Unravelling before our eyes
On Monday, whilst canvassing in Crewe I felt the extent of the dramatic swing to us. By Wednesday I began to doubt my own judgment, in part because Crewe voters were fed up with seeing people like me on their doorstep.
Yet there really is something profound in the air. Last night Iain Duncan Smith came to speak at my annual dinner. He made a long and very passionate speech about the state of our fractured society. A hundred people listened in enrapt attention. Two years ago that would simply not have happened. Last night they wanted serious politics. They know that the Government is unravelling.
The fact is that up and down the country people sense the terminal failure of this Government. It goes well beyond rising prices or ridiculous by-election campaigns.
If taxes and death are life’s inevitabilities, then the electorate is getting both with Gordon Brown. That is what the Crewe and Nantwich by-election was ultimately all about. P.S. We are now in recess for a week after which blogging will return