Inquests and premature obituaries
Various political parties have been conducting inquests into how badly they did in the elections: some sensible, others showing a complete lift-off from reality.
Meanwhile there have been two suggestions, both premature in my view, about how major political parties should wind themselves up.
Hat tip to Mark Pack for pointing me in the direction of a very sober and sensible article by Ryan Coetzee, who was one of the Lib/Dems' top election strategists, on what went wrong for them:
Causes and implications of the Liberal Democrats' 2015 election result.
A similar approach from the viewpoint of a former Labour member who did in fact vote for them in the 2015 General Election but with very mixed feelings has been penned by Dan Hodges in the Telegraph, making the very sensible point that
Before Labour can move on the Left needs to admit that it was wrong.
He makes the point by linking to one of the most deranged articles I have ever read, even from Polly Toynbee (and that's saying something), here.
One the other side there have been "helpful" suggestions from Danny Finkelstein and Andrew Roberts, suggesting that the Lib/Dems and Labour parties respectively should be wound up.
Danny's article in today's Times was headed RIP Liberal Democrats it's all over for you.
Andrew Roberts wrote a piece in the Telegraph called Death to the Labour Party, a somewhat over-the-top way of suggesting that
"the Labour Party’s time as a useful force in British politics has now passed."
and that the party should therefore be disbanded.
No political party lasts forever and I would not rule out the possibility that most of those reading this will outlive the Lib/Dems, the Labour Party, or both, but the period immediately after a shattering election defeat is not necessarily the wisest moment to make such a decision.
About a decade and a half ago the Guardian journalist Francis Wheen, who like many very clever people appears to suffer from inability to appreciate that people who hold views he dislikes might occasionally be right, wrote that he suspected that the Conservative Party had joined the Liberals on the rubbish dump of history.
Among the things he had not allowed for was what Harold MacMillan called "Events, dear boy, events."
I found Wheen's article and framed it in 2010 after the formation of a Conservative & Lib/Dem coalition government.
But although in the event he was wrong, based on the situation at the time he wrote that article Francis Wheen might well have been right. If the Conservatives had been stupid enough to go into the 2005 general election with IDS as leader I am far from certain that the party would still exist, or that if it did we would be in government.
It was a necessary condition to regain power that we did not regard it as inevitable that the pendulum of history would bring us back to office without sorting ourselves out.
Labour would still have lost office sooner or later, but if David Cameron had not reformed the Conservative party, it would not have been to us.
Similarly the Conservative government will not last forever. Sooner or later the electorate will find something to replace us.
I hope when that day comes that they have something less useless than the present day Labour party to elect instead. If Labour fails to reform itself, it is possible that another party might become first the opposition and then the next government.
Politics lends itself to amazing swings. Look at the history of Mark Harper's party which is currently running Canada. In the 80's the "Progressive Conservatives" were in government in Canada. Then the right split with the rise of the Reform party, and in the 1993 election the "Progressive Conservatives" were reduced from majority government status to a rump of just two seats. For ten years the right remained split, handing power to the Canadian Liberals. Then the centre right parties merged to form the Conservative Party of Canada, which won enough seats to form a minority government in 2006 and a majority government since 2011.
Is it possible that the Labour party, the Lib/Dems, or both, are dying? Absolutely yes.
Is it inevitable? Absolutely not.
Would it be healthy for Britain if either or both were to be disbanded this year? No, and not until another credible alternative to the Conservatives is clearly in place. Politics needs a responsible and credible opposition.
Meanwhile there have been two suggestions, both premature in my view, about how major political parties should wind themselves up.
Hat tip to Mark Pack for pointing me in the direction of a very sober and sensible article by Ryan Coetzee, who was one of the Lib/Dems' top election strategists, on what went wrong for them:
Causes and implications of the Liberal Democrats' 2015 election result.
A similar approach from the viewpoint of a former Labour member who did in fact vote for them in the 2015 General Election but with very mixed feelings has been penned by Dan Hodges in the Telegraph, making the very sensible point that
Before Labour can move on the Left needs to admit that it was wrong.
He makes the point by linking to one of the most deranged articles I have ever read, even from Polly Toynbee (and that's saying something), here.
One the other side there have been "helpful" suggestions from Danny Finkelstein and Andrew Roberts, suggesting that the Lib/Dems and Labour parties respectively should be wound up.
Danny's article in today's Times was headed RIP Liberal Democrats it's all over for you.
Andrew Roberts wrote a piece in the Telegraph called Death to the Labour Party, a somewhat over-the-top way of suggesting that
"the Labour Party’s time as a useful force in British politics has now passed."
and that the party should therefore be disbanded.
No political party lasts forever and I would not rule out the possibility that most of those reading this will outlive the Lib/Dems, the Labour Party, or both, but the period immediately after a shattering election defeat is not necessarily the wisest moment to make such a decision.
About a decade and a half ago the Guardian journalist Francis Wheen, who like many very clever people appears to suffer from inability to appreciate that people who hold views he dislikes might occasionally be right, wrote that he suspected that the Conservative Party had joined the Liberals on the rubbish dump of history.
Among the things he had not allowed for was what Harold MacMillan called "Events, dear boy, events."
I found Wheen's article and framed it in 2010 after the formation of a Conservative & Lib/Dem coalition government.
But although in the event he was wrong, based on the situation at the time he wrote that article Francis Wheen might well have been right. If the Conservatives had been stupid enough to go into the 2005 general election with IDS as leader I am far from certain that the party would still exist, or that if it did we would be in government.
It was a necessary condition to regain power that we did not regard it as inevitable that the pendulum of history would bring us back to office without sorting ourselves out.
Labour would still have lost office sooner or later, but if David Cameron had not reformed the Conservative party, it would not have been to us.
Similarly the Conservative government will not last forever. Sooner or later the electorate will find something to replace us.
I hope when that day comes that they have something less useless than the present day Labour party to elect instead. If Labour fails to reform itself, it is possible that another party might become first the opposition and then the next government.
Politics lends itself to amazing swings. Look at the history of Mark Harper's party which is currently running Canada. In the 80's the "Progressive Conservatives" were in government in Canada. Then the right split with the rise of the Reform party, and in the 1993 election the "Progressive Conservatives" were reduced from majority government status to a rump of just two seats. For ten years the right remained split, handing power to the Canadian Liberals. Then the centre right parties merged to form the Conservative Party of Canada, which won enough seats to form a minority government in 2006 and a majority government since 2011.
Is it possible that the Labour party, the Lib/Dems, or both, are dying? Absolutely yes.
Is it inevitable? Absolutely not.
Would it be healthy for Britain if either or both were to be disbanded this year? No, and not until another credible alternative to the Conservatives is clearly in place. Politics needs a responsible and credible opposition.
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