Voting for Prime Minister
Have you decided how you're voting in 100 days? Are you going to vote for Cameron, Milliband, Clegg, Farage or Bennett? No you aren't.
Unless you live in Witney, Doncaster North, Sheffield Halam, Thanet South or Holborn and St Pancras, you don't get to vote for any of those people. There is no election where you can choose between David Cameron and Ed Milliband or between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage. We will not be electing a Prime Minister in May. We will be electing a slate of MPs.
The Prime Minister serves at the discretion of Parliament (well, very technically of the Monarch, but in practice of Parliament). The party leaders serve at the discretion of their parties. If you vote Blue in May because you like David Cameron and the Tories win a majority and DC gets hit by a bus in June, you don't get to have another vote. Hell, the bus isn't even necessary; the Tory party is free to change leaders at any time without consulting the voters and while it would be unlikely for a party to decide to replace it's leader after a successful general election campaign, nothing stops them from doing it.
If you vote in May because you like a particular leader, you are not keeping your eyes on the true levers of power. Instead, you should be scrutinizing the MPs who are actually standing in your constituency. Voting Purple in Clacton gives you Douglas Carswell, while voting Purple in Cambridge gives you Patrick O'Flynn. Voting Red in Hackney North and Stoke Newington will give you Dianne Abbot, while voting Red in Birkenhead will give you Frank Field. If Farage or Milliband step down, get ousted or die of sudden heart attacks, the kind of candidate you voted for could become incrediably relevant.
Don't decide whether or not to vote Lib Dem on the basis of Nick Clegg. Don't even fall too much into deciding based on the Lib Dem manifesto. Decide based on the kind of Lib Dem that is available to vote for; do you think the person you'll be empowering to represent you at Westminster is honest, competent and in line with you ideologically? If not, find someone else, regardless of what colour rossette they have on them.
Unless you live in Witney, Doncaster North, Sheffield Halam, Thanet South or Holborn and St Pancras, you don't get to vote for any of those people. There is no election where you can choose between David Cameron and Ed Milliband or between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage. We will not be electing a Prime Minister in May. We will be electing a slate of MPs.
The Prime Minister serves at the discretion of Parliament (well, very technically of the Monarch, but in practice of Parliament). The party leaders serve at the discretion of their parties. If you vote Blue in May because you like David Cameron and the Tories win a majority and DC gets hit by a bus in June, you don't get to have another vote. Hell, the bus isn't even necessary; the Tory party is free to change leaders at any time without consulting the voters and while it would be unlikely for a party to decide to replace it's leader after a successful general election campaign, nothing stops them from doing it.
If you vote in May because you like a particular leader, you are not keeping your eyes on the true levers of power. Instead, you should be scrutinizing the MPs who are actually standing in your constituency. Voting Purple in Clacton gives you Douglas Carswell, while voting Purple in Cambridge gives you Patrick O'Flynn. Voting Red in Hackney North and Stoke Newington will give you Dianne Abbot, while voting Red in Birkenhead will give you Frank Field. If Farage or Milliband step down, get ousted or die of sudden heart attacks, the kind of candidate you voted for could become incrediably relevant.
Don't decide whether or not to vote Lib Dem on the basis of Nick Clegg. Don't even fall too much into deciding based on the Lib Dem manifesto. Decide based on the kind of Lib Dem that is available to vote for; do you think the person you'll be empowering to represent you at Westminster is honest, competent and in line with you ideologically? If not, find someone else, regardless of what colour rossette they have on them.