2010 General Election Comments

Ian Stewart

Held on Thursday 6th May 2010 to elect members to the House of Commons, which meets in the Palace of Westminster. Otherwise referred to as Wasteminster / Westmonster / Westmidden.

In the 2005 election, Scottish voters had clearly rejected the Conservative party and their policies.

In the 2010 election, the number of Scottish MPs returned for each party gave an identical result.

Labour : 41  |  Liberal-Democrat : 11  |  SNP : 6  |   Conservative : 1

However, very quickly, it became very clear that many Labour MPs and MSPs in Scotland would rather see a Conservative government in Westminster than consider any agreement with the SNP.

'I can not envisage circumstances in which we would enter into agreement with the Scottish National Party' , Douglas Alexander (ex-Secretary of State for Scotland).

His comments endorsed by others including : Jim Murphy (ex-Secretary of State for Scotland), Brian Donohoe MP, Margaret Curran MP, Tom Harris MP, Iain Grey MSP (Labour Leader in Holyrood), Jack McConnell MSP (ex-Labour Leader in Holyrood), Johann Lamont MSP, Lord Foulkes Of Cumnock MSP and John Reid ex-MP (ex-Secretary of State for Scotland).

Three ex-Secretaries of State for Scotland and two ex-Labour Leaders in the Scottish Parliament !

With 'friends' like these acting on behalf of the people of Scotland . . .

Health Warning for voters in Scotland !

Meanwhile, it was announced that Liberal Democrat MP, Danny Alexander, will serve as Scottish Secretary in the new Tory / Lib-Dem coalition government. Despite the fact that his party's policy has been to scrap the Scotland Office ! It would appear that Mr Alexander may be a disciple of the Yosser Hughes school of philosophy . . . 'gizza' job !' and 'I can do that !'.

The result was somewhat confusing. So let's try to get this clear then . . .

First, bear in mind for a second that a third of the people didn't vote. The bloke who came third (who was at first tipped to come second) doesn't believe in first past the post, but the bloke who came first has asked to be the first to speak to the bloke who came third. Even though the bloke who came second (who was in No 10 at first and whom some people at first thought would come third) is constitutionally entitled to have first crack at forming a government with the help of the bloke who came third. And yet the bloke who came second, who was at first in favour of first past the post but is now having second thoughts, has agreed to take second turn in talking with the bloke who came third if the bloke who came first (who got more than a third of all the votes that were cast) fails to first strike a deal with the bloke who came third. And if neither the first nor the second deal with the bloke who came third succeeds, there'll probably be a second election.

Unless, of course, you're in Scotland. In which case, the bloke who I said came second actually came first and the bloke who I said came first came fourth whilst the bloke who I said came third in fact came second. If the bloke who came fourth (up there) but who was first (down here) can't strike a deal with the bloke who came third down here (who came second up there) then the bloke who came second (down here) and who, by the way, is from up there, will need help not just from the third (down here) / second (up there) bloke but also the bloke who came third (up there) as well . . . that's Alex Salmond, who's the fourth First Minister of Scotland. I think that's right !

Penned by someone calling themselves, 'tangledup'.

It's shite being Scottish ! We're the lowest of the low ! The scum of the f*cking earth !
The most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization ! Some people hate the English; I don't ! They're just wankers ! We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers ! Can't even find a decent culture to be colonized by !
Trainspotting : Irvine Welsh

The big new double act at their first appearance in Downing Street

Watch out for their UK tour and their new book
'ConDemNation' by Dick and Knave

So what's likely to disrupt the stated (fixed) 5 year parliamentary term ?
'It's the economy, stupid' : Bill Clinton, President of the USA (1993 - 2001)
'Events dear boy, events' : Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the UK (1957 - 1963)
'A week is a long time in politics' : Harold Wilson, (1964 - 1970) and (1974 - 1976)
Thursday 5th May 2011 : Elections to the Scottish Parliament

May 2010 Election results
	Tory	Labour	Liberal	SNP	Plaid	Green	N Ireland	Total
Scotland	1	41	11	6				59
Wales	8	26	3		3			40
England	297	191	43			1		532
N Ireland							18	18
UK Total	306	258	57	6	3	1	18	649
	47.10%	39.7%	8.8%	0.9%	0.55%	0.15%	2.8%	(650)

And finally, regarding the proposal to amend the House of Commons rules so that any vote of 'no confidence' will, in future, require 55% of the vote rather than the existing 51%.

As can be seen from the table, in theory, the Conservatives, with more than 45% of the seats, could govern for the proposed full five year term without the support of any other party.