I thought that the time had come to talk about my personal voting intentions for tomorrow, in case you havn’t guessed them already.
I was talking to E over supper this evening about voting for what you believe in. This reminded me of C of the Olive Tree on Willesden Lane and his view that the only vote that matters is vote of principle. And I agree with him, although if I lived in Lewisham Deptford, the constituency where my university is located, I’d be voting Green - tatical voting combining with principles. Lewisham Deptford looks like it might even return the UKs first Green MP; my vote having helped carry them to Westminster.
On the Conservative flyer that arrived this afternoon Kwasi had borrowed Sarahs idea of a ‘three horse race’ - ‘Kwasi Kwarteng is CHARGING through the middle’. That sums up this election for me: a race for second place.
I’m resigned to a Labour win nationally. But like the talking heads from the Today program this morning, I also think that the ‘landslides’ of 150+ seat majorites of the past are gone. A 70+ majority? 1997 gave everybody the change they wanted - the Tories out. Getting them out of government was, in hindsight, easy. Getting them out of opposition is the hard part. They are still here, one general election later. The Lib Dems are the only hope that the Conservatives will be relegated to third place. And as what I want to see is a change in the opposition as well as a change in Government I’ll be voting Liberal Democrat.
I won’t be the 1-in-10 that let the Conservatives back in Tony. It’s not happening and you know it. But I will be the 1-in-10 who votes to get the Liberal Democrats elected with a majority sufficient to form Her Majesty’s Opposition.