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Standing down

June 13th, 2008 · Posted by Skuds in Politics · 1 Comment · Politics

I don’t really understand this business about David Davis standing down.  I know what they are all saying, but it just all seems so implausible.

Is it just an example of all the politicians and journalists getting so wrapped up in ‘Westminster Village’ that they think the rest of the world won’t interfere?   Davis says he is resigning and will re-stand (although there is a tiny bit of confusion in some quarters about whether he will do so as Tory) in the by-election, which will be some sort of referendum on this 42-day detention thing.  The Lib Dems, and BNP say they will not stand against him, UKIP seem unlikely to stand and the Labour party are considering not standing because then if there are not other candidates Davis just gets given the job without an election.

All of which assumes that people in the real world play along with it.   Davis can say what he likes about the by-election, but the voters might just decide to vote for the reasons they normally do rather than on this on issue.  They might vote him in just because they like him or because they are unhappy with the government for any number of other reasons.  On the other hand they could agree with him totally on the 42 days but decide they don’t want an MP who is going to keep giving them by-elections and vote against him.  The only fact in an election is the number of votes: everything else is speculation.

And what about other parties deciding not to stand?  If the Lib Dems, UKIP and BNP all decline to make it a straight two-way vote on a single issue and Labour decide not to stand so that there is no vote, they are all assuming that nobody else will fancy their chances.   There are plenty of other parties like the Greens, Respect or the Monster Raving Loony party who could easily wreck all those plans, and that is before we get to the individuals who might fancy their chances.

What if all the parties decide to stand aside and then at the last minute someone like Arshad Khan, or even Arshad Khan himself or some other determined individual gets their papers in at the last minute?  For all the high-minded theories about matters of principle we could end up with a two-way fight between David Davies and a modern-day equivalent of Bill Boakes, or we could just as easily end up with David Davis and a dozen independent eccentrics.  At the moment a veritable circus looks a lot more likely than anything sensible.

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One Comment so far ↓

  • Richard

    Arshad Khan…or Kelvin Mackenzie.

    Never under-estimate the power of the Sun, and its owner, which generates heat – but no light.

    Berlusconi did it in Italy…Murdoch is trying to do it here.