tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30827235.post7824812174429956272..comments2024-03-12T08:53:00.766+00:00Comments on The Marple Leaf: Why we lost nationally, the 5 key moments that told me it was like 1992 all over again.Michael Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616909770570609477noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30827235.post-81328309359716663062015-05-11T06:44:16.738+00:002015-05-11T06:44:16.738+00:00The stone tablet was a poor decision. It allowed t...The stone tablet was a poor decision. It allowed the right wing press to ridicule Ed and the party very close to election day. I didn't meet anyone that didn't think it was a ridiculous idea. Whoever came up with that idea needs to consider if they really are in tune with what resonates with the public. Toby Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30827235.post-29673050154424922382015-05-11T06:37:08.207+00:002015-05-11T06:37:08.207+00:00Interesting stuff. Some random thoughts in respons...Interesting stuff. Some random thoughts in response. <br /><br />The reality might be that it was just 'too soon' after 2008 for Labour to stand ANY chance. The dark spectre for you might be that Labour can never be a national party again. <br /><br />At base, whatever the passing opinion polls said, the detail showed your problem. While twice as many people thought Cameron was trustworthy and even more thought he'd be a better PM than Ed, the dissonance was in the closeness of the opinion polls, not in the difference between polls and result. It was always going to tell when people stood in the voting booth). Obviously the Clegg route (apolgize early, apologize often) didn't work, but finding a new non-Balls generation might have helped. <br /><br />While you tried to be a responsible party (I could argue, with their spending pledges, the Tories actually out-flanked you to the left), that image always hung over you and there was no expunging it. <br /><br />But underneath lies the bigger tactical problem. You haven't won an election in forty years without someone called 'Tony Blair' at your head. You haven't won one in nearly seventy without Blair or Wilson. They were similar in a lot of ways, they did the Reagan-in-reverse job of tying together the core vote with the aspirational southerners--you won Essex Man under both of them. But you can no longer rely on that core. UKIP is a huge threat, with or without Farage. Where now is your heartland? Hampstead?<br /><br />I blogged over a year ago that Labour wouldn't win my local constituency (Ilkley/Keighley) because, despite everyone saying something different, UKIP were going to take from Labour not the Tories. I dind't get any sense that Labour took this threat seriously, or had any tactic to deal with it. A mug with 'immigration controls' on it doth not return the white working class to you. <br /><br />There's an even bigger concern coming out of this. For those of us on the right, there's been a frustration that the link between Conservatism and more recent immigrants has never really been built. It might just be getting there--the Tories came second in Manchester City Centre with a Chinese candidate. In the locals, in the places I know well, they took Keighley Central, a very poor area. George Grant massively increased the Tory vote in Bradford West. How will that play out... <br /><br />Oh and you should have supported PR as LabourList suggested at the time!Empress of Blandingsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30827235.post-28578857048979646722015-05-11T04:55:50.828+00:002015-05-11T04:55:50.828+00:00I'd agree wit you on the millionaire comment.
...I'd agree wit you on the millionaire comment.<br /><br />You didn't even have to be a millionaire to feel left out of the lefty circle jerk.<br /><br />Everyone was assuming I was a Tory just because I own a business. There was nothing that spoke to me in that campaign.<br /><br />The party needs to go back to New Labour policies if it wants power again.James Crawfordhttp://www.pragencyone.co.uknoreply@blogger.com