2nd May 2010
The End of Days
So we’re into the final stage of the campaign. I can’t quite believe we’re here already: days away from making a critical decision informed by a shiny, rather silly procession over the last few weeks. The leaders debates were all very interesting but they have distracted us with a personality contest, soundbites and positioning instead of detailed policy.
We also seem to have forgotten that we have a parliamentary democracy; that we are choosing not a President but our local elected representatives who, in concert, will form our Parliament and by extension our Government.
Having said all that, the only way to examine the current position of the parties is to look through the lens of the leadership since, frankly, the debate on policy implications at national and local level has been so flimsy.
Gordon Brown looks beaten, personally and politically. Last week’s Bigotgate was probably his undoing but only in that it was final straw for an electorate that needed a lot of convincing. Even his solid performance in the final debate couldn’t save him. Clegg has been surfing a notion of the Lib Dems as the source of a new progressive politics, it’s proved popular with first time voters and disenchanted would-be Labour voters who have lost patience but it’s not progressive politics. I agree with Nick Cohen: it’s a little bit too bourgeois.
David Cameron, after a poll-approved performance in the final debate, seems to feel that he has a bit of momentum going into the final few days. The Tories are sounding more confident and thinking the polls are suggesting they’ll have the highest number of seats by Friday morning. We can only hope that the polls have been living in their own margins of error and the share of the vote on Friday will look a bit different.
I thought I might indulge in a bit of pre-election speculation about the result, possible outcomes and consequences (particularly for Labour). But you know what? I can’t bring myself to do it. I have to spend the next few days believing that the worst can’t happen, that somehow the Tories won’t find themselves in a position to form the government.
Watching Michael Gove speak at the NAHT conference in Liverpool this morning I felt sick. Oh, what are we facing?
