[Cap'n Tightpants]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/wo...-election.html

LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservatives won a resounding victory in the British general election, with nearly complete results on Friday showing that the party had secured an overall majority in Parliament.

The vote was a stunning disappointment for the opposition Labour Party and its leader, Ed Miliband, who had shifted the party away from the more centrist strategy it pursued in the late 1990s and early 2000s under Tony Blair. Mr. Miliband stepped down on Friday, opening up a new debate over the party’s direction.

The result defied pre-election opinion polls that suggested a tight race between the Conservatives and Labour. It returns Mr. Cameron to 10 Downing Street for a second term, with enough seats in the House of Commons to act on his agenda without having to rely on support from smaller parties.

He went to Buckingham Palace on Friday to be invited by the queen to form a new government.

Labour was nearly wiped out in Scotland by the surging Scottish National Party and did more poorly than pre-election opinion polls had suggested it would in the rest of Britain. Several of Mr. Miliband’s top lieutenants lost their seats.

Wow, no coalition required. How much of this can be attributed to the meteoritic surge of the SNP? A lot, I think. However, you can't discount how much people dislike Miliband and his rabidly pro-Islam platform. Make "Islamophobia" an "aggravated hate crime"? Really? How well did that work out for you, Labour? British citizens are apparently annoyed at the prospect of being taken to task for their growing dislike of conservative Islam, and with good reason.

Have your bags packed for your exit from the EU?

[The Final Dakar]

I know nothing, other than Miliband is funny to look at it.

[BadKosh]

Think the same will happen in the US? A big tilt to the right.

[The Final Dakar]

Depends on what becomes the defining issue of 2016. If its national security, it becomes a big possibility.

[subego]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I know nothing, other than Miliband is funny to look at it.

[BadKosh]

now THATS FUNNY!

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Depends on what becomes the defining issue of 2016. If its national security, it becomes a big possibility.

Well, as long as it isn't this guy as well.
Jeb: George W. Bush is a top foreign policy adviser - CNNPolitics.com

[Waragainstsleep]

Actually I don't think Islam had any real influence on our election. The only people who are rabid enough to vote on that issue all voted UKIP or BNP most likely.

I think people underestimated the economy as a driving factor in this election. The SNP did very well because everyone loved Nicola Sturgeon but the bottom line is that Labour ****ed our economy by borrowing too much money and giving it away to anyone who asked for a decade or so. The screwed up education quite a lot too but no-one seems to be too bothered by that with the exception of tuition fees which is why the Lib Dems got hammered so badly. They lost the entirety of the student vote by the looks of it. The rest of their supporters wouldn't forgive them for getting in bed with the Tories last time.

Our economy is recovering, Labour supporters were already clamouring for an end to austerity months ago and so it seemed an obvious recipe for further economic disaster.
I doubt I'll like what Cameron does with the NHS but Labour would have screwed up just as bed through incompetence and lack of funds so the Tories were very much the lesser of the evils in this campaign as they are the only party who can be trusted to carry on the economic recovery.

If the US were to follow suit, which I doubt very much it will take its cues from us, there won't be a tilt to the right at all. If anything it will be the other way. Your economy is looking better too, poorer people have better healthcare and that will also have woken some voters to the nonsense that their party spread about Obamacare before it was put in place, employment is up and everyone knows the GOP will trash the ACA, cut taxes for the rich, screw the environment and spend money they don't have on more guns, tanks, bombs, missiles, wars etc etc. Throw in a strong Character like Hilary and the fact that so far the GOP has no-one that looks the part and its difficult to see a rightward swing from where I stand.

[Hawkeye_a]

Kudos to Cameron.

Just an observation, and it could be a strange coincidence, but it seems as though as the US has moved to the left (politically, economically and idealogically), all of her primary allies have voted firmly in favor of liberal(in the classical sence of the word, as the opposite to communism) governance. I speak of Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Israel.

I wonder if there is a relationship there.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Well, socially the USA was so far to the Right that we're really all just migrating to the middle.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a 

I wonder if there is a relationship there.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. What relationship?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a 

Just an observation, and it could be a strange coincidence, but it seems as though as the US has moved to the left (politically, economically and idealogically), all of her primary allies have voted firmly in favor of liberal(in the classical sence of the word, as the opposite to communism) governance. I speak of Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Israel.

Compared to other Western governments, the whole political spectrum of the US is shifted very far to the right. That means even other conservative governments are much more moderate on many key issues when compared to the average US politicians hailing from either party. That being said, I would not characterize the governments of, say, the UK and Israel as being liberal (which is not »the opposite of communism« anyway). Certain issues which (at least for now) serve as keystones in the left-right divide in the US (e. g. universal health care and gay marriage) are not relevant in the context of most other Western states.

[P]

Since the Tories won an absolute majority, and there were only two seats in Scotland that were not won by Labor or SNP, the rise of the SNP did not affect the winner at all. What happened in England was that the Lib Dems cratered - which didn't surprise me, to be honest, as they went into a coalition with a party they don't agree with about anything in return for a referendum on the voting system - and more of those votes went to the Tories than to Labour. If Labour had done a better election in England, they could have formed a coalition with the SNP and ruled.

What happened, I think, was that all polls showed a high number of uncertain voters close before the election. They didn't really like the current government, but Milliband's move to the left meant that they weren't too happy about Labour either. In the end, it seems voters decided to go with the devil they knew and hope that Cameron can keep his backbenchers in line. In Scotland they had an option in SNP, so they went there.

After Brown resigned, I was surprised to see Labour go with Ed Milliband over the other options (including his brother). He went left in a country that hasn't elected a truly leftist government in my lifetime, and that did not resonate with voters.

And Clegg and the Lib Dems... well, I guess they've finally demonstrated the flaws of the FPTP election system now.

[Waragainstsleep]

A lot of post election interviews have gone like this:

"Can I ask who you voted for?"
"Conservative."
"You must be pleased with the result."
"I wouldn't go that far."