A New Britain - A British Political TL (1995-)

[Chris Nation]

Speaking as a active Lib dem throughout the period That's not true the party has always been pro European, being pro a referendum was more a question of trying to shape the question themselves rather than letting the their opponents do that as Cameron frankly did (unlike Wilson)..

A third of Lib Dem voters (at the time) voted Brexit in 2016. At times in the 70s and early 80s, a majority of Liberal voters were Eurosceptic. The party has had a hard lurch to Europhilia. Which is to be expected. They generally have to compete by taking unequivocal positions on issues that the Labour Party, by virtue of being a much broader based party, have to compromise on.

 

[Daudkhan]

I have to say I enjoy a Conservative dystopia TL as much as the next person and this has been an excellent journey.

Paddy Ashdown will go down in he history of this TL as the most successful leader of the Liberals since Asquith and while he's never got to Government, I assume the success in general elections has been matched locally so there could be 5000 Liberal Councillors running large numbers of councils across the country.

We've also not seen the 2003 Scottish and Welsh parliamentary election results nor any of the European Parliamentary election results to see how the party could have progressed in those.

Bill Cash would have been the disaster you have portrayed but who follows him with just 115 MPs from which to choose? William Hague is the most likely of the survivors and would still be young enough to take on Blair's successor.

Who succeeds Ashdown is another question? I suspect it wouldn't be Charles Kennedy in this TL but would it be one of the pre-1997 "old guard" such as Beith or Hughes or would the party "skip a generation" to one of the 1997 intake such as Tom Brake or Paul Burstow or Andrew George? One of the big failures of the LDs was responding to the more centrist Conservative leader, David Cameron but they would find it easier to deal with Hague.

The LD position on PR is NOT to support AV - that was Clegg's position and all he could get from the Conservatives in 2010. The LDs have always backed STV - would Labour offer that for local elections first?

Yeah there are some good points and let me adress them, I did actually forget to do the 2003 scottish and welsh elections and the EU Elections but I will edit them into the TL. I think the tories are going to have an ideological war and for the Lib Dems, Im not gonna disclose my idea except to say Charles Kennedy is going to be a powerful figure in the post-ashdown Lib Dems

 

[sarahz]

A third of Lib Dem voters (at the time) voted Brexit in 2016. At times in the 70s and early 80s, a majority of Liberal voters were Eurosceptic. The party has had a hard lurch to Europhilia. Which is to be expected. They generally have to compete by taking unequivocal positions on issues that the Labour Party, by virtue of being a much broader based party, have to compromise on.

Cods and wallop. The membership of the party is and has been 95 per cent pro european since the 1960's. The fact is that a minority of the voters who voteed LD or Liberal did so because Eurosceptic though they were the issue was not important to them compared with other issues. The apparent shift insofar as it even existed was purely tactical . After the coalition debacle the party needed a USP and being anti Brexit wasavailable at a time when few other options presented themselves. BTW there are not all that many pro brexit members of the Labour party either,.

 

[Daudkhan]

Post-Election Reaction

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After the Labour Party had won a third general election it was compleltley and utterly unprecedented and that in it self was a huge achievement. Tony Blair had come back to MillBank where the Labour Party had created a new 15 year lease with the company. He came out and gave a victory speech where he hailed the opportunity for all society he said. 'We have done it and we have made history once again, we have ran the country for eight years and we will do it for four more at least so we have to get out there and make that change thank you'. He felt elated with very good reason to the Labour party had been retuned with a landslide majority of 160. And the jubiliation was reflected within Party HQ.

As for the Conservatives well the right were miserable this was now there fifth election in a row where they were losing seats. (1987 and 1992 they lossed seats). But this result was beyond. their worst expectations if the Lib Dems had gained just 8 more seats they would have the tories into third place. Bill Cash did immediatley resign though the internal party polls had suggested that they could get up to 190 seats, getting 115 seats was a failure by any definition of the word. Cash announced he would stay on until the new leader would be elected.

As for the Lib Dems well to say they had a good night would be a massive understatement, the Lib Dems had won a 101 MPs and had won 9.8 million votes and had won over a million more than the tories. Paddy Ashdown was given a 3 minute standing ovation having led the party for 16 years he had three elections in a row where he had made substantial gains. Ashdown Hailed the success as 'A victory for not only Liberalism but for Compassion'. However though they had hailed the victory and jubilation was the dominating feeling there was an injustice that they had secured 5% more votes than the tories and were still the third party. Between his friends (Nick Clegg, Charles Kennedy and Alan Bieth ) He had intended to resign in 2007.

Blair's Cabinet

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There hadn't been many fundamental changes over the eight years,Blair had his inner circle,John Prescott, Gordon Brown and Alan Milburn. And though they had substantial influence on the PM it was known that there were two people who were able to understand the PM's Inner thoughts and they were his two main advisors Alistair Campbell and his chief of staff Jonathan Powell. Anji Hunter had remained the director of NO.10 policy and that wasn't changing and this is what the cabinet looked like.

Prime Minister- Tony Blair
Deputy Prime Minister- John Prescott
Chancellor - Gordon Brown
Foreign Secretary - Robin Cook
Home Secretary - David Blunkett
Health Secretary - Alan Milburn
Education Secretary - Jacqui Smith
Work and Pensions Secretary - Jack Straw
Enviroment Secretary - Margret Beckett
Trade and Industry - Bob Marshall Andrews
Head of the Full Employment Comission- Rodney Bickerstaffe
Transport Secretary - John Prescott
Scottish Secretary - Tom Clarke
Welsh Secretary - Alun Micheal

The Cabinet had been fairly New Labour with the likes of Alan Milburn and Jack Straw. But the shock appointment was in Bob Marshal Andrews as the Employment Secretary. Andrews was the most left wing minister since Tony Benn and it was a surprise on how he could be hired but Blair had decided to hire him in order to carry out their employment policies. And as For Rodney Bickerstaffe since he had finished his career as a TUC head. Blair had made him the head of the full employment

Tory Leadership Contest

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It was another tory leadership election, the fourth one in ten years. The conservative party had fallen into an ideological civil war. The moderates like Ken Clarke had still gained prominence and had stood but also the tories wanted to maintiain their principles though Iain Duncan Smith did look like a reasonable bet, the scale of the defeat had shaken the tories to their core. Ken Clarke had decided to stand but so did Tim Loughton , Micheal Howard and David Davis along with Micheal Fabricant.

Ideological Scale

0- Pure Centrists , 10 - Pure Thatcherite

Ken Clarke - 0.9
David Davis - 1.6
Micheal Fabricant- 2.8
Tim Loughton 4.5
Micheal Howard 6.8

The Leadership election had been based on one simple narrative should the conservatives be able to remain as a viable party and therefore here is how the first ballot went.

Ken Clarke - 49 - 42.6%
David Davis - 21- 18.2%
Micheal Fabricant - 18 - 15.6%
Tim Loughton - 16 - 13.9%
Micheal Howard - 11 - 9.5%

Micheal Howard was swiftly eliminated and Micheal Howard was elimianted and endorsed David Davis calling him the 'True Bastion of Conservatism'.

Second Ballot
Ken Clarke - 50 - 43.6%
Davis Davis - 32- 27.8%
Micheal Fabricant - 18 - 15.6%
Tim Loughton 15 - 13%

Tim Loughton was eliminated and endorsed David Davis.

Third Ballot
Ken Clarke - 54 - 46.9%
David Davis 47 - 40.1%
Micheal Fabricant- 15 - 13%

Micheal Fabricant endorsed his friend Ken Clarke but it did seem that this would be a battle for the heart and soul of the conservative party.

During the entire leadership election, it was a clear debate between a pure centrist in Ken Clarke or David Davis who was mildly on the right but was far more to the left than Bill Cash, The debated had been focused on the public services and with Health and Education. But the reason this was Ken Clarkes main terrortry is he promised to modernise and change and to win the election. And the key part is that if there was one tory who the labour party would be scared off would have to be Ken Clarke.

Membership Ballot
Ken Clarke - 148,621 - 74.82%
David Davis - 52,379- 26.18%

Shadow Cabinet of Ken Clarke

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No-one at all was surprised when he was announced that Ken Clarke was the leader of the conservative party. Though they might have felt uncomfortable they knew that having gone to the point of near extinction they had to elect a leader who would take them back to power and indeed in his victory speech that is exactly that where he said 'If any of you ever doubt the path we are going just remember that night when that exit poll was released remember how we all felt and then say to yourselves never will we experience this tragic defeat ever again'. Clarke had decided to make his cabinet far more centrist than Cash's bringing back his old friends and new people.

Leader of the Oppistion - Ken Clarke
Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party - Micheal Heseltine
Shadow Chancellor - Micheal Portillo
Shadow Foreign Secretary - David Cameron
Shadow Home Secretary - David Davis
Shadow Health Secretary - Eric Pickles
Shadow Education Secretary - Peter Lilley
Work and Pensions Secretary - Alan Duncan
Shadow International Devolopment Secretary - Theresa May
Chairman of the Conservative Party - Micheal Fabricant
Chief Whip - Sir George Younger


As expected the cabinet had made a fundamental ideological shift to the centre ground with those on the hard left of the party, Eric Pickles and Alan Duncan but with many moderates such as David Cameron and the former prime minster Micheal Heseltine coming back as the Deputy Leader. But the grand coalition had thrown the tories back in. Because by the end of 2005 the polls looked like this.

​

Party	Result
Labour	40%
Conservatives	33%
Lib Dems	27%

Party	Result
Labour	372 (-48)
Conservatives	176 (+61)
Lib Dems	73 (-28)

Between October and December. The tories had been changing their policies for example they had ditched any form of privtisation of the nhs and schools. They had pledged to meet Labour's spending plans on the front line services. This had played a substantial role in detoxfying the conservative party. But as Clarke said 'This is going to be a long effort but we are going to be in power'.

Budget 2006

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After 9 years of a Labour government the economy had gone through yet another year of economic growth this was yet another victroy lap for the leadership of Gordon brown. With the surplus forecasts being £93 billions in 2006 , £101 billion in 2007 , £109 billions in 2008 , £120 billions in 2009 , £126 billions in 2010 and £135 billions in 2011. The economic growth forecasts would be 3.3% in 2006 , 3.5% in 2007 , 3.4% in 2008 , 3.4% in 2009 , 3.3% in 2010 and 3.4% in 2011. These were strong economic forecasts comissoned by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

However there was also strong investment for the public services, the NHS had recieved a huge investment over the last six years and now at 2006 the budget of the NHS is at £106 billion and therefore they were able to properly fund the NHS and therefore the budget pledged to a further £8 billion the Labour party had some undeniable successes on the NHS with the reduction of the waiting lists to 2.5 million down from the 3.9 million in 1997. The radical increase in education spending from £36 billions in 1997 to £78 billions in 2006. But the radical funding of universities and colleges had been benifical.

As the Leader of the Conservatives, Ken Clarke had led the start of a modernising agenda basing his party had been detoxifying and through several spending pledges it was able to allow the Conservatives to bounce back. Clarke said 'So after 9 years of these irresponsible high spending socialists we have to change our public services require deep and fundemental reform of our NHS and schools. And I hear the Labour benches saying 'Privtisation' I would rather resign and leave politics than privatise the NHS and so lets stop floating these nonsense accusaiton because what this government needs is proper change and why not make way for the people who will make that change'

Local Elections 2006

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These Elections would be a testing set for the Clarkes leadership the Conservatives had been anihliated in the 2002 local elections which is what these where the councils were last contended. The tories were anhiliated in the last set of local elections (2002) Labour beat them by 11% and therefore the tories had decided to make five people the centre of the Campaign, Ken Clarke, Micheal Heseltine, David Cameron, Alan Duncan and Eric Pickles. They are to become the new men of the tory party. But their speeches proved to be effective. An Iconic moment in the campaign was Eric Pickles talking to the voters of Liverpool who seemed to like him. As Pickles seemed to be a proper social democrat. The Labour Campaign had been effective due to 9 years of strong economic growth and there is a genuine feel good factor. The Lib Dems had a good Campaign, Paddy Ashdown was an extremely popular leader but the tories had come back.

Party	Councils	Councillors	Percent
Conservatives	49 (+13)	2,253 (+357)	38.5% (+6.6%)
Labour	43 (-14)	1,875 (-410)	35.3%. (-7.7%)
Lib Dems	21 (+1)	1,105 (+63)	26.2% (+1.1%)
Others	12 (NC)

Labour 297 (-108)

Conservatives 261 (+146)

Lib Dems 64 (-37)

It had been a fightback local elections with there being a clear swing of 7.1% to the Conservatives which would wipe out the majority for the Labour Party but the Lib Dems had also take a squeezing in their seats.

Conservative Party Conference- 27/09/06-1/10/06-Blackburn

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As the tories have come into there conference it became clear that the fate of the tories had changed quite considerably from 12 months ago where they had nearly become exitint. Except now they were polling neck and neck with Labour however most do accept that it was because of two reasons the first as the leadership of Ken Clarke who had taken the party back to the centre ground. And the second reason was that the pledges on public services were in some cases to the left of Labour and when asked about cuts. Micheal Portillo remarked 'There will be no cuts'. As the Leader of the Oppistion gave his speech it was focused on health, education and defence. Clarke finsihed by saying this.

'There are some who are uneasy about the modernising movement but we are the party of power and the only way we can be in power is by changing and modernising because there is simply no point for us to sit there and talk about modernising and not doing it this party has to reflect Britain so let's get out their and make that change'

The speech had been effective in making a proper triangulation stratergy when he was chancellor, Clarke had tired to do the whole triangulate strategy when he was chancellor and since he was leader in the last 12 months he had been on the path of modernising and changing the country.

Party	Result
Conservatives	39%
Labour	36%
Lib Dems	25%

Labour Conference- 3/10/06-7/10/06- Manchester

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As The Labour party convened for another conference being their 9th one in government, times had changed they were no longer dominating the polls as the conservatives under Ken Clarke had revived their fortunes mainly because they were in the centre ground. But the Labour party still felt triumphant because they had another 4 years in power with a landslide majority. As Tony Blair stood up and gave his conference speech he talked about health , education , reforming public services and Iraq but he concluded his speech by saying.

'Friends here we are again in the ninth year of a labour government after the debates and policies of the government we are contiuining to rebuild Britain and that is the goal of this Labour government we have a duty to rebuild this country and whilst we have done part of it through the massive NHS investment and the rebuilding and reforming our schools we have still have a long way to go. So friends let's get out their and change this country.

The Conference had been a success with the Labour party using it to clearly outline the vision for the Labour party and how the country and the vision of the country has changed in the way that was unimagniable in 1997 and therefore with the economy growing and with living standards rising with the health service getting greater levels of expenditure and the schools were rebuilt. The public did acknowledge the huge gains that were made by the labour government.

​

Parties	Result
Labour	41%
Conservatives	35%
Lib Dems	24%

End of Year

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After 9 and a half years of running the country the Labour Party had managed to still be leading in the opinion polls and it was undeniable that under the mamagement of Gordon Brown the economy had seen a huge expansion which led to the creation of 2.2 million new jobs and the decreasing of poverty. However the Conservatives had experienced a revival in the Opinion Polls with Ken Clarke taking the party back to the centre ground and continuing the modernisisng agenda had allowed them to hail the success that he had brought them.The Lib Dems had not felt as good as they had 12 months ago but they were still polling between 23%-27% which was much higher than 5 years ago but it was known that Paddy Ashdown's leadership was going to end in 2008 to mark 2 decades as leader of the Lib Dems.

Up Next
2007 Budget
2007 Scottish and Welsh Elections
Tory Conference
Labour Conference
Pensions Reform
Budget 2008
Future of Labour?
Lib Dem Leadership Election

 

[EvilJam]

Jeez, according to this timeline Labour can do nothing wrong.

You clearly have a Blair-fetish

 

[Daudkhan]

Jeez, according to this timeline Labour can do nothing wrong.

You clearly have a Blair-fetish

I dont, but Hadn't it been for iraq and top-up fees. Between 1997-2007 Labour didn't do much wrong. But equally the tories do get praised a fair ammpunt of the modernising agenda and Labour can't win forever but the public keeps voting them in because they keep doing good stuff.

 

[Daudkhan]

Budget 2007

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As Gordon Brown convened for their tenth budget in a row he did report what could only be described as a fundamentally strong economy with the growth rates of 3.3% in 2007 , 3.5% in 2008 , 3.6% in 2009, 3.4% in 2010 , 3.5% in 2011 and 3.4% in 2012. These were strong economic growth rates because these were good growth rates which would ensure an extra £380 billions for the GDP. As for the surplus projections they were still strong because of the high growth economy which led to surplus projections of £108 billions in 2007 , £115 billions in 2008 , £121 billions in 2009 , £130 billions in 2010 and £136 billions in 2011 and £150 billions in 2012. These are strong economic forecasts which proved the strong economy that Labour ran.

As for the public services, the NHS did recieve an extra £9 billions in its annual expenditure boost. But it was going to be used in not only bringing down the waiting lists and therefore it allowed the NHS to be restored to its greatness. Also, the NHS had seen it have greater levels of funding for social care which allowed people with assets below £35,000 to not pay for their social care. The figure didn't include a persons home. Also Education was indeed funded effectively with an annual increases of expenditure of £4 billions. The use of the expenditure increases on the front line services it did allow them to be extremley benificial with public service satisfaction rates being at 78%.

The Tax reductions were applied with the 40% tax band being raised so that for no one with incomes below £55,000 would pay the 40% band of tax. There was also the raising of the lower 10% band for the more low income households was extended for incomes upto £28,000.

2007 Scottish and Welsh Elections

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After 8 years of devolved adminsitration and with the labour government had ruled Scotland with effienciency in being able to upgrade the quality of education within Scotland for 8 years the Labour and Liberal Democrat government have had a laser light focus on education and improving the system of education, which was reflected in the education league tables with Scotland going up from 46th in 1997 to 7th in 2007. This was a clear indication of a strong education. But also there was the building of 200,000 council houses which allowed the price of houses to come down.

As for the Campaign well it was a formidable effort from the conservatives who had put all there star players in a 8 week campaign. But Eric Pickles was a key part in Scotland by going up to an Ship Building factor in Coatbridge which proved to be effective as they way he did it was talking to them. The event was 5 and a half hours long and he understood the workers. The Labour party had a positive record to campaign on with there being a clear change in Education and the rise in living standards. The Liberal Democrats had also a positive campaign due to the record. Here was the Election result.

Parties	Seats	Percentage
Labour	58 (-4)	38.4% (-1.9%)
Lib Dems	26 (+1)	23.2% (+1.1%)
Conservatives	19 (+8)	21.2% (+12.6%)
SNP	18 (-9)	11.0% (-12.1%)
Greens	8 (+4)	6.1% (+0.8%)

The Labour party were always going to win the eleciton that was undoubtle, but the majority had come down from 29 to 19. But they had won the eleciton pretty easily and the coalition was renewed pretty easily with their being a renewal of the terms. But the main story of the night was the collapse of the SNP as the main oppisition and who replaced them, the conservative party. CCHQ had decided to employ a strategy of triangulation. Sending Eric Pickles and Alan Duncan to Scotlnd had been benifiical because the two of them had a strong connection to the people of Scotland.

Wales

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As for the Welsh election, the Labour party had won an election in 1999 and 2003. The reason this was signficant is because wales was a traditional labour terrortriy and therefore it had genuine benifit because the welsh labour party was more to the left than the national labour party. The First Minister Rhodri Morgan was far to the left of Tony Blair. TheTory Campaign had been interesting. Micheal Heseltine and Ken Clarke stumping around Wales had been effective. The reaosn this was because. they were pure one nation tories and therefore could connect with the welsh voters. The Lib Dems had also had some strong advantages but equally they were plauteuing.

Parties	Seats	Pecentage
Labour	29 (-1)	38.8% (+0.7%)
Conservatives	13 (+5)	26.8% (+4.7%)
Lib Dems	10 (-1)	23.2% (-0.9%)
Welsh Socialist Party	6 (+1)	7.1% (+0.8%)
Plaid Cymru	2 (-4)	4.1% (-5.8%)

The Labour Party's majority had decreased from 22 to 18 seats. But they had still secured an Overall Majority but they had an ideological majority of 34. But equally there was a stunning victory for the conservatives winning 5 new seats and taking the role of the oppisiton and it had become clear that the entire strategy of triangulation had been benificlal. At the end of the election night the tories were able to hail there victory as a breakthrough in Wales.

Local Election 2007

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As the campaign kicked off for the 2007 local elections it was an interesting start for all parties, the Conservatives had seen there position revive quite quickly as a result of the triangulation strategy. The Conservatives had set up a campaign that was focused on winning back the centre ground. They were fully aware that Labour's capturing of the centre ground would help them win more general elections and unless the tories fought for it they were in trouble. David Cameron, Ken Clarke, Micheal Heseltine, Alan Duncan and Eric Pickles ran the campaign in order to help the tories. The Labour Party had been able to campaign on ten years of strong economy and ten years of rising Employment. And They sent Alan Milburn and Gordon Brown along with Tony Blair as there men to win the locals. Here is how the election went.

Party	Councils	Councillors	Percentages
Labour	40 (-10)	8,325 (-1,632)	37.1% (-4.2%)
Conservatives	27 (+18)	5,210 (+1,910)	35.9% (+5.1%)
Lib Dems	24 (-3)	4,650 (-101)	27.0% (-0.9%)
No Overall Control	8 (-5)

The Elections were close but Labour had won, but interms of percentage of the vote this is how the 2010 eleciton would go under those share of the vote.

Labour 335 (-70)

Conservatives 210 (+95)

Lib Dems 75 (-26)

Labour would still win a fourth term in government but the majority would be slashed down to 20 seats. As Tony Blair came back he hailed it as a victory for new Labour, it was astonishing that ten years on a government could still win the local elections but the tory revival was stunning they tripled their number of councils from 9 to 27 which was hailed by Ken Clarke as a victory for Brtiain.

Tory Conference- Manchester- 28/09/07-1/10/07

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As the Tory Conference convened in Manchester they had a right to be happy, in the space of 21 months they had gone from near extinction to a party that is back. The tories had considerd the modernising agenda and have used it for change. For example, the tories had pledged to stick to Labour's spending plans for the full five years.This was able to nuetralise the key attack that labour were able to use which was the tories were able to sell off the state services. But equally the Labour Party still had a proper agenda which with Tony Blair leading the country and with a grip on Middle England there was still no certainity over the Overall Majority. As Ken Clarke gave another speech to the conservative conference.

'So my friends here we are again convening for another conference after another good year of election results, this party is changing and that si a good thing, for the more we change the more we look credible and that's why we have revived as a party, the change we have made as a party the reason that occupies the centre ground and why do we occoupy the centre ground it's so we can say that of course we are a free market party that has a deep trust in businesses but we are also a party with a deep social conscience. If we can make that change we can win so let us get out there and do it'.

The party had modernised which is why they were still polling neck and neck. The Tories campaigning within the traditional Labour cities had bene effective as they had shown that there was no bound for them in order to reach out to the voters that they had lost.

Party	Result
Conservatives	38%
Labour	33%
Lib Dems	29%

Party	Result
Labour	280 (-124)
Conservatives	261 (+136)
Lib Dems	79 (-22)

Labour Conference- Leeds - 03/10/07-07/10/07

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10 years since the historic 1997 conference, the labour party were convening for yet another conference and therefore it was there tenth in government the party were able to hail their long list of acheivements wether it was ten years of uninterupted economic growth, 10 years of sustained rates of employment along with rapid investments in the NHS and Schools, Along with the peace in Northern Ireland , Kosovo, Sierra Leonne, Afghanistan and Iraq. Oh did I forget to mention Iraq, It turned out that the UN Coaltion inaited by Blair and Gore had managed to end Sadam Hussein and replace it with a Iraqi Government. But as Tony Blair came into the conference and came onto the platform he was their natural leader.

'My freinds we are here for our 10th year in government, and be in do doubt we still have a lot to be proud of the minimum wage, peace in northern ireland and the massive investment in the NHS and Education, we have radically transformed our public services dont ever forget that. Dont let people think we dont stick to what w beleive in. In the last ten years we have done more to change this country than those tories have ever done. We can do whatever we want because we have that grip on power. But also we are lucky in our oppistion, I know people say we have to take the Lib Dems seriously but I can't, I like Paddy incidently but recently he asked what do the lib dems stand for, Paddy please don't go there. The huge benifit for the Lib Dems is precisley nobody knows what they stand for. And if they Paddy it will be the end of you. They voted against ending benifits for failed asylum seekers, voted against ASBOs and they believe you can fund £40 billion of spending pledges through a 50% top rate of tax. Meanwhile the other half of their party wants to sell off the NHS. As for the Tories well they dont need to question what they stand for but the public knows what they stand for, the poll tax , 3 million unemployed, 15% interest rates, the cuts in schools and hosptials and the selling of all our industries. And let me blunt they do not deserve to ether be allowed to be back in power'.

​

Parties	Result
Labour	40%
Conservatives	32%
Lib Dems	28%

​

Parties	Result
Labour	373 (-32)
Conservatives	169 (+54)
Lib Dems	79 (-22)

​

Leader	Approve	Disaprove
Tony Blair	63%	35%
Ken Clarke	69%	28%
Paddy Ashdown	81%	17%

​

The Polls had turned because the conference had been a success . The walkabout that Gordon brown did in Leeds City Centre talking to the voters about public services showed a calming force.And Tony Blair's speech had been unscripted and played well into the authenticity factor.

Budget 2008

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As Gordon Brown stood up and deleverd his 11th budget as he chancellor, the key theme was that strong economy it had come to dominate that ith growth rates of 3.4% in 2008, 3.3% in 2009, 3.6% in 2010, 3.8% in 2011 and 3.7% in 2012 and 3.8% in 2013. Allowed Brown to proclaim that Britain had the fastest growing eocnomy in the entire of Europe and except China had the fastest growing economy in the world. The Budget surplus was forecasted to be £110 billion in 2008 , £123 billion in 2009, £130 billion in 2010, £138 billion in 2011 , £150 billion in 2012 and £159billion in 2013. The Inflation rates were forecasted to be 0.8% in 2008 , 0.5% in 2009, 0.6% in 2010 , 0.4% in 2011 and 0.5% in 2012.

So with a strong economy there was a strong focus on the public services with a rapidly expanding NHS budget. Brown increased the NHS budget by £9 billions in 2008. He also promised to increase the Education Spending by £7 billions and announced that the Education Maintance Allowances which were used to help low income students into college would be increased to £35 a week. And that Lord Phillips had been asked to comission a review into University financing. The Police had been provided with an extra £5 billion which would be used to build 20 new police stations and rennovating 50 others. But there was an emphasis on local government which was provided with an extra £6 billions.

The Budget had been a success in not only hailing the achievements of that strong economy that won clealry with the voters. As Ken Clarke gave his speech he closed with 'SO after 11 years of more spending and more taxes we have to question what are we doing, now we welcome the chancellor's spending plans and we will back them but the labour party needs to understand that we need to reform our services and to invest more money so let's reform and change.

London Mayrol Election 2008

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As they were ready for the third campaign, Ken Livingstone did have a record to campaign on the 485,000 homes built in the second term along with train fares coming down from Zone 1-6 from £3.95 to £2.50 per journey. But also the rail cards had been reduced to a maximum of £20 for a week travel. Also the London Overground rail devolopment had been a success. Livingstone 'Mayor Question Time' had been able to increase the power of the Mayor by causing less apathy. As for the Consevatives they had no idea who to nominate so they decided on Boris Johnson. Johnson was a formidable oppoment he had campaigned on what he called 'Modern Compassionate One Nation Toryism' he had promised not to reverse Livingstone's Transport reforms. As for the Lib Dems they had nominated Brian Paddock who was a police officer who had fought on being on tough on crime but also radically improving the quality of life for londoners.

Party	1st Ballot	2nd Ballot
Ken Livingstone (Labour)	35.90%	55.65%
Boris Johsnon (Conservatives)	36.12%	44.35%
Brian Paddock (Lib Dem)	20.86%
Jenny Jones (Green)	7.12%

Ken Livingstone had won a third term but it was undeniable Johnson was a formidable oppoment but eventually the votes did help because Livingstone was a popular mayor.

Lib Dem Leadership Contest

​

After 20 years Paddy Ashdown had decided to step down as leader of the Liberal Democrats he had taken the party from near irrelevance to now 101 MPs and had given more votes than the tories. The Lib Dems had more seats since the years of Asquith. As the Contest started it was between Chris Huhne, Vince Cable, Nick Clegg and David Laws. Huhne was a social democrat. On the scale this is how they looked.

(0- Social Democrat, 10- Gladstonian Liberal)

Chris Huhne - 0.9
Vince Cable - 1.1
Nick Clegg 3.8
David Laws - 9.3

Candidates	First Ballot	Second Ballot	Final Ballot
Vince. Cable	38.01%	47.56%	62.38%
Chris Huhne	23.12%	28.44%	37.62%
Nick Clegg	22.65%	25.00%
David Laws	17.22%

Vince Cable was the natural successor for Paddy Ashdown and was a popular figure within the Lib Dems. Charles Kennedy was immediatly made his deputy leader and it was clear there was not going to be an ideolgical shift.

UP Next
Education Reform
Budget 2009
Local Elections 2009
European Elections 2009
Establishing a Supreme Court
Budget 2010

 

[Daudkhan]

Can I just ask can you see the images or do they not work?

 

[Rillium]

Can I just ask can you see the images or do they not work?

I can see the images

 

[Orchard]

Can I just ask can you see the images or do they not work?

Yeh they work

 

[Daudkhan]

Education reform

​

Though Labour had been in power for a decade, and there has been two education reform bills in the past in regards to primary , secondary and college education. They had been effective in driving up standards and the reason it is vital that driving up standards is because the more educated the people are the better off they will be in the long term. This was the approach of the government for a long time and this would be the continued approach. So the education bill contained the following provisions.

• An Annual 5.3% rise in real terms Education in funding for the next four years.​
• Hiring 150,000 more teachers by 2015​
• Hiring 250,000 teaching assistants by 2016.​
• Having a National criculum which is reviewed every 5 years.​
• Allowing Coursework to become half of the subjects up from 35%.​
• Uprating the Education Maintance Allowance to £40 a week​
• Building 1,200 new schools by 2021​
• Increasing teachers pay to £25,000 a year with annual 3.5% rises​

The Bill was a spending spree on Education, the government had pledge to in effect put an extra £20 billion in Education. But also the mass construction in schools was a popular policy it became quite clear that the conservatives were not going to oppose it mainly because there votes would have no effect on preventing the Bill so therefore Ken Clarke therefore announced the vote will be one of conscience and here is how it went.

Parties	Ayes	Noes	Abstentions
Labour	371	0	33
Conservatives	56	43	16
Lib Dems	88	2	11
Others	12	12	6
Total	527	57	66

The Bill passed with ease winning by 420 votes on a piece of legislation is huge. But also the abstentions had been allowed as since the government were not going to lose they allowed people to not vote if they were too old or frail.

US Election 2008
​

As the 2008 Election started it was interesting the democrats had won 4 elections in a row under Bill Clinton and then Al Gore. In that time a lot had been achieved the rise in public spending on education, the decreasing in crime the rise in health coverage. These were some of the acheivements but also the peace in the middle east. But also the 58 million new jobs, the redeveloping of the industrial cities and the rise of a middle class had laid the foundations for a democratic landslide. But the republicans had begun to change after losing four in a row they had nominated Senator John McCain a pure moderate and his VP was Colin Powell a left of centre republican. The Democrats had nominated Sen John Edwards who had made Sen Barack Obama his Vice President. Edwards who made the War on Poverty agenda the centre piece of his plan had been a key part to victory.

As the first debate began, McCain had promised tax cuts of 5% across the board but he also promised to continue the Anti-Poverty agenda and Edwards did remark 'You cant have it both ways' which became a key and sophisticated attack. Edwards made the campaign about the Anti poverty agenda and he linked it to the debate resposes. But McCain was formidable oppomnent and his and Powells ability to win over democrats was formidable but at the end the election looked like this.

Budget 2009

​

As Gordon Brown stood up for his twelth budget he was the Longest serving chancellor in history, Tony blair was the longest serving Prime Minister. And since it looked like that there was going to be a 2010 General Election. Brown decided to adress the finances, The surplus was £129 billion in 2009 , £135 billion in 2010 £142 billion in 2011 , £150 billion in 2012, £158 billion in 2013 , £169 billion in 2014 and £176 billion in 2015.The economic growth forecasts were to be 3.5% in 2009, 3.3% in 2010 , 3.4% in 2011 , 3.6% in 2012 , 3.8% in 2013 , 3.7% in 2014 and 3.6% in 2015. These were strong economic indicators that after twelve budgets showed the economy was booming.

​

Public spending was rising once again by £9 billion on both education and health, the rises had been known but the percentange of income taken by public spending was at the moment 41.9% in 2009 , 42.6% in 2010 , 43.5% in 2012 , 44.2% in 2013 and 44.9% in 2014 and 45.5% in 2018. The NHS was going to recieve an extra £9 billion which was going to be used to hire an extra 45,000 nurses and the latest equipment. But also £2 billion of the £9 billion will go into mental health but also the hospital re-building programe which was going to re-build 40 hospitals by 2011. Brown announced that anyone with assets less than £40,000 which would not include the price of your home would recieve social care for free. This benifited 250,000 more pensioners. Brown also announced that the report on University financing would report back in the auttum.

2009 Local Elections
​

The local elections were going to be hard for Labour to win after 12 years in government and a very popular leader of the consevatives, the tories should be able to walk it but there was a strong economy and a strong feel good factor. The Lib Dems had done well under Vince Cable polling reguarly at 26%. Here is the how election looked like.

Parties	Councils	Councillors	Percentage
Conservatives	85 (+23)	8,123 (+781)	40.5%
Labour	56 (-27)	5,121 (-1,021)	35.4%
Lib Dems	28 (+3)	3,821 (+205)	24.1%
No Overall Control	12 (+1)

​

Labour 286 (-119)

Conservatives 278 (+163)

Lib Dems 58 (-43)

​

The Local Elections had brought on hope for the Conservatives the leadership of Ken Clarke was a strong one in being able to re-build the conservatives from the point of new modern compassionate conservatism.Clarke had gone more to the centre as leader which most thought impossible since he was already a centirsit. But with Micheal Portillo and David Cameron they changed the thinking to the centre but Tony Blair was still popular.

European Elections 2009
​

5 weeks after the election, the European Elections had to be proved and the Labour Party were going to do well, the local elections had visably shaken them and therefore Tony Blair used the EU Elections as a means of win The campaign had been a success for the Labour Party. The Conservatives had campaigned on the sensible centirist plan and for the Liberal Democrats they had campaigned on their traditionally Europhilic Platform.

Parties	Seats	Percentage
Labour	35 (-5)	37.2%
Conservatives	27 (+6)	34.3%
Lib Dems	16 (-1)	28.5%

Supreme Court

​

For years the high court did have prominence but there was no dispute on the formation and the plans for an indepdent supreme court had been agreed and therefore it was set up. 9 Independent justices which was set up without any oppisition and was founded on September 3rd 2009 with 9 Justices they would only deliberate on cases that the supreme court had vetoed.

Conservative Conference - Birmingham - 30/9/2009- 3/10/09

​

As the Conservatives convened for their twelth conference in oppisition, the party was still split between the modernising centre ground and the traditional right, the Clarkeites within the conservative party had desired to modernise the conservative party through the centre but the traditionlists within the conservative party were sceptical of the new tory movement so as Ken Clarke gave his speech without any notes this was used as a message of sencirity.

'4 years ago I ask this party to embark on a course of change and we are making that change wether it's the diversity in that 1 in 3 of our candidates are women, or the fact that we are supporting more spending on the NHS and Educations we re making the change in our foreign policy. And the public are beginning to respond to pur change and that's why we are changing our views and our policies this party is rebuilding and be in no doubt my friends if we continue the agenda for change, and to create a new modern compassionate conservative society then nothing and no one will stop us'

The speech had been very centrist and he had used the theme of modernisation and the change within the economy had allowed Labour to proclaim they are the party of public services in contrast to the conservatives which they say would cut the public services. But the tories under Ken Clarke had modernised and come to the centre ground and the polls were looking like this.

Parties	Percentage
Conservatives	38%
Labour	35%
Lib Dems	27%

Leader	Approve	Disaprove
Vince Cable	75%	30%
Ken Clarke	65%	32%
Tony Blair	52%	44%

Labour 296 (-109)

Conservatives 256 (+141)

Lib Dems 68 (-33)

Labour Conference - Manchester - 7/10/09- 11/10/09

​

It was the final election before the General Election, the Labour Party were polling neck and neck with the conservatives and therefore this conference would be their final chance before the General Election for Blair to speak to the Public and therefore he gave a 58 minute speech and it finished like this.

'12 years ago we had our first conference in government and I remember the euphoria then and 12 years with a growing economy due to the best chancellor this country has ever had in Gordon Brown we have seen Unemployment come down below 1 million, 2.3 million people lifted out tax, 75% cut in child ;ooverty, the minimum wage, sure start , peace in northern , sierra leonne, afghanistan , kosovo and Iraq. Along with the tripling of our NHS Funding and the doubling of our Education funding. We are on the verge of something special so if we win this next election and we could then Britain will be changed for the better xo let's make that change thank you'
The conference had been a massive success. The Labour Party had focused on their achievements and their plans for the future, instead of abusing the oppisiton the positive conference had been effective. And the polls looked like this.

Parties	Result
Labour	40%
Conservatives	33%
Lib Dems	27%

Labour 372 (-33(

Conservatives 175 (+60)

Lib Dems 73 (-28)

Leader	Approval	Disaprove
Vince Cable	78%	20%
Ken Clarke	61%	34%
Tony Blair	58%	37%

End of Year

​

As Labour's 12th year of government came to an end, with a still booming economy and Unemployment falling along with rising Living standards, there was going to be an election in May 2010. And when that Election came it looked like the labour party were going to win but it looked unlikley that they were going to win with a three figure majority. And the reason they were not going to win a landslide, two words Ken Clarke. Clarke had modernised and had done New Labour in Reverse that along with his personal popularity rating the conservaitves were going to rebuild. The Lib Dems under Vince Cable had made the changes necessary and they were still social democrats. And Cable was still popular but it seemed the last election was as high as they could go.

UP NEXT
Budget 2010
Final PMQS
Labour Manifesto
Conservative Manifesto
Lib Dem Manifesto
Election Debate
Paxman Interviews
Election 2010

 

[EvilJam]

Come on, throw something interesting in 😀. Have a 2008 style crash

Boom and bust is still the law of the economic world

 

[Ventriloquist]

Come on, throw something interesting in 😀. Have a 2008 style crash

Boom and bust is still the law of the economic world

Probably been delayed a year because of Gore winning.

That said, I do question the logic of holding the election in 2010 as IOTL with Blair in charge. Did he expect to lose ITTL?

 

[EvilJam]

Probably been delayed a year because of Gore winning.

That said, I do question the logic of holding the election in 2010 as IOTL with Blair in charge. Did he expect to lose ITTL?

He will likely lose - voter fatigue and a sense of "he's been here for too long" will likely result in a Conservative government.

I'm suprised Blair's messianic self confidence and unpopular views on certain issues haven't torpedoed him already

 

[Hcira1]

Im sorry but no, one party is not going to win 5 straight elections in the US without something crazy like a second Great Depression. Also even IF the dems did win 5 straight, it wouldn't be with John Edwards. During a general election some scandals about him would come out (he was not a good person) and he's not charismatic enough to paper over personal shortcoming like Bill Clinton.

 

[Daudkhan]

Budget 2010

​

It was a Pre-Election budget, the Labour Party were getting ready for a General Election which they had a chance of winning but equally so did the conservatives. As the economy was clearly still surging with growth rates of 3.8% in 2010 , 3.7% in 2011 , 3.8% in 2012, 4.0% in 2013 , 4.1% in 2014 and 4.1% in 2015. These were extremely strong economic growth rates that allowed the UK to be the second fastest growing economy in the world. Though China was along way ahead with strong economic growth rates that were double of the United Kingdom. But with the national debts being cleared and with a growing surplus of £145 billon in 2010 , £156 billion in 2011 , £165 billion in 2012 , £174 billion in 2013 , £181 billion in 2014 , £190 billion in 2015 and these figures did prove that the economic under a Labour government was fundamentally strong and therefore would be an effective foundation for a victory.

As for public spending there had been substantial rises in public expenditure notably within the National Health Service with spending rises from £43 billion to £162 billion in 2010. The building of 156 new hospitals, the hiring of 83,000 new nurses and cutting the maximum waiting lists from 4.3 million to 1.8 million. The time it took to had an appointment had been cut from 1 week to 48 hours. For Education there were some raise with the entire budget going up by £2.2 billion. So therefore the rise in education funding which had seen its budget gone up from £39 billion to £91 billion. The Published review into university funding which was meant to be In April 2010 had been delayed till October 2010 allowing the winner of the election to decide what happens next.

As for taxation well there was an announcement Brown announced two major tax cuts the first was raising the 40% threshold from £43,000 to £55,000. This would lift nearly 500,000 people out of the top rate of taxation. The second was a direct cut in the basic rate of tax from 23% to 22%. The cut in the basic rate along with the indirect changes in taxation had made the average individual £2,000 better off since 2005.

This would be the last budget before the election and the conservatives knew that anything could happen whilst the tories would have to is fight for the centre and force labour leftwards. This was an effective strategy and to some extent as the conservatives had modernised in become socially left wing and to some mainly on health and education were impersonating labour. As Ken Clarke stood up he gave a 9 minute speech he finished by saying ' In 6 weeks time the country will make a choice between a sensible and moderate party conservative party led by me or a chaotic and split Labour party. Wether the country want sensible spending increase or crowd pleasing stunts, wether the country want to trust government and businesses or wether we should put blind faith in the government, When the election comes we will win as the one nation centrist party and the Prime Minister can feel what it's like to be in oppisition whilst we are in government changing this country for the better'.

Labour Manifesto Launch-Britain Forward Not Back 4/04/10

​

Since running the country for 13 years the Labour party had run the economy successfully with the growing budget surplus and the country not having any debts it was becoming a growing economy and the second fastest in the world the declining rates of unemployment, the rising of living standards and the increase in the funding for public services plus the sustained economic growth had allowed labour to assume that they would have a lock on the election but they knew they were going to face that Ken Clarke would be their most formidable opponent by a mile.

• An Annual 4% rise in NHS Spending​
• The Hiring of 50,000 new nurses​
• Slashing the NHS Waiting times to 8 weeks by 2014​
• A full independent review into social care with the findings being implemented​
• 250 new city academies.​
• Making Exams only 25% of GSCE and only 20% of An A-Level​
• Implementing the recommendations of University funding.​
• 20,000. more community police officers​
• Policing will have a greater emphasis on Community policing in order to build up trust​
• Tripling funding for Drug Treatment Centres​
• Decriminalising the Use of Cannabis​
• Leaving Iraq by 2012​
• Linking the state pension to prices and earnings.​
• A £5 Billion tax cut that will cut council tax by £300​
• No raises in the Rates of Income Tax​
• Cutting the rate of corpration tax to 25%​
• Raising the minimum wage from £6.35 an hour to £8.85 an hour by 2015​
• Increasing tax credits to £3,500​
• Raising the threshold of Stamp duty to £250,000​
• Raising the threshold of Inheritance Tax to £500,000​
• No referendum on EU Membership but if there is a new constitution there will be a referendum​
• A Sure Start centre in every constituency​
• £190 a week maternity pay for 9 months​
• 0% Carbon Emissions by 2030​
• Increasing Transport Funding by 7.5% in real terms year on year​
• Free Bus and Rail passes for the Under 25s and Over 60s​
• Abolishing all Hereditary Peers in the House of Lords​
• Introducing a law to allow Same Sex Marriage.​

The Manifesto was a typical New Labour one that balanced out the need for strong public services which is traditional Labour but also focusing on tax reductions and making sure that labour is the party of business. This was an effective manifesto.

Party	Result
Labour	39%
Conservatives	35%
Lib Dem	26%

Labour 392 (-13)

Conservatives 163 (+54)

Lib Dem 74 (-27)

Leader	Approve	Disaprove
Vince Cable	65%	34%
Tony Blair	63%	28%
Ken Clarke	55%	40%

Having a 4% lead in an election campaign was deadly for Labour especially after an effective manifesto but then they were going up against Ken Clarke who had spent 5 years modernising and deliberaltey infuritating the right of the party.

Conservatives Manifesto- Lets change Britain-6/04/10

​

As the conservatives convened for their manifesto launch it looked clear that anything could happen they have had a successful five years in oppisiton which was a contrast to the previous eight years in oppistion. Portillo as Chancellor and Ken Clarke as Leader along with Micheal Heseltine and David Cameron and Eric Pickles had become the key figures in the conservative party in changing the party and that's why in contrast to the first two terms where Labour were ahead by over 15%. The policies of the Conservative Party were this.

• A 5.2% Rise in NHS Spending​
• The Hiring of 35,000 new nurses​
• Reducing NHS Waiting lists by over a million​
• 50 new hospitals by 2015​
• Reforming the NHS Targets​
• Putting an extra £4 billion in mental health seperatley​
• Allowing people to get a hospital appointment within 24 hours
• Only those with assets above £150,000 will pay for their social care and this figure does not include the price of the home.
• 1 million new school places by 2014​
• £9 billion a year extra into education​
• Abolishing University Tuition Fees and uprating maintance grants to £6,000 for the poorest students​
• A flat 2% interest rates on exisiting loans​
• Abolishing the Independent Appeals Panels​
• 50,000 Extra Police officers​
• Strengthening enforcement against ASBOs​
• New Indepedent Panel to decide what quantity of immigration we need.​
• Linking Pensions to a new triple lock on prices, earnings and 2.5%.​
• £500 cut in council tax for all pensioners​
• £175 a week maternity pay for 9 months/​
• Raising the Personal Allowance from £5,000 to £8,000​
• A New 5% rate for incomes between £8,000-£18,000​
• Increasing the 10% threshold to £30,000​
• The 40% threshold will start once you earn above £100,000​
• Raising the Minimum wage from £6.35 an hour to £8 an hour by 2014​
• Increasing stamp duty to £300,000​
• Raising the threshold of Inheritance tax to £650,000​
• increasing transport funding by 5.6% annualy in real terms​
• 80% cut in Carbon emissions by 2030​
• No Cuts in MPs​

It was a bold manifesto written by only eight people. David Cameron, Micheal Heseltine, Alan Duncan, George Osbourne , Ken Clarke , Micheal Portillo , David Davis and Eric Pickles. There varying opinions between with Pickles, Duncan, Portillo and Osbourne being Social Democrats. Clarke, Cameron and Heseltine being in the centre and David Davis who was a social libertarian though economically on the right. The gang of eight as they were known had been repsonsible for reving the entire conservative party and it had been a pretty good manifesto wanting to be in the centre with labour policy on public services and traditional tory policy on tax cuts.

Party	Percentage
Conservatives	41%
Labour	34%
Lib Dem	25%

Conservatives 295 (+184)

Labour 255 (-150)

Lib Dems 67 (-34)

Leader	Approve	Disaprove
Vince Cable	68%	28%
Ken Clarke	64%	32%
Tony Blair	59%	35%

Yep, that's right the manifesto was that successful that the conservatives had opened up a 7 point lead. The manifesto had been called 'Lets change Britain' it was aspiring to all people or as Ken Clarke put it 'A Manifesto that is for the people'. The Manifesto had been a breath of fresh air unlike the last campaign there was genuine optimism though it looked unlikely the conservatives were going to win an overall majority they knew they were going to do well.

Lib Dem Manifesto- Time For Change-10/04/10

​

It had been a very interesting five years for the Lib Dems having had the best general election for 90 years they had reached a peak. Paddy Ashdown had been a successful leader and his successor Vince Cable was a success as well he was a social democrat and held socially democratic values and he had but also the Lib Dems had been towards the centre ground on some issues but as the Lib Dems came in they knew they had to release their manifesto.

• 10.5% Real Terms Increasing NHS Spending (£14 billion a year)
• Free Social Care for the elderly
• Free eye and dental checks for all people
• Free Prescription charges for all people
• Ban smoking in public places
• Cut class sizes to 15
• Abolish 'Unecessary Exams'
• Abolish University Tuition Fees
• Allow Graduate Teachers to get paid £40,000 a year if they teach in the inner cities
• 25,000 Police officers
• Greater Emphasis on Community policing
• No Introduction of ID Cards
• Raising the Minimum wage from £6.35 an hour to £10 an hour by 2015
• Increasing the state pension to £200 a month by 2015
• A 50% rate on incomes above £150,000
• Raising the threshold of Stamp duty to £200,000
• £200 a week maternity pay for 9 months
• 80% cut in Carbon emissions by 2025
• 11% rise in funding for Transport in real terms
• Abolishing the House of Lords
• Introducing the Single Transferable Vote

The Manifesto was very bold like the previous Lib Dems ones, the interesting part was that it didn't stray away from the vision of Paddy Ashdown who was Cable's Deputy leader. It had stayed in the centre left and therefore the polls looked like this.

Parties	Percent
Labour	36%
Conservatives	34%
Lib Dems	30%

Labour 339 (-66)

Conservatives 180 (+75)

Lib Dems 92 (-9)

Parties	Approve	Disaprove
Vince Cable	75%	20%
Ken Clarke	69%	28%
Tony Blair	65%	30%

The Manifesto was a success for the Lib Dems, they knew that both parties were fighting for the centre ground and therefore the leftwing vote was needing to be captured by the Lib Dems. The 30% figure was astonishing and it was the highest since 2005.

Debate

​

As the debate commences this was the first election debate in British History.ITV were allowed to hold it with the focus being on the economy, health, education and the future. This was going to be an interesting debate focused on change and here were the leader's opening statements. It would start with Vince Cable followed by ken Clarke and then finshing of with The Prime Minister Tony Blair

'Good evening tonight we are going to present a new vision, a liberal britain. A Britain focused on change but change for the better, we accept that both parties have done good things we are not going to reverse the privtisaitons of the 80s but we are not going to reverse the great spending in the health and education services. We are not like the other two parties for the labour party nothing is wrong and for the tories everything is wrong. But we all know that the truth is between these two belefs. We are going to set out the case for a Liberal Britain and I hoe you will vote for the Lib Dems',

'Well here we are change is in the air. How do we change our country now I have changed the party over the last five years instead of being on the right we have come to the centre ground we have accepted that the Labour haven't failed on our public services but change has to occour and the way we do it is by matching their spending comittments but then by using the money more wisely. Being wise spenders not big spenders that has to be our philisophy. Being able to change will work so lets make the change'.

'Now, This debate will be focused on you, it will remind us of what life was under the conservatives and the improvements under Labour. We had clearly been changing our public services that's why we have the strongest economy, no debts, the strongest health service and education services the country and we have done that because we have ran a strong economy and because we have balanced our plans between public spending and tax cuts and paying the deficit down now you can stick with the team or we can go back to the dark old days and I think we have to go forward not back'

As the debate started it was rather interesting with the Labour Party focusing on their huge increasing in funding for front line services and the improvements on health and education services. The Improvements were undeniable and therefore the fact is with hospital waiting times cut and the actual waiting list cut. Blair talked about how should Labour be re-elected there would be that continous and constant investment. However Clarke did point out that a conservative government would stick to Labour's spending plans for the full five years. When he had made this anoucement in 2007 it was stunning as it had been another layer in the modernising movement for the conservatives that allowed them to be polling neck and neck with Labour.

But also with education the labour party had promised greater levels of expenditure. The tories had made an outright pledge of £9 billion extra. This guarantee had taken another attack away from the Labour Party . The debate was going well for Clarke. But also the Lib Dems have had a successful period in debating as they presented themselves as the alternative between the two main parties. The Lib Dems posed as the pragmatic alternative to the divisions between the two old parties. The Lib Dems did propose the abolishing of university tuition fees funded by the 50% top rate of tax.They were able to present this as a clear contrast between the unfunded tuition fee pledge and the no change proposed by Labour.

As the debate came onto the future it was clear that all three parties had different solutions the Labour Party focused on steadying ship the entire manifesto was based on the New Labour agenda which had been popular. What New Labour did sucessfully was that it ensured that the pro-business, pro-enterprise policies of the conservatives with the pro-welfare state and strong public services of the labour party were extremely benifical for the country. The party had a long modernising movement and it had bene a key factor in helping them win the elections before. Ken Clarke said that the modernisation of the conservative party can show that they can modernise the country. Clarke had been one of the most successful oppisition leaders in being able to radically reform his party in ditching its right wing free market platform and becoming a party that supports regulation. Vince Cable had been a self confessed social democrat.The interesting part about Vince Cable was that whilst he had strong sympathies with the Labour party and had a strong personal friendship with the chancellor Gordon Brown and the Health Secretary Alan Milburn. But he also had a good friendship the shadow foreign secretary David Cameron and Ken Clarke. So if there was a hung parliament which looked possible nobody new who could stay in power.

As the debate finished it looked inconclusive. Ken Clarke had a very good debating style along with the blokeish image it did work in helping him develop credibility with the voter. Having spent four years in detoxifying the conservative party it had worked as the tories had gone from being 20% behind in the polls to being behind by 3% or tied or some polls showed them ahead. Tony Blair was a formidable debater and did effectivley defend the achievements of the New Labour years. But there was a feeling that after 13 years running the country maybe it was time for a change. But for the Lib Dems they had an effective debate. Vince Cable had used the opportunity to present themselves as the real alternative between Labour and the Conservatives. But here is how the polls looked.

Who won the debate?​

Leader	Approve
Vince Cable	35%
Ken Clarke	33%
Tony Blair	32%

Opinion Polls​

Conservatives	35%
Labour	34%
Lib Dem	31%

Labour 306 (-100)

Conservatives 234 (+109)

Lib Dem 91 (-10)

Leader	Approve	Disaprove
Vince Cable	76%	20%
Ken Clarke	71%	24%
Tony Blair	65%	32%

Paxman Interviews

​

As the interviews began Jeremy Paxman was at the time the most formidable interviewer and he decided to interview all three leaders. Vince Cable had momentum with the debate preformance. As his interview began they focused on the spending pledges with the main one being how can you increase spending on the NHS by £52.5 billion over the course of the parliament. Cable detailed that due to the surplus they would use parts of the surplus to fund their spending pledges. Then he was asked that why then would they need the 50% top rate of income tax. Cable said that was due to his commitment to still raise revenue. Then it moved on to what they will do with the trident nuclear submarine. Cable did support the disarmerment of trident because he deemed it to be 'a total irrelevance when we have polaris and cruise'. Cable said how the disarmerment of trident would not be done in the first term but it would be part of the long term security agenda.

As Ken Clarke sat down he knew this was going to be an interesting interview with his focus being on the modernising agenda and the whole concept of change. Clarke had made a series of spending pledges which he said he will use the surplus to fund the spending pledges of the Conservative Party. Saying that due to the strong economy that we are experiencing we can afford to spend more. Clarke mentioned how we have to turn a page and become the party of hope. Clarke had made the theme of change something that had come to dominate the campaign of hope and change. The main reason that the Clarke' s leadership had recieved such praise was because for the first time ever people could tell there was a genuine change within the conservatives. And they liked it. Thats why the conservatives were ahead of labour. When Paxman asked him 'Do you honestly believe that you can win the election' he said 'Yes'. Clarke continued saying '5 years ago we were fighting a campaign in order to stay as the main oppisiton now we are ahead of labour because the people are responding to the agenda of hope and change and we are fighting to win this election be in no doubt.

As the Prime Minister was ready for his interview it was clear he had a record to stand on the minimum wage , devolution ,tax credits, £100 billion extra in the doubling of education spending. Along with the peace in Northern Ireland, Kosovo , Sierra Leone and Iraq. Along with the10% lower tax rate and the doubling of the personal allowance from £2,500 to £5,000. And thirteen years of rising living standards The Labour Party had a record to stand on. But, there was apathy with Labour with people feeling that they had been there long enough and it was time for the tories to have a go. Also with Ken Clarke who was being himself a one nation conservative and with a cabinet who were centrists. As Blair gave the interview it was clear there was a clear theme what would be the key theme of the Labour Government Blair said it was 'Continuing the agenda of the third way and developing a society that's able to work together'. Blair was asked to gaurantee that under a Labour Government the following things inflation will remain under 2%, that Unemployment will experience the continuing decline , that growth will remain above 3%. Blair said 'Providing the economy remains at the same rate we would expect these forecasts to continue'. Paxman did try to pin Blair down and though he was successful in regards to the health service.

Who was the best interview?​

Leader	Percent
Ken Clarke	39%
Tony Blair	36%
Vince Cable	25%

Opinion Polls​

Party	Percent
Labour	36%
Conservatives	35%
Lib Dems	29%

Labour 329 (-77)

Conservatives 220 (+105)

Lib Dem 81 (-20)

Question Time


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A special 90 minute episode of Question time was to be held and it was a week before the election and in a close election it could be detremental in deciding who yeahPossibly was going to win. The Lib Dems were up first. Vince Cable had ran a successful campaign. The Lib Dems knew that they were aiming to held to hold at least 85 seats. Knowing that they were going to lose a few seats possibly. Cable decided to discuss his vision for a Liberal Britain. Cable had been effective in uniting what would be described as the 'Traditional left' behind the Lib Dems. He decided to talk about his huge spending pledges on front line services that equates to £30 billion a year extra on the front line services. Cable focused on his clear proposals to raise the living standards for working people. Cable promised that by 2015 a person on average earnings will see their incomes raised by £6,570. The introduction of the minimum wage had been successful in that it increased the wages dramatically. Cable wanted to create a fairer society. He had been good on Question Time and looked like a safe pair of hands.

As Ken Clarke took the stage, it was going to be an interesting section, Clarke was popular and he didn't come across as a tory. The modernisation agenda had been a key part in being able to change the conservatives. The conservative party had decided to re-assure people that they were not going to implement the policies of a utopia and that by being sensible pragmatists it would allow moderates in all parties to feel a sense of re-assurance that he wasn't going to introduce policies which would be damaging for the people of Britain. He did say that 'My priorities will be spending increases not just tax cuts'.

As Tony Blair came on the stage and decided, to focus on the agenda of the increase in NHS Expenditure, School Expenditure and the radical increase in living standards. So therefore he had a record to defend and throughout the episode he did try to link it all back to the strong economy and the linkings to public services. The administration had allowed there to be greater levels of economic prosperity as shown by the living standards rising. But then as time continued he debated the needs to keep the economy strong. As he was asked the NHS , Blair was able to properly debate people effectively on the health service. Overall it had been an effective Question Time. As he came across as a strong and calming force within the leadership of the country

Who was the best on Question Time​

Leader	Percent
Tony Blair	41%
Ken Clarke	30%
Vince Cable	28%

Opinon Poll​

Party	Percent
Labour	39%
Conservatives	34%
Lib Dems	27%

Labour 375 (-30)

Conservatives - 166 (+55)

Lib Dem 79 (-22)

Final day of the Campaign
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As the campaign came to an end it was an interesting campaign it was clear that the Labour Party had ran an exceptionally good campaign sticking to the themes of running a strong economy and being able to invest in oublic services. By making Gordon Brown front and centre of the campaign along with Blair he was able to create a society of debt repayments and an economy that works for everyone. However the conservatives had also ran a strong campaign focusing on the third way and appealing to voters across the board with hsi clear spending pledges. Vince Cable had preformed exceptionally well in the debates but gaining on the 101 MPs would be hard. Here is how the final polls looked like.

Party	Result
Labour	37%
Conservatives	33%
Lib Dems	30%

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Labour 351 (-54)

Conservatives 188 (+73)

Lib Dems 81 (-20)

BBC Election Night

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DD - David Dimbelby
JP- Jeremy Paxman
PS-Peter Snow
AM- Andrew Marr

DD- Good evening, tonight in precisley 5 minutes time we will know who is the winner of this election, wether Tony Blair will win a fourth general election, Or will Ken Clarke finally be in power, Or will Vince Cable be able to be the kingmaker and then we will be able to know in 5 minutes to know. Jeremy?
JP-Yes well up here we will be intervewing people to see what went right and what went wrong and where do we go from here?
DD- Yes, and no election night night can be completed without Peter Snow.
PS-Yes and up on our election graphics will be bolder and stronger than they have ever been before we will be on our swingometer to see how far the damage that either parties have done. And we will be in our virtual house of commons to see who has got into to No.10
DD- And now to our exit poll 63,000 people in 50 marginal constituencies asking them how did you vote and here it is 10 o clock and what we are saying is it will be a labour majority. Labour have won 358 seats that is down 47. The tories have won 196 that is up 85. The Lib Dems have won 66 thats down 35. Andrew?
AM- Well David if that exit Poll is right it's a great night for labour winning their fourth election in a row which is unprecedented for them and Tony Blair would be on those figures the first prime minister to win four terms. For the Conservatives It's a bounce back gaining 85 seats is huge and does firmly establish them as the party of oppisition and as for the lib Dems well they have had a bad night losing a third of their seats.

The Morning After
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As it was the morning after the Labour Party won a fourth general election with a majority of 78 seats. The victory was effective and therefore the Labour Party were able to claim success but for the conservatives they had gained 76 seats which was very good and the Lib Dems had kept 71seats. So for all the parties it was a good night and therefore there is some hope here is how the final results looked like.

Parties	Seats	Percentage	Votes
Labour	361 (-44)	38.5% (-4.3%)	11,319,563
Conservatives	191 (+76)	34.2% (+6.8%)	9,543,671
Lib Dems	71 (-30)	27.3% (-5.1%)	8,203,561

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Next UP

Queens Speech 2010
Budget 2011
Health Reform
Pensions Reform
Tory Internal Review
2012 Budget.
And Much more ?

​

 

[Hcira1]

So is the plan here just to keep Labour (and the democrats in the US) in power forever?

 

[Daudkhan]

So is the plan here just to keep Labour (and the democrats in the US) in power forever?

Nope that's not the plan at all mainly because that would just never ocour. But the Idea that the tories could go from 115 seats to 326 seats in one election is simply not possible.

 

[Hcira1]

Nope that's not the plan at all mainly because that would just never ocour. But the Idea that the tories could go from 115 seats to 326 seats in one election is simply not possible.

And may I ask what rationalization/explanation you have for one party winning FIVE(!) straight presidential elections in the US? I do not intend to come across rudely, but this just is entirely unrealistic. Especially with John Edwards as the candidate.

 

[marktaha]

Nope that's not the plan at all mainly because that would just never ocour. But the Idea that the tories could go from 115 seats to 326 seats in one election is simply not possible.

Labour 1945.