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April 08, 2005
Press Update - 08/04/05
Boris Johnson, the inimitable saving grace of the Conservative Party, once described Tony Blair as “a mixture of Harry Houdini and a greased piglet. He is barely human in his elusiveness. Nailing Blair is like trying to pin jelly to a wall.�
More than just an excuse to quote the world’s coolest politician, it leads us nicely in to what is perhaps the biggest question of this election campaign: How does one punish Blair without running the risk of getting Michael Howard? Despite the fact that FPTP makes it just about impossible for the Tories to turn their votes into a majority, making the question a bit of a non-starter, just about every commentator in every worthwhile paper has had a go at answering this one, and now its Robin Cook’s turn.
He does rather too much talking up of the Conservative threat, but he is still a Labour MP, thus it is still his job, so we can let him off.
In his article, he sums up why this election is interesting in one simple sentence: “Part of the problem is that New Labour is so programmed to appeal to floating voters in the centre that it has forgotten the language with which to inspire its core voters on the left.�
And Mr Cook’s answer to the question everyone is asking? As Boris alludes to: You can’t punish Tony. And in trying, you may punish yourselves. Right or wrong, he makes his point well.
On the topic of tactical voting, there’s a big piece worth reading on the BBC website.
And at last, some sanity around the death of JP II, courtesy of Polly Toynbee.
Posted by pauldavies on April 08, 2005
