Geoffrey Wheatcroft and the British Election

Geoffrey Wheatcroft is a Tory Wet. A decent sensible guy who was a regular when Eamonn Dunphy was presenting “The Last Word” on Today FM. He writes regularly in the Guardian and is a rivetting essayist. (Bill thinks he’s good!)

On 6th April he wrote engagingly “Can anyone honestly pretend that the choice between Browne and Cameron means as much as between Attlee and Churchill 60 years ago, or Callaghan and Thatcher 30 years ago?

A riposte sometimes found on these pages goes roughly: “Yes, all right, the Labour government presided over a spurious economic miracle that was really no more than an explosion of household debt combined with criminal recklessness in the financial sector, it has created the most intrusive surveillance state in Europe, and it took us into a needless, illegal and disastrous war- but hey, the Tories might be even worse. “All I can say is that this is not the most inspiring slogan to get us to the polling station – although nor, it must be said, is the alternative slogan: “Even if the Tories are pretty dodgy, anything to get rid of the present lot.”

Amazing how Blair/Browne and Ahern/Cowen has an overarching sameness.

Watch Vince Cable for common sense. This election will again show the tyranny of the first-past-the-post election system. It is possible to win more votes overall and lose the election.