I'm not convinced about all the talk of owning the centre ground, appealing to the middle classes, etc. Most people in reasonably well-paid work or with half-decent pensions know that it doesn't make much difference to them which lot is in power. It's wrong to assume that self-interest is the main driving force in making people vote one way or the other except for the few at the top. The Tories convinced the nation that Labour is incompetent with the economy (in spite of the fact that they're absolutely no better). They also persuaded the nation that the Scots are a dire threat to the Union. Those messages sank in, big time. The Torjes are ruthless bastards and they will not allow the truth to get in the way of their demonising. They let the LibDems take all the flak for the coalition's shortcomings then annihilated them. Ruthless, and Clegg, stupid bugger, never saw it coming. They stopped Labour's progress in England with the unfounded Scottish scare and the good old SNP did the rest. The campaign was a disaster, staying on the back foot and completely failing to take the fight to the Tories, in spite of having a ton of ammunition. Hypothetical talk about occupying the centre ground is just that, talk. Elections are won and lost on far less cerebral issues.