Paul Nuttall will stand in general election but where?

Paul Nuttall has ended several days of media speculation and confirmed that he will be standing in the impending general election.

Nuttall told journalists on Monday that he hadn't decided whether to stand or not which led many to believe that the disappointing result in Stoke in February had put him off trying to become an MP. However, he has confirmed that he will be standing but has not yet revealed which seat he will contest.

Boston & Skegness seems to be the popular choice with the pundits and with UKIP's former PPC for the seat, Robin Hunter-Clarke, opting to stand in Pontypridd this time round (he's Chief of Staff to the UKIP group in the Welsh Assembly) there would appear to be a vacancy in a seat that produced a very strong UKIP vote in 2015. However, Paul Nuttall is due in Hartlepool on Saturday morning where the unveiling of UKIP's candidate for the seat has been promised. Could Nuttall be the mystery PPC?

Voting UKIP is the only way to ensure Brexit happens

Theresa May has secured a vote for a general election and the country will go to the polls on 8th June.

The Tories will be hoping to capitalise on an unprecedented 24% lead over Labour in the opinion polls and wipe out any opposition in the House of Commons. Conservatives and even some UKIP activists are flooding social media with calls to vote Conservative to deliver Brexit, echoing Theresa May's misleading comments yesterday. But this is not the way to get what we want.

Theresa May has a working majority in the House of Commons but she has a problem - the majority of her MPs are pro-EU. Thus far she has managed to keep a lid on rebellions because Brexit is two years away and MPs will be hoping to spend those two years watering it down. As independence day gets closer and a so-called "hard" Brexit becomes more likely she will face more opposition from her own ranks and it could well be blocked by MPs. Bye bye legacy.

What Theresa May tells us is that she needs the country to return a big Conservative majority so she has a mandate to deliver Brexit. She already has a mandate from last year's referendum but let's just explore this idea a little further. Her problem is that most of her MPs don't support Brexit and that's because the Conservatives are a pro-EU party and the majority of their candidates at the last election were Remainers. Most MPs and PPCs will be contesting the same seats they did two years ago which virtually guarantees a Remain majority once again. She will increase her majority but in doing so she will load the dice even more in Remain's favour.

So if an increased majority is going to make delivering Brexit harder, why is she risking an election now when the result is actually not as certain as the opinion polls might suggest and when the two post-referendum parliamentary by-elections that have been held have shown that Brexit is largely irrelevant when it comes to who people vote for? Because an increased Conservative majority in June will give them 5 years unopposed to do whatever they want to the country. We'll be out of the EU in 2 years' time if everything pans out as it should and then it's three years to the next election during which time the Tories will have no effective opposition.

Only yesterday the papers were talking about a proposal to introduce special immigration rules so EU citizens won't face restrictions if they want to come and work in coffee shops. There are 1.6m unemployed already living here and Theresa May's government thinks we need to import baristas from eastern Europe. Theresa May's government is handing over £12bn a year in foreign aid while tens of thousands of people in this country get fed by food banks. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people are losing their independence thanks to changes Theresa May's government are making to disability benefits. This is what Theresa May wants you to vote for in June.

If the Tories are serious about delivering Brexit they have nothing to fear from UKIP MPs who will support legislation that will deliver Brexit. And if they're serious about Brexit they will, of course, stand aside for UKIP in the 120 seats that UKIP came second in in 2015 to maximise the number of Brexit-supporting MPs in June. But they won't.

The best outcome from this general election is for UKIP to hold the balance of power, supporting the Conservatives in delivering Brexit and holding them to account for the rest of their platform. Tactical voting doesn't work, it just helps someone you don't want to win. Voting UKIP is the only way to ensure a Brexit majority in the House of Commons and an effective opposition.

Theresa May calls Commons vote for June general election

Theresa May is calling a vote of the Commons tomorrow to try and call a general election for 8th June.

In a statement she said that Labour, the Lib Dems and SNP have all pledged to block Brexit legislation and so the country should go to the polls to pass judgement on their plans.

The prime minister is absolutely right to say that a strong mandate is needed for Brexit in a general election but that isn't going to come from voting Conservative. She needs to call an election because so many of her own MPs are opposed to Brexit. The Conservatives have a majority in the Commons but they are a pro-EU party and there is absolutely no majority when it comes to a real disengagement from the EU - the so-called "hard Brexit" - that we will inevitably come to when the EU waste much of the next two years playing games.

The only way to make sure Brexit happens is with UKIP MPs in Parliament. Theresa May is a Remainer and she is surrounded by Remainers in her cabinet and on the back benches. Let's not forget that it has taken nine months just to trigger Article 50 during which time various legal challenges have been allowed to take place. This is no coincidence, the delay was deliberately calculated to give the Remainers an opportunity to block Brexit.

But it's not all about Brexit, the Tories are getting so many other things wrong. They are starving the NHS of cash whereas UKIP has a costed plan to give the NHS a cash injection. Immigration is at record levels and the Tories want to keep the door open whereas UKIP has the only credible immigration policy for a points-based immigration system that will control the quantity and quality of immigrants. Disabled people are losing the financial support they need to maintain their independence and support them into work whereas UKIP pledges to end the bedroom tax, end work capability assessments and remove the quotas for getting disabled people into work. Under the Tories, unemployment is going down but exploitative zero hour contracts are on the increase with no protection for employees whereas UKIP would ban exclusivity clauses in zero hour contracts and give employees the right to a permanent contract with fixed hours after a year.

If Theresa May's election gets voted through we have a relatively short time to tell voters why UKIP is not only relevant but desperately needed to steer the country through Brexit and into the world.

Have You Ever Polled A Human By Mistake, Mr. Cameron?

That line, is of course, a paraphrase of the famous "Have you ever retired a human by mistake?" question asked by Rachael to Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, in the iconic 1980s film Bladerunner, arguably the greatest science fiction film of all time.

The central twist of the film is that neither Rachel or Deckard are aware that they are both in fact machines, replicants, who thanks to implanted memories believe themselves to be human. Bladerunner asks important questions about the human condition: what is it to be human? Do we have souls? Is free will just an illusion?

Such questions have been asked by philosophers for centuries, of course, but we are going to hear a lot more of them in the years ahead thanks to the rise of Big Data and predictive analytics. Essentially, the increase in computing power and ability to store data now allows machines to crunch through vast amounts of data and apply complex statistical algorithms to it, well beyond the capacities of the human mind to manage. The machine then learns a model from the data which can be used to discern patterns within it and in some applications, predict human behaviour. This machine learning is itself a branch of artificial intelligence, the holy grail of which is to create a machine with equal or better intellectual capabilities than the human brain. Some data scientists even believe that in future we will be able to predict human thoughts.

Machine Learning is not some Sci Fi fantasy, it is here, and the fact that you are reading this article on the web means that it has almost certainly been used on you: machine learning algorithms will predict what books to recommend you on Amazon.com, or what ads to show you on Google, for example.

Now is is being applied to politics, with the news that the Conservatives have hired the data expert Jim Messina, the man credited with winning the 2012 election for Barack Obama.

The central idea is that by applying gigantic sets of polling and behavioural data to an election campaign, you can tailor your election message individually to voters in order to get them to respond to your message. I thoroughly recommend anyone to watch this rather sinister video of the overly smug Messina to see what is in store for us on this side of the pond.



Well, anyone watching that piece doesn't need machine learning in order to know the thoughts of the Political Class if they think this is the way to win elections: the underlying contempt they have for the rest of us could not be more stark. We are little more than dumb machines and units of consumption, to be sold a packaged message, spun, used, manipulated and discarded by the new uberclass as they see fit.

Although Messina's data driven campaigning is frighteningly sophisticated, it is in essence nothing new but a continuation of the same poll and focus group driven politics we have all come to despise over the last ten years. Dreary and reductive, such ultra-segmentation of a political message treats us all as atomised individuals with little regard for a greater whole beyond ourselves. In essence the tailor-made campaign is the absolute antithesis of the leadership, belief and vision that successful politics - in the sense of actually changing the country for the better rather than just winning office - requires. It is very noticeable for example, that previous leaders who were obsessed with data driven campaigning - Clinton and Blair for example - achieved very little in office. Obama looks like another failure in this regard. So does David Cameron.

But will it work in Britain in 2015? Against the kind of mediocre candidates the political class tend to produce, almost certainly so. However, against a true leader with courage, vision and integrity, a man or woman who treats the people with dignity and respect rather than contempt, the results are somewhat less predictable. Big data, machine learning and predictive analytics are tools, nothing more. Like all tools, they rely on a master craftsman to be used properly. Better and more sophisticated tools can help you refine your craft, but they can not in themselves supply the inspiration to create something of lasting value or beauty.

Like all political parties, UKIP will have to adapt and use the tools of the big data age, but we must never lose sight of the fact that politics is a human activity, and human beings need romance in the true meaning of that word. Far more than big data, what politics requires and always has done, is a romantic vision of a better tomorrow.

ComRes poll predicts EU election win for UKIP

A ComRes poll for Open Europe puts UKIP on 27% for the EU elections with Labour in second place on 23% and the Tories on 21%. The Lib Dems are a distant fourth with just 9%.

The same poll predicts 37% for Labour, 26% for the Tories and UKIP on 20% in a general election.  The Lib Dems are once again a distant fourth on 9%.

The poll also found that while 41% of people would vote to leave the EU with 37% voting to stay in, that would change to 47% voting to stay in and 32% voting to leave if significant powers could be repatriated from the EU.  Human nature will always favour the soft option, the compromise.  But as it's not possible to take power off the EU once you've given it to them without leaving the mythical "third way" isn't going to be an option.

Open Europe has tried to spin the poll as massive support for the EU as you would expect from a pro-EU think tank that campaigns for reform but really it's not.  Most people want to leave the EU and most would take the easy way out if it was possible which it's not.  Open Europe can spin it all they like but this isn't a positive poll for the europhiles.

AV: A chance for small parties and independents to enter the fray

Conhome seems to think that an AV referendum is a waste of money.


What price democracy?

I can see why the 'main' parties would be against AV and making the case against a 'costly' referendum on it.

But AV was part of the coalition agreement and unless you want to see the coalition fall apart, this referendum is vital.

From a disaffected conservative's POV (mine), AV would be terrific.

I realise that we would have endless coalition wrangles into the future, but it would allow the sweet breath of fresh air of new entrants into Parliament.

One of the main reasons that UKIP got nowhere in the GE was because everyone was just too desperate to get Brown out.

Surely, that stands democracy on its head? How can it be right that your only viable course of action is to vote for a party in which you have no overall confidence?

Before people jump on my case, I am pleased with a number of coalition deeds since the GE. Very encouraging.

However, I am bitterly opposed to its EU policy and people like me (the majority) had absolutely no choice in this respect in the GE.

So yes - bring on a referendum for AV and bring on AV!


I realise that this post will meet with opposition, but hey, if you disagree, discuss!


Cross-posted

We need answers

Well, all the results are in and for UKIP they're pretty disappointing.

There are some positives to take from the results though, it's certainly not all negative.

UKIP received 917,832 votes across the UK - not that far off a million votes.  By vote share, UKIP is the fourth largest party in the UK by a considerable amount.  The fact that UKIP secured 3.1% of the vote but returned no MPs whilst the far left Green Party only managed a trifling 285,616 votes nationally and managed to return an MP is proof, if proof were needed, that some form of proportional representation is desperately needed.

This time round, 62 candidates achieved 5% or above of the vote and kept their deposits.  This is a great improvement on the 2005 general election and reflects in an increase of about 1% in the overall UKIP vote.

So why the poor result?  The Leaders "Debate" programmes had some bearing in the poor performance of anyone not in the LibLabCon coalition, as did the Tory newspaper adverts on the fictitious and spurious "dangers" of a hung parliament.  But ultimately it was down to sheep-like voters doing what they've done for decades and voting for the same dishonest, corrupt, thieving politicians based on nothing other than the colour of their rosettes.

Sadly, UKIP is still seen as a predominantly single-issue party and to a certain extent the mentality inside the party bears that out.  But UKIP does have a full manifesto and most members aren't focussed entirely on the EU.  I don't know how we can shake of these misconceptions but it has to be done.  The media don't help by concentrating on the EU whenever they talk to Nigel Farage or Lord Pearson but then how much effort does the party put into presenting spokesmen (or women) for other topics?  That's a rhetorical question, by the way, the answer is "not enough".

Incredibly, there are still people who haven't heard of UKIP.  I say incredibly because UKIP came second in the EU elections last year and came close to getting a million votes in the general election this year.  Most people have heard of the Green Party, the BNP and even the Monster Raving Loony Party yet by vote share, UKIP is bigger than the Greens and the BNP combined.  However, if someone says they don't know who UKIP is, they often know who Nigel Farage is and that's another one of the problems facing the party - Nigel is still seen as the de facto leader of the party and is the most (perhaps only) recognisable figurehead.

If Lord Pearson intends to stay on as leader then he needs to have some answers.  How is he going to raise our profile?  How is he going to improve communication with candidates, activists and other supporters?  How is he going to increase membership?  How is he going to bring us some big name supporters?  How is he going to bring in some serious cash?  And most importantly, how is he going to bring us electoral success?  I'm not saying that Lord Pearson should resign or that members should attempt to oust him because of this disappointing election result but if he can't answer these questions and somebody else has then he should step aside and let them do what he's so far been unable to do.

A lot of people put an incredible amount of hard work into this election and the result really didn't reflect the effort that was put in.  There will most likely be another election before the year is out and we must be ready to fight it but we need some answers before we get started.  The question is, who is going to answer them?

Hung Parliament, tens of millions of votes ignored

Well, it looks like people didn’t use their vote wisely after all.

The expected anti-LibLabCon backlash didn’t materialise with people voting for the LibLabCon coalition. The Leaders “Debates” shown on Sky, ITV and the BBC successfully deflected attention from the local candidates and onto the party leaders even though only a few thousand of us could vote for them and the anti-hung parliament propaganda in Tory newspapers scared a lot of people into so-called “tactical” voting.

The BBCs partiality in this election needs to be investigated and steps taken to ensure that the privileged and powerful few aren’t given an unfair advantage over the already disadvantaged smaller parties.

And when the Tory media complains about the fact that Gordon Brown is still Prime Minister despite losing by 2m votes and 50-odd seats, they have only themselves to blame for interfering in the election. If they’d left people to get on with voting for who they wanted instead of peddling propaganda about a hung parliament the result could have been very different. If they’d stuck to slagging off Liebour and the Limp Dims instead of telling lies about a hung parliament they wouldn’t have motivated the LibLab voters.

It looks like UKIP’s hopes are all pinned on Nigel Farage. The result has been pretty disappointing nationwide for UKIP but it looks like a lot of deposits have been retained and UKIP have beaten the BNP in almost every seat contested.

In Telford, David Wright managed to cling on to his seat with a reduced majority of about 1k, reduced from 5k. Denis Allen got almost 2.5k votes, keeping his deposit and effectively depriving the Tories of a victory. That was certainly the general consensus anyway – the Tories were fuming with us and the Liebour lot were shaking our hands blinking away the tears in their eyes, thanking us for seeing the Tories off!

In the Wrekin constituency, Mark Pritchard increased his 500 majority to 9k. Malcolm Hurst for UKIP got 2,050 votes and missed the 5% needed to keep his deposit by about 350 votes.

As I type, there are over 2m more votes for the Tories than there are for Liebour and a difference of 47 seats. There are 1.6m votes between the Limp Dims and Liebour but the difference in seats is 189. The electoral system is fundamentally wrong and needs changing. Under proportional representation, based on current vote share with 43 seats left to declare, the seat allocation for the main parties should be something like:

• Con: 235
• Lab: 185
• Lib: 149
• UKIP: 20
• BNP: 12
• SNP: 11
• Green: 6

Tens of millions of votes will be ignored no matter what the outcome is because we still have this medieval first past the post electoral system.

Cross-posted: Wonko's World

Send us your election night news

The polls are closing in half an hour and the first results will be rolling in shortly afterwards.

You can send your election night news to election@bloggers4ukip.org.uk or via Twitter @bloggers4ukip and mobile phone signal and energy levels permitting, it'll magically (ie. by me typing it up on my trusty Nokia E71) appear on Bloggers4UKIP.

Amusingly arrogant Tory

Most people involved in election campaigns have amusing stories and I think I've had more than my fair share this time.

Tuesday was putting posters up on a lampost outside David Wright MP's office and Labour activists walking out and haranguing me while I was up the lampost.  Yesterday was scaring David Cameron away from Telford.  Today it was my dad's story about the Tory canvasser who knocked his door ...

Tory: Can I speak to you for a moment?
Dad: Yes
Tory: Are you going to vote for them? [Points at UKIP poster in the window]
Dad: Yes
Tory: You're wasting your vote you know?
Dad: Why?
Tory: Only the Tories can win here
Dad: I don't care
Tory: Why are you going to vote for them? [Points at UKIP poster again]
Dad: Because I think they're the party that will represent me best
Tory: Well you're bloody stupid for wasting your vote then
Dad: Don't talk to me like that
Tory: Well you are
Dad: Piss off and don't come back

The Tory then crosses the road and knocks on the door of a neighbour.

[Much the same opening lines - dad's already convinced him to vote UKIP!]
Tory: The trouble with you lot round here is you haven't got the sense you were bloody born with
Neighbour: Get off my property and don't come back

The bit about them not having the sense they were born with was the most amusing part.  My dad is 6'5" and the neighbour is over 6ft tall and a body builder!

Farage and other candidate in plane crash

Nigel Farage and another man UKIP candidate, possibly New Forest East PPC, Peter Day, were involved in a light aircraft crash this morning.

Picture: Reuters

The other candidate man was piloting the plane which was towing a banner inviting people to vote for UKIP.  Shortly after take-off, it is believed that the banner got caught in the tail and the plane crash landed.

Both men somehow got out alive and are currently in hospital.  The pilot is currently in hospital in Coventry with possible spinal injuries whilst Nigel is in hospital with broken ribs and head injuries and is drifting in and out of concsiousness.  Neither of them is thought to be in a critical condition.

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that our thoughts are with Nigel, the pilot and their respective families and in wishing both of them a speedy recovery.  And Nigel, next time you want to get UKIP in the news, shave your head for charity or do a bungee jump - no more death defying plane crashes please!

Edit:
Thanks to Gawain for the heads up in the comments that the pilot wasn't a candidate after all.  He is a professional pilot with a similar name to a UKIP candidate.

Update:
The good news is, both Nigel and the pilot are doing well.  The pilot's injuries aren't as bad as first thought and Nigel is already bossing people around responding to comments on the UKIP candidates website.

Use your vote wisely

The polling stations have been open for 20 minutes now and today is probably a once in a lifetime chance to change the face of English politics forever.

For too long, English politics has been about the same tired old parties - the dishonest Conservatives, the illiberal and economically illiterate Labour Party and the weak and ineffectual Lib Dems.  We've seen our country bankrupted and sold to the EU and our trust abused by thieving politicians.  Today we have a chance to break the stranglehold the corrupt LibLabCon have over our country and change the way it is governed.

It might not seem like it with the media's obsession over Brown, Cameron and Clegg and the exclusive "Leaders Debates" but today we are voting for an MP, not a Prime Minister.  If you listen to the LibLabCon and cast a so-called "tactical" vote then you've cast a wasted vote.  If you vote for somebody you don't want to try and stop someone else you don't want from winning then all you're going to get is someone you don't want representing you for the next 5 years.

You know that feeling you get when you're choosing a new mobile phone?  You look at all the features and read the reviews and think "Can I live with this phone for the next 12-18 months until I'm due my next upgrade?".  That's the feeling you should be getting when you look at your ballot paper multiplied by a thousand.  The person you vote for today (if he or she wins) is going to represent you in Westminster for up to 5 years.

Forget about the Leaders debates - unless you live in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, Witney, Sheffield Hallam or Bangladesh, you're not voting for any of them.  Forget about a hung parliament - a hung parliament is healthy for democracy, it's only the megalomaniac party leaders that have anything to lose from a hung parliament.  Forget about the "big picture", it'll look after itself.

There is no such thing as a wasted vote, us it wisely.

Wonko's World: Election Prediction

Election Prediction

The election is almost upon us and it’s time for a prediction I think: Nick Clegg will be Prime Minister.

Now, don’t get any silly ideas about the Lib Dems winning the election because they won’t. The Tories will win the election with most seats but they won’t have a working majority and Cameron would rather go without than share power. The newspaper ads and constant talk about how terrible a hung parliament would be confirm that Cameron is out for absolute power and nothing less.

There will be no shortage of offers to form a coalition with Cast Iron Dave but they will be rebuffed. The party faithful will be told that it’s better to let a LibLab coalition limp along for a few months before collapsing and then the Tories can romp home to victory in a snap election. Most of them will fall for it of course and those that don’t will accept it for the greater good.

So that just leaves the Lib Dems and Labour. The Lib Dems will come second on Thursday, relegating Labour to third place. Clegg will want a coalition of the left which rules out the Tories and whilst the SNP and Plaid will make gains at the election (the former more so than the latter) they won’t have enough lobby fodder for Clegg to see off the Tories so it will be a LibLab coalition with Clegg as Prime Minister.

Whether El Gordo will manage to cling on as leader after the election remains to be seen. Mandelson is already leader in all but name and I expect him to take over the reins from El Gordo at some point after the election. Clegg says he won’t work with Brown but once he smells victory he’ll soon change his tune.

And what about the non-LibLabCon/celtic nationalists? Well, UKIP will come out with a handful of MPs – I think between three and five. The BNP will retain some deposits but they won’t win and seats. The English Democrats will spring a few surprises but won’t win any seats. The Greens will come worryingly close to winning a seat but won’t quite make it.

UKIP Election Broadcast 2010

Think big, vote small

Cross-posted

The Lib Dems are Wrong on Trident

Trident came up up again in the Leaders Debate last night, with Nick Clegg (and Menzies Campbell later on Question Time) starting to sound like the new Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) - but without any substance.

Some people are calling for Britain to be a "shining example" in the world by becoming the first to disarm completely. Whilst, that is a lovely sentiment, its also completely bonkers. There is still a viable threat from the likes of Iran and North Korea - and while that is the case, then we must have a way to defend ourselves.

There simply isn't a cheaper,effective alternative either. For example, using cruise missiles instead isn't an option, because they have a much shorter range and are much easier to shoot down. Trident is a ballistic missile, with a range of 7,500 miles and therefore offers a real deterrent. Launching missiles from long range aircraft is not really a good idea either - aircraft can be shot down. If we chose a cruise missile system, we would have to develop the missile programme and therefore pay all of the associated costs of research and development. That would create a bill at least as expensive as Trident. Oh, and there isn't a hypersonic long-range cruise on the market - meaning we would have to develop one at massive expense too.

No one is denying Trident is expensive. It is estimated that it will cost around £2bn a year over its expected life time of 40 years. That amounts to 5% of the annual defence budget on today's figures.

What all this means is, the Lib Dems are right, there are alternatives to Trident. But crucially, they are not necessarily cheaper and they are not as effective as Trident. The defence experts are telling us that Trident is the most viable option if we are to remain a nuclear power. We might not want to be a nuclear power ideally, but as Winston Churchill once said:
"sometimes it is not enough to do your best, sometimes you have to do what is required"

Sod the lot, vote UKIP

UKIP shows, once again, that they are the only party in touch with what the public are thinking ...

The election cometh

So, the election has been called at last and the country will be going to the polls on May 6th.

Experts are predicting a hung parliament after this election which means that smaller parties like UKIP will potentially have a bigger part to play in Westminster than if one of the LibLabCon has an outright majority.

Many people will be tempted to vote "tactically" in this election to either to keep out Brown or Cameron.  This only plays into the hands of the LibLabCon because when you vote for someone you don't want just to prevent someone else you don't want from winning, all you end up with is 5 years of a whole lot someones you don't want.

UKIP is fielding over 500 candidates in the general election and they are listed on the UKIP candidates website.  Your local UKIP branch probably has its own website as well and most of them will be listed on the UKIP Local website.  UKIP's policies and the manifesto can be found on the UKIP website.

Take the time to find out more about your UKIP candidate, get in touch with them and ask them their opinions on things that are a priority for you.  Forget about party loyalty - the LibLabCon have stolen from us, they have lied to us, they have treated us with contempt.  Vote for the person who believes in the same things as you and who will best represent you.

Vote for a changing future of fairs

The LibLabCon have announced their election slogans for the general election.

The Tories have gone for "Vote for Change", Liebour have gone for "A future fair for all" and the Limp Dims have gone for "Change that works for you. Building a fairer Britain".

It's not just authoritarianism, eurofederalism and economic illiteracy that the LibLabCon have in common, their election slogans are interchangeable as well!

Gordon's Gift to UKIP

MPs have voted to hold a referendum on changing the voting system in general elections to the Alternative Vote system although it is very unlikely that it will happen before the general election this year.

Gordon Brown has opposed electoral reform for the last decade but has suddenly decided that now is the right time to overhaul the voting system.  Why?  It's simple ...

El Gordo knows that there will be tens, if not hundreds of thousands of traditional Labour voters casting protest votes in the next election.  Their only hope of clinging on to any sort of power is through the Alternative Vote system where rebellious voters can cast their protest vote and still vote Labour as second choice.

UKIP was criticised in some quarters for asking voters to lend them their vote during last year's EU elections because some people thought it might make the party look weak but Labour aren't even asking for people to lend them their vote, they're asking them for their second choice!  Desperate doesn't even begin to describe it.

There is an advantage of the the Alternative Vote system, though.  For some reason, most people still vote for the LibLabCon even though they've let us all down over and over again because they still, for some bizarre reason, want one of the LibLabCon to win.  But as we've seen in EU elections, if they don't think the result matters, voters will vote for someone different and if they think they can vote for UKIP and whichever faction of the LibLabCon they normally vote for then we could see a significant number of UKIP wins based on second preference votes.  It worked for the English Democrats in Doncaster, imagine what the fourth biggest party in the UK could do with a voting system that wasn't inherently biased against anyone who doesn't belong to the LibLabCon coalition.

If he can rush this bill through Parliament and get the referendum before the election this year, Brown's desperate attempt to cling on to power could be the biggest gift UKIP has had since ... well, since humiliating Labour and the Lib Dims in the EU elections last year!