I was running on the treadmill at my gym early this morning listening to Sky News when the headlines flashed up about Gordon Brown being called the worst Prime Minister this country has ever had.
You would expect those words to have come straight from the mouth of Conservatives, Lib Dems, or any other opponent. But they were uttered by North West Norfolk Labour candidate Manish Sood who knows his party is well and truly stuffed, and lays the blame squarely with Gordon Brown. He also called Labour ministers “corrupt” and said the party had allowed immigration to get too high. Perhaps Mr Sood should consider switching his political allegiance, but who would want him now after displaying this kind of treachery. I assume he won’t be voting for his own party.
North West Norfolk is held by Henry Bellingham, a cricket playing Shadow Minister for Justice, and I used to live in the lovely, historic town of King’s Lynn which is in this constituency. Some of my happiest carefree days were spent there, driving to the Norfolk coast with friends, and it remains very special to me. Henry has a majority of almost 10,000 and can now be certain of retaining this.
One of the gym instructors aged 25 is keen to see the back of Labour as well. He told me how he couldn’t wait for Conservatives to be elected into government as he has been working from the age of 19 and desperately wants to buy his own home. Thanks to Conservatives housing policy which will help first-time buyers get a foot on the housing ladder by increasing the stamp duty threshold to £250,000, and the abolition of those rubbish Home Information Packs, he said he will now be able to do so, and is very excited about this.
I also watched the polls on Sky News, three of them all showing a Conservative victory, albeit with a hung parliament. I sense a terrific feeling of optimism around me, though there is still all to play for.
Coming back to Mr Sood, I think a candidate should stick by his party however tough it gets, it shows your true character. I prize loyalty as an essential requisite for a candidate.
He’s definitely the worst PM who was never voted in
Party loyalty?
This is the essential, unbridgeable difference between America and Britain. Here, candidates place their own survival above all else. There are no real party platforms in America — certainly not platforms on which all candidates of that party can stand. Party beliefs vary according to locality, too. What a Democrat from Chicago believes may be quite different from what a Democrat from Arkansas believes. Or purports to. As a matter of fact, there’s quite a bit of variation among Chicago Democrats.
We are increasingly polarized in America — red and blue states — but I can’t imagine our present situation ripening into a party system based on candidate loyalty to a specific, detailed platform.
It’s fascinating to watch your process unfold from this distance — because you are so similar in so many ways but in this way so utterly foreign….
Well, I know he’s been pretty dire, but he can hardly be called the worst. Sorry, Ellee, but there are several Tory contenders for that title!