« Astonishing | Main | Great men of our times »
May 09, 2005
What's next
OK, a little pretentious, I guess, but it's likely the next election will be held close to 5 years from now, than four. My guess would be the end of 09. And 'no' before you ask. You will not get a daily blog for the next 4 1/2 years. But, from time to time....
Michael Howard faced a chorus of criticism over his decision to quit just when the TBCs were doing so well.
Fact is, they weren't.
His reason for going, "I'll be too old", may be personally true, but is certainly electorally true. It's this second part which other members of his party would have realised soon enough, and, being ambitious, would have acted on. So we have a scenario whereby a leadership battle was inevitable within the next few years. This will be divisive, will put off the voters, and will be ruthlessly exploited by ZNL. Now ask yourself the question. Should the TBC's expose themselves to this a year or two before the election, or should they get it over with ASAP? And should they seek to make it as smooth a process as possible to minimise the damage? Looked at like that there's only one decision to make. Clean up the TBC internal voting system, and do it as soon as possible. The only motive for staying would be for MH to have some fun at Prime Minister's Question Time. No question he would have done that, he's really quite good at it. But it's of little interest to the voters, the only people who get much out of it are MH and his supporters. So, he's sacrificed that and gone. Principled, intelligent and right. We'll see who we get now.
Posted by Flo Ting Voe Tah at May 9, 2005 01:44 PM