Calculating Backwards
The plain speaking Thatcherite and champion of the Tory Right, Lord Tebbit is reported to have launched a blistering attack on his party leader, David Cameron, urging him to go it alone with a minority government on the basis that 77% of the voters ‘rejected’ Clegg and his party. Using the same arithmetic 64% rejected Cameron. That is why Cameron does not have a majority.
But the argument is flawed and the sums rubbish. Lord Tebbit is astute as well as plain speaking so this is all the more surprising. A single choice voting system like ours is not about rejects, it is about first and only choice. Only 36% of voters thought his party worth choosing, so whilst it was the best of a bad tally it is nothing to crow about. The simple truth is that the country needs a strong government in time of crisis and the Lib Dems not only give the Tories a decent parliamentary majority, but they also bring the vote tally up to 59%. It is also a fact that with the Lib Dems the Labour comes to 52%. Because of the utterly unrepresentative voting system currently tottering on its last legs there is no universal relationship between votes and seats. As the previous blog explained the Lib Dems achieved 63% of the Tory vote total but only 19% of their seat total. Lord Tebitt should not be so cocky.