The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #80924   Message #1479346
Posted By: HuwG
06-May-05 - 09:28 AM
Thread Name: BS: Prospects of Tony Blair -American View
Subject: RE: BS: Prospects of Tony Blair -American View
Since Tony Blair has stated that he will (probably) stand down as PM before the next election, Labour are almost guaranteed a fourth term in 2009, with Gordon Brown as party leader.

(The Conservative leader, Michael Howard, will also almost certainly step down, so Oliver Letwin will probably be Tory leader then. Charles Kennedy will most probably still lead the Lib Dems.)

Incidentally, my own area, the High Peak, stayed Labour with a much reduced majority:

            2005                            2001
         -------------------------------------------------------------
  Labour: T. Levitt         19,809 (39.6%)     do.      22,430 (46.6%)
  Con.  : A. Bingham        19,074 (38.2%)  S. Chapman  17,941 (37.3%) 
  LibDem: M. Godwin         10,000 (20.0%)  P. Ashenden  7,743 (16.1%) 
  UKIP  : M. Schwartz        1,106 (2.2%)   H. Price     ?????
  
  Labour majority:             735                       4,489
  Turnout:                   66.4%                       65.2%


I won't say how I voted, but I'm not a Conservative and I hope God isn't a Liberal Democrat.