Within minutes of Cameron’s triumph being confirmed Milliband, Clegg and Farage all resigned, although Farage indicated that after a long holiday he might run for the leadership again. This fashion for political losers to take flight is absurd. It is also counter-productive politically and against the national interest as the country is faced with a procession of greenhorn leaders who do not measure up through lack of experience.
When Churchill was sacked by the country in 1945 he stayed on as Tory leader and ran Attlee a close second in 1950 then beat him in 1951, returning to Downing St until he retired in 1955. Attlee meanwhile stayed on as leader after his 1951 defeat and only resigned after he was beaten again in 1955 by Eden. Gaitskell replaced him, lost his first general election in 1959, but would have won the next in 1964 had he not fallen ill and died. Wilson won for Labour in 1964 and 1966, lost to Heath in 1970, but came back to win first as a minority government, then again with a small majority in 1974 until he retired in 1976. Heath had lost one election before he won in 1970, then lost twice more before being ousted by Thatcher. I could go on but you get the picture.
After Major, the Tories went through three leaders before they found a winning duo in Cameron and Osborne, spotted and brought forward by Michael Howard, before he quit after losing in 2005. But this business walking out the day after losing, hands a huge advantage to the winning government, which only has to contend with an opposition consumed by leadership rivalries at least for the first one hundred magic days. It was in this period that the Coalition laid down the largely unjustified charge which stuck because it was never challenged, that the great crash had been caused by Labour overspending when in fact its deficits had not been as high as either Thatcher or Major until the banks collapsed. Labour never recovered its credibility and moreover lost confidence in its own convictions, leading to mixed and confusing economic messages which undoubtedly were the main source of its defeat yesterday.
Farage maybe because he said he would if he failed to take Thanet. But Milliband and Clegg should have stood by their troops, dried their tears and stayed with them during a period of reflection, until the dust has settled and a clearer aspiration for the future emerges. Meanwhile they should harass and challenge the incoming government at every twist and turn to make sure its first hundred days are no free ride. It would not be difficult. A majority of five is hardly a landslide.
Of course there is a leader who has arrived in Westminster and who will step into the vacuum. Alex Salmond. He is going to have a ball.