Well, we woz well and truly thumped last night by voters of Cheshire. I don't know what to this think really. Part of me thinks it is a good thing that the swing was so significant, as it leave no room for excuses from the government and should signal that 'business as usual' simply won't cut it. But, on the other hand, it does mean that the Tories now have significant momentum and the government is now forced onto the defensive, which is an extremely difficult position to out of.
I do stand with the unity point though. There is no doubt that a leadership contest at this stage would be very messy, divisive and quite probably wouldn't result in the best man for the job coming forward. The thought of some god awful unity candidate coming forward is dreadful. It might have worked for the Tories when they brought in Michael Howard, it simply doesn't cut it when you are in government.
The bigger worry is that a swing of this scale puts us in dangerous territory. Crewe is a small step from Manchester where the Tories have been frozen out for years, if even half of this swing tallies in a general election, then the Tory thaw could take many years to correct.
I do stand with the unity point though. There is no doubt that a leadership contest at this stage would be very messy, divisive and quite probably wouldn't result in the best man for the job coming forward. The thought of some god awful unity candidate coming forward is dreadful. It might have worked for the Tories when they brought in Michael Howard, it simply doesn't cut it when you are in government.
The bigger worry is that a swing of this scale puts us in dangerous territory. Crewe is a small step from Manchester where the Tories have been frozen out for years, if even half of this swing tallies in a general election, then the Tory thaw could take many years to correct.
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