Eric Joyce's non-resignation has been much commented on by bloggers such as Liberal England and Stephen Glenn.
But what I find most interesting is that the real winner of this sad affair is the Labour leadership. A by election in Falkirk would have almost certainly seen an SNP victory - setting Labour's recovery back and putting more pressure on the lacklustre leadership of Mili Minor. So one can't help wondering if Joyce's statement had been agreed right at the top of the party...
Whatever can you mean Dan?
ReplyDelete*innocent expression*
I strongly doubt the SNP would have won Falkirk. It's not impossible but it seems extremely unlikely.
ReplyDeleteIf they had, it certainly would have been a set-back for Labour, but for the Lib Dems and Tories too. For the SNP to win in Falkirk, they would have surely needed to take every single vote the Lib Dems got there last time, along with around 30% of the Conservative vote (that's assuming that 30% of Labour voters stayed home). If the SNP had won, it would have confirmed the trend of Labour running second to the SNP, with the Conservatives a distant third and the Lib Dems non-existent. Pressure on every party leader except Salmond, surely.