For political anoraks like me, general elections are like
the football and Rugby World Cups, the Olympics, Wimbledon, and every other
major sporting event rolled into one. Even when the outcome seems clear there
is still plenty to excite and interest and there is still an almost magical
feeling on polling day itself, when the politicians have finished proclaiming,
the pundits have had their punditry, the polls predicted the outcome, the broadcasters restricted to talking about the weather, and
it's all down to millions of your fellow citizens going into the polling booth and
making a hugely personal yet nationally significant decision of where to put
their one across against one candidate.
For journalists and broadcasters, general elections constitute some of the best, significant and most memorable periods in their professional lives. Hosting election specials stretches your mental, physical, journalistic and technical skills to the maximum. You have to prepare as best you can and you can even rehearse to some extent but, apart from the introduction, it cannot be scripted and this of course gives it a special thrill and adrenaline-rush. Even when you’re not hosting on the night there is still a special feeling in announcing the result first thing the following morning, even when, as happened for me last time, it was for a small, short-term station.
Liver FM election 2005 0800 news
The first time I was involved with this I was just a tender 16-year-old volunteer on hospital radio in Birmingham, at the time of the election that may most resemble the one that is taking place today -- that of February 1974, the only one since the War which resulted in no party having an overall majority in the Commons. I was on the continuity shift on the Friday following the election and it shows you how close and uncertain was the result in that no clear winner or loser had been declared by the time we came on air, following the 6 PM news. The results were still coming in from Northern Ireland and I think in one or two of the previously Liberal held seats in the Scottish islands and Highlands. I kept a careful note as the results came in from my sources - i.e. Radio 4! - and gave live updates during the evening."So, Richard, who you think will be the Prime Minister?", asked the on-air presenter. I replied, with all the assurance and pomposity that only a 16-year-old can muster: "Oh well, it will probably be still Edward Heath as he will be able to rely on the Ulster Unionists". My first bit of public punditry and I was wrong! In fact, Heath had called the election some 18 months earlier than he had to, in the midst of industrial strife, under the slogan of "Who governs Britain?" Although receiving nearly a million votes more than Labour, the Conservatives ended up with fewer seats. The Labour leader and former Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the meantime was holed up in a hotel in his Liverpool constituency and had made arrangements to be whisked away by aircraft to an unknown destination to avoid the press and public humiliation of what he thought was a certain defeat. In the end, after a weekend in which he haggled with the Liberal party and the Unionists, Heath had to concede defeat, and on Monday Harold found himself heading for Buckingham Palace once again, invited to form a minority government. He did so and the country went to the polls again in October that year in which Labour won a mere handful of seats. Now, aside from a little anecdote, this is significant, because spin forward to 1977 and Labour had lost a tiny majority and was facing a Vote of Confidence by the then still new Conservative opposition leader Margaret Thatcher. Labour was way behind in the polls, although the Prime Minister Jim Callaghan was far more popular than Thatcher. So Labour decided to form a pact with the then tiny Liberal party and for the next 16 months we had a coalition government in all but name. For those who are too young to remember this and/or fear that this prospect would be a disaster, a quick look back at that period is instructive.
Far from being a nightmare, the economy quite
quickly recovered from the terrible preceding period, in which Britain
underwent big spending cuts as the price of a bailout by the International
Monetary Fund, whose terms and conditions are currently helping bring Greece to
the brink of anarchy and whose remedy and price for all such bailouts are
depressingly the same: hit the poorest and agree to a dose of free-market
capitalism. In fact, the Treasury, who of course loved to have the backing and
justification to cut spending, had deliberately or otherwise messed up the
figures, and the country's economic plight, although severe, and with
ludicrously and ruinously high inflation, was not so out of kilter in terms of
revenue and spending and Britain didn't even need to touch the loan.
The pact
did not involve any Liberals as government ministers -- the Labour Party then would
never wear that -- but it did mean that the government had to consult key
Liberal figures on major policies as the Queen's Speech, Budget, etc. Of
course, Labour hated that but I certainly remember it as a time of relatively
good government and the Liberals put a brake on the authoritarian tendencies and
state ownership plans of Labour.
So, I don't fear such a pact. But how to vote in 2010? In one ‘quiz’, in which I was asked to match my views with the policies of the major parties, the Liberal Democrats came out top with a 72% match. Now, although of course they should be given credit both for their policy and opposition to the Iraq invasion and for being the only party to warn and foresee economic the crisis of 2007/8, their determination to join the Euro years ago would have been a total disaster then and now and their support for the European Arrest Warrant and pretty well every move of further integration within the EU, thus snuffling out any last remnants of democracy or independence of economic action in the interests of the British people, means that after decades of supporting the centre partiesI can no longer do so. However, their record and policies on civil liberties, including the opposition to ID cards, extension of pre-trial detention and many other frightening developments from the Labour government, means that they would, I think, put a brake on the worst aspects of Labour.
Me on 5 Live, election 30 april 10
During my rant on Nicky Campbell's phone-in on BBC Radio 5 Live, I stated that I was minded not to vote for any party, but to spoil my ballot paper, as none of the parties were being truthful about their plans to cut the deficit. Of course, you know that parties are never entirely truthful about their plans, especially on fiscal/economic measures. When they say they have "no plans" to raise VAT, for example, you can be pretty sure that's exactly what they intend to do! Ditto income tax - they may keep to their pledge not to raise the headline, basic rate, but by freezing the tax-free allowances and/or putting up National Insurance - now effectively just part of the income tax system - they have in reality put up those taxes. So this much we know.
But I believe that this is an entirely different, indeed unique, situation facing the electorate. Never before have we been in this situation where we know that the parties are only telling us about a fraction of the cuts they intend to make and taxes they intend to raise, so, therefore, my argument runs, how can I make a decision on whom to vote for with such imperfect information? Up until yesterday it was my intention to do this and, as I said in a phone in, it is a position I never thought I would find myself in. I've always regarded such gestures as -- while not quite as bad as staying at home and not voting at all -- will of coursehave the equivalent effect.
My view has always been that if you are in a ‘safe’ seat then you should certainly vote for whichever party you most identify with, as it will effectively make no difference anyway, and if you are in a marginal seat -- and I am one that is currently held by Labour but now seen as marginal and in the reach of the Conservatives -- you have to put a peg over your nose, grit your teeth, clench your buttocks and do whatever it takes to put across against what is, in your judgement and conscience, the least worst party. It's not pretty, it's not heroic, it's not politically romantic but it is the responsible, grown-up thing to do. But not this time...
I do take my vote extremely seriously and it really grieves me to take this 'spolt ballot' view. My feeling was also though that if a few thousand, or even a few hundred, did the same thing in each constituency, with identical or similar phrases scrawled across the top, that might have some sort of impact on the parties, so that when there is another general election, in a few months or a few years, they might think about being more honest with the public. That is probably naïve, so I'm back then deciding whether I really loathe the current government enough to put in the Conservatives.
One thing that is slightly swayed me in favour of Labour is an interview that Shadow Chancellor George Osborne -- who seems to have mostly disappeared during the campaign, I wonder why? -- gave to the Financial Times this week, in which he said that if the Conservatives were elected they would have a mandate for very deep cuts. Wrong! If you do not spell out, at least in in broad terms where the axe will fall before the election, then you do not have a mandate, and therefore those cuts, which clearly are going to be horrendous, will be seen as illegitimate and undemocratic and we could well see Athens-style riots and bloodshed on our streets, because that is what people do when they see democracy has failed. But I am still not sure. I'm in turmoil at the moment, you see! I have never been in this position. My only consolation is that apparently millions of my fellow citizens are going through the same agonies -- up to 40% still undecided last night, according to polls -- and many will not find a make up their minds until they go into the polling booth.
So, finally I apply what I call my ‘Lifeboat Test’. Imagine your plane has gone down and you are marooned at sea with many other passengers and with the three main party leaders at the helm, all vying for the captaincy and a course of action, who should you put your trust in? As you've got through yet another very long posting, indulge me just one more time and imagine the scene:
Cameron speaks first and promises not to do nothing to harm anybody chances of getting out. But then he goes a bit quiet and a few minutes later we see through our desperate eyes, a yacht called ‘Bullingdon Boys’.
"Thank God!" We cry. "We're saved! But how…?" Cameron gives us his lizard grin and pulls out a satellite phone he's concealed under his Barbour jacket. "Sorry folks, only room for me I'm afraid and only had enough battery power to make one call to my old Eton chums. But I'm sure they’ll have some communications’ device on board and I’ll see if what's left of the Royal Navy can rescue you. Farewell!”
The rest of us look at each other in stunned disbelief. Clegg clears his throat and puts on his most sincere and winning expression. "Don’t worry, according to EU directive 49642/9629D, there will be a meeting convened by foreign ministers in Brussels within the next seven days to decide on a course of action. It'll all be fine."
We survivors miserably look at the last few drops of water in the last Evian bottle. But then we notice Gordon Brown making that funny movement he does with his jaw and pointing way over round 90°. A hideously-coloured EasyJet cruise ship is on the horizon.
“I told you not to be put our recovery at risk", sayd Gordo. "While you were all being seduced by those posh boys I used the super powers I developed in the sight of my remaining eye and then used my tough, battle-scarred body to produce all the hot air I could muster to fire off a smoke canister I spotted under that tarpaulin, left by Alistair Darling. You see, I took the right action…” he tails off and sinks back with his hand over his forehead.
A short time after we clamber gratefully on the deck of the cruise liner; bruised, bedraggled, hungry and thirsty but just about alive. But just about alive.
THE END? THE DECISION MADE??
You were once a tender 16-year-old? :-)
Posted by: Anthony Moretti | May 06, 2010 at 06:06 PM