The Tories Should Form the Next Government

You're going to hear a lot of spin today. You're going to hear from the Tories that Labour have lost their mandate to govern. And you're going to hear from Labour that convention dictates that the sitting Prime Minister has first dibs on forming a government.

Of course, both of these things are true, but as always, what isn't being said is as interesting as what is being said. Yes, the Labour party have lost their mandate to govern. But the Tories haven't gained a clear mandate to govern either. They've done well in this election, but they haven't won it outright.

And convention does dictate that the sitting Prime Minister gets first dibs on forming a government. However, that doesn't mean that the convention in question is correct, and that it should be used to inform the actions taken today. We're going to hear February 1974 mentioned a lot today as a justification for the Labour party clinging to power. However, just a simple look at the results of that election shows that it is not relevant to what is happening today. In 02/74, Labour had four more seats than the Tories, but had not gained as many votes. In contrast, Labour has been hammered in this election, and trail the Tories both in the number of seats and the number of votes gained. Had Heath done as badly as Brown has, I think that there would have been little debate about Wilson being the one to attempt to form a government.

In short, I think the results speak for themselves - Labour have been rejected. Brown has been rejected. To try to cling to power despite losing the election would be an appalling thing for Labour to do (which, given Brown's appalling attitude, might not stop him and his party). In this instance, convention be damned. The Tories have the biggest claim to a mandate in this election; they should be the ones to try to form a government.

Labour have lost. They should now let the most popular party try to form a government.