Times describes it as a "major disappointment" for Charles Kennedy, which is frankly nuts but then Rupert Murdoch papers are nothing if not precdictable about this kind of thing.
A few major disappointments take the shine off it:
- Losing Oxford East by under 1000 votes in the end (would have been a spectacular gain from Labour). This is less than the vote for the Greens.
- Losing Newbury (and a couple of other seats) to the Tories.
- The decapitation strategy seems to have backfired and increased the majorities of senior Tories. I'd hoped we'd make significant gains across the board against the Tories and it would have been great to have kicked Michael Howard out of parliament as well. The man is a maggot.
- Conservatives winning Reading East (from Labour) by 500 votes - local backlash for replacing the sitting MP, Jane Griffiths, with a party stooge, I think a lot of Labour voters stayed home because they were pissed off.
Just a few too many Tory wins, although maybe it will allow Howard to hang on and keep driving the Tories further and further right away from the mainstream. I'd still rather have had an oversize Labour majority than the Tories within reach of winning next time.
A few major disappointments take the shine off it:
- Losing Oxford East by under 1000 votes in the end (would have been a spectacular gain from Labour). This is less than the vote for the Greens.
- Losing Newbury (and a couple of other seats) to the Tories.
- The decapitation strategy seems to have backfired and increased the majorities of senior Tories. I'd hoped we'd make significant gains across the board against the Tories and it would have been great to have kicked Michael Howard out of parliament as well. The man is a maggot.
- Conservatives winning Reading East (from Labour) by 500 votes - local backlash for replacing the sitting MP, Jane Griffiths, with a party stooge, I think a lot of Labour voters stayed home because they were pissed off.
Just a few too many Tory wins, although maybe it will allow Howard to hang on and keep driving the Tories further and further right away from the mainstream. I'd still rather have had an oversize Labour majority than the Tories within reach of winning next time.