Blair's Fair-Votes Failure
A few days ago Tony Blair made a speech appealing to voters to think carefully about their vote. He stated that he was looking for as many votes as possible, and that "[the election] could still be decided by a few hundred votes in marginal constituencies".
Think back to the run up to the 1997 General Election. Installed in Labour's manifesto was a newly-minted pledge to set up a review and referendum on the introduction of a proportional voting system for Westminster. I'm sure many Liberal Democrats took that on board when casting their Tactical Votes for Labour.
Yet Blair squandered this golden opportunity, reinforced by another thumping majority in 2001, to remove our anachronistic and capricious voting system. In so-doing he has sowed the seeds of his own downfall twice over. Firstly, by permitting the hubris that a 160-seat majority allows to take him to war in Iraq, and secondly, by perpetuating the possibility that the progressive majority in this country can be made to suffer further bouts of untrammelled Tory rule.
At this point in the campaign it looks unlikely that he will lose his majority in this election; but go it will, eventually, and if the Tories return we will all be the worse for it. Were this to happen, underneath my depression and frustration will be a smattering of Schadenfreude. as he will have been undone by the system he failed to reform.
Shame on you, Mr Blair.
Think back to the run up to the 1997 General Election. Installed in Labour's manifesto was a newly-minted pledge to set up a review and referendum on the introduction of a proportional voting system for Westminster. I'm sure many Liberal Democrats took that on board when casting their Tactical Votes for Labour.
Yet Blair squandered this golden opportunity, reinforced by another thumping majority in 2001, to remove our anachronistic and capricious voting system. In so-doing he has sowed the seeds of his own downfall twice over. Firstly, by permitting the hubris that a 160-seat majority allows to take him to war in Iraq, and secondly, by perpetuating the possibility that the progressive majority in this country can be made to suffer further bouts of untrammelled Tory rule.
At this point in the campaign it looks unlikely that he will lose his majority in this election; but go it will, eventually, and if the Tories return we will all be the worse for it. Were this to happen, underneath my depression and frustration will be a smattering of Schadenfreude. as he will have been undone by the system he failed to reform.
Shame on you, Mr Blair.
posted by Apollo Project at 2:47 PM
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