Local Elections: Tony Blair And Labour’s Odd “Kind Of Victory”

TONY Blair says Labour has a “good springboard” to win the next General Election. Labour’s Tony Robinson calls the local election results as “feeling like a kind of victory”.

The BBC investigates and sees the Conservatives on 41%, Labour on 27% and the Lib Dems on 26%.

Martin Kettle in the Guardian writes:
“The truth, though, is that this has been a terrible election for Labour. There is no way that the support of 27% of the electorate - even if it creeps up to 28% or even a heady 29% by the time all the votes are counted - is anything other than lamentable. Labour is back at its bedrock vote today, much as it was in last year’s local elections. This is not a nice cosy midterm verdict of the sort that all governments experience. It is spectacular and, see 2006, sustained.”

Tim Hames in the Times:
“This is the first important set of elections in British history to be held immediately before what is, in effect, a preannounced prime ministerial resignation. In theory, this should have helped Labour by defusing voter anger. What is the point, after all, in using these ballots to give the Government a kicking when, to all intents and purposes, there will be a new administration by the beginning of July? It is like turning up to watch the execution of a corpse. Yet even though Mr Blair has made it clear that he is four fifths out of the door, many voters wanted to shove the rest of him through it. This is quite extraordinary.

Says Tony today:
“You always take a hit mid-term, but these results provide a perfectly good springboard to win in the general election.”

Says Tony on Thursday:
“Adios suckers!”

Anorak

Posted: 4th, May 2007 | In: Twitterings Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink