Indeed these are bad results for Labour, but who cares anymore, they're hardly a new party, with all the old timers from blair to brown. The conservatives have Cameron and Osborne, no baggage, just new, fresh and plenty of ideas.
Just what people want.

Charlie Gimmock, Kent,

To Mike, of Leeds -

Have you heard of Gipton? Of postal vote rigging? How do we know which party the people of Leeds really elected?

What use is an election where there is no confidence that the figures announced correspond with the wishes of those who cast them?

Especially living where you do, I'd have thought you'd have written more carefully.

Michael Bruce, Selby, Yorkshire

In all the talk about Gordon Brown taking over as Prime Minister, I don't think much attention has been given to the ability of the Monarch to select a Prime Minister or dissolve Parliament.

Her Majesty has stood by a promise she made 54 years ago and shows no sign of breaking that promise as long as she lives. Probity, trust and faithful adherence to promises are clearly important to her. Tony Blair was elected on a promise made during the 2005 Campaign that he would serve a full term, therefore when he steps down the term is over. (This is different to the Thatcher / Major handover where no such electoral promise existed)

Under such circumstances, is it not within Her Majesty's power to dissolve Parliament and force a General Election? It is peculiar to think that in an advanced democracy like the UK the hereditary monarch is the only person that might keep the politicans honest!

Douglas James, Middle England,

The spin by labour and its controlled BBC was quite clever,make everyone think the results are going to be disastrous,and when they are just bad its a victory.

steven johnson, bordon, england

It is "Miami-Dade" county, not Dale. I love the Yorkshire Dales though. Good beer.

Coli, Ipswich, MA, USA

Nobody south of Berwick gets it, do they? In simple terms, the SNP is the protest vote in Scotland. Not voting Tory is so deeply ingrained in many Scots, and has been for generations, that they just cannot bring themselves to do it, with the result that the Tories are no longer the party of opposition in Scotland. The Lib Dems are tainted by their association in coalition with Labour, which leaves the SNP as the opposition. Voting SNP does not necessarily mean that Scotland wants independence, and indeed if people take the time to read the SNP's manifesto they will see that there is a lot more to it than that. For many Scots, voting SNP is the direct equivalent of an English person who would normally vote Labour voting LibDem, or a natural Tory voting UKIP. Where else is a disillusioned Scot meant to go with any hope of influencing government? (PS I did not vote SNP!)

Fiona Cummings, Edinburgh, UK

"I cannot understand ...

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England"



Wrong Union Edmund.

DB, Kingston on Spey, Scotland

Whistling passed the graveyard. Labour are going down big-time. Unelectable for a generation. No wonder they want to get Socialist legislation on the statue book; last opportunity for some considerable time.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

The predictable election results dominated the BBC news at ten but hope was restored with their own commisioned suvey - the worst pop lyrics ever - If only we could vote the BBC out as well.

Anthony Jeffries, Bournemouth, UK

It seems like every time a government has been in power too long, some of us begin looking at the opposition through rose-coloured glasses and taking their promises seriously. I remember how wonderful things looked the morning Blair took power. Then things we thought would happen didn't, or weren't finished, and when we got frustrated there were all those phony symbolic crises to be met with legislation that made things much worse than they already weren't. Now we have the newly reformed Tories. Good luck!

The Lib-Dems were on the right side on Iraq, give them that. They have been consistent over the years, but this is easy for a party which has never been close to power and can take any position it wants without having to implement it. The nationalist parties look like the products of puffed-up regional egos living off the benefits of union. Are they really serious is a good question.

People paid for analysing elections are mostly clueless except for Matt of course!

Christopher Hobe Morrison, Middletown, Orange County, NY, USA

Very good analysis. The Conservatives do still have a lot of work to do. One thing they should do though, if they do manage to win the next general election is to remove the BBC's licence fee asap. I'm sick to the teeth of such persistant unbalanced reporting.

Marie, Shrewsbury, UK

It is what labour had coming to them it is unfortuneate that there is no one standing against Brown he is no better than Blair and what a chancellor with all his hidden taxes he thought we were too stupid to notice. When the time comes when we have to pay extra council tax for a view what about people in high rise flats.

Maureen Hall, Pool of Muckhart, Clackmannanshire

Correction: It's (Miami)-Dade county, not Dale county, where the infamous 'hanging chad' saga unfolded.

Roy, San Diego, CA, USA

Yo Britain,
Blair, IMHO, "sold out" his own country to a foreign leader who does NOT have the UK's best interest close to his heart. Shame on you Mr. Blair.

Now, can we get out of Iraq, take control of our own borders and focus on Britain please?

James Vernon, Hampstead, NW3, UK

It isn't true that the northern cities aren't relevant to the Tories. The Tories lost councillors in Leeds on Thursday, which doesn't augur well for a general election victory. Prior to 1997 there were always 2 Tory MPs in Leeds - Leeds NE and NW, now there aren't any. The fact is, if the Tories really were back on their way to power in any convincing way, they would have made gains in the north as well as the votes they piled up in the south, including the northern conurbations.

Mike, Leeds,

Quite a good analysis , but more succinctly described as "The unravelling of Blair and Blairism".

john gregory Flinn, Bealencourt, France

The coverage of the elections was precisely as I expected from the BBC. I thought one 'interview' with Mr Reid on BBC News 24 was a gem of impartiality BBC style.

mike, Birmingham,

Was voter turnout in England around 50%? That means that 12.5% of the people voted for Labour not the 27% Tony is trying to highlight. Democracy in the UK is a frightening beast when all he parties look at their real share of popular support.

John, Peterborough, UK

It's Dade County, not Dale County. And, to be precise, the most famous county in Florida Election 2000 fiasco is probably Palm Beach County.

Mike F, Miami Shores, Florida

Actually, to be fair, Blair made that remark early on Friday morning, long before the scale of the defeat became visible.
Interesting that with the BBC's obvious agenda, everyone takes their back-of-the-envelope estimate of equivalent vote shares as truth. I would bet that this is revised substantially during the next week.
Could it be that this election disaster accounts for the sudden loss of interest by the Blairites in challenging Brown ? The alternative strategy of lying low, reforming and waiting for Brown, after two uncomfortable years struggling with the (g)Nats, to badly lose the election, then staging a coup, must now look irresistable.

Pat Stewart, Cranbrook, Kent

You really are a political and very partisan anorak unless you mention a key reality of this election, ie throughout Britain there was a significant percentage of the electorate who wanted to kick Tony Blair for one last time because of the Iraq war.

The turnout everywhere was the usual abismal low figures, and will bear little resemblance to the general election where the turnout percentage will be double.
Cameron knows very well his 40 % share will not be repeated in a general election. He has still a huge amout of work to do.

JAMES GALLAGHER, London, UK

Thank goodness Matthew Parris is one person who tells it how it is,
The BBC underplaying of the Conservative gains was breathtaking. New Labour spin that it wasn't the meltdown that was predicted was equally predictable, As for Ming hands in the air saying how well they had done was pure fantasy. The Tories did very well, but aren't quite there yet....
My only observation on the 2010 scenario , is that New Labour/Labour is heading for opposition and has passed its sell by date. Hanging on till 2010 will be about as useful to Gordon Brown as it was for John Major,
Continuing Bad local election/ opinion poll results will lead to Labour MP's going native to try and protect their majorities. The unravelling of New Labour is a work in progress.

Bernard , Horsham,

Mr. Parris,

The word Europe is missing from your observations and yet the wins for independence in Scotland and Wales should allow the people of these nations to stand in Brussels as equals to everyone else rather than be puppets to Westminster and the English. Surely that is something that Sir Menzies Campbell and Mr. Brown should be proud of as Scots but there, there we must preserve the status quo because we are much better at doing nothing and expecting compliance through status
rather than delivering to the people.

Richard Maryan, Kent, ENGLAND

Great article - I love the title. Blair, interviewed yesterday, looking something of an embittered, frightened rabbit it seemed to me, said the results proved that they could win tbe next general election. With 27% of the vote? Even with their capacity for spin and deception they might have difficulty persuading the electorate they had won a general election with a figure like that. It brought to mind an image of them being dragged kicking and screaming out of government by men in white coats (or in the interests of equality, people in white coats) as they insist : 'but we won, we won - we got 27% of the vote - the people love us!'.

Cameron's description of the Tory victory as 'stunning' was I thought relative to the state the party has been in for the past few years, and by that token, the figures were quite stunning. I think he has every reason to be proud.

You shouldn't have left politics, Mr Parris, your country needs you.

Isobel Jardine , Alnwick, UK

The BBC makes me scream too. Why do we have to accept a public service broadcaster with a blatant anti-conservative bias.

John Marsh, Rickmansworth, herts

Gordon Brown, when Prime Minister, will be sorely tempted to plump for a quick general election.

The Boundary Commission for England can only advise government to keep the parliamentary constituency boundaries fairly reflecting the geographical balance of population. It is a fact that in a general election if the current boundaries remain unchanged, Labour would have a 60 seat advantage over the Conservatives even if they polled the same percentage of the vote. And never forget that the bedrock support in Scotland delivers approximately 50 Labour MPs to Westminster (remember that there no proportional representation in a general election). Will Labour allow all the appropriate changes before the next election to let the voters' voice be heard fairly? Would turkeys in the UK vote for Christmas?

Brown’s options are simple: call a quick general election or ignore the Boundary Commission for a further two years until after a late general election.

jj, Cambridgeshire, UK

The thought of all those politicans preparing to do deals with each other for power in Scotland makes me realise how splendid our "first past the post" system is. Death to PR.

Northern Ron, Yorkshire,

David Cameron running a minority government?

Bliar is already running one in terms of the percentage of the UK population that actually WANT him to be running the country:-

Polling barely a third of the popular vote in 2005, and FEWER votes than the Tories in England, he was re-elected only by a combination of the Welsh, the Scots, and the bias of the electoral system (that 'loss' in terms of total votes in England actually translated into 'victory' by 80 seats).

Call that democracy? I don't.

Tomorrow the French elect their president. The winner will be the one that gets over 50% of the vote. What's more, voters get to see a proper debate - one on one - between the two candidates to help them make their decision (something Bliar has always chickened out of). THAT is democracy.

Jon Leigh, Southern, France

Dear MP

Don't let yourself get mad about the BBC. Around 3 years ago they succumbed to their dangerous psychotic obsession with political correctness, and now they are stuck with it.

This whole mess and the state of the BBC will only recover when DC has been in for some considerable time...!

bob benaud, london,

Surely, after council elections, this one must hold the record for the incredible amount of spoken and written words trying confirm their own self delusion about the real world. Politicians cannot imagine that the vast majority vote , not with screaming enthusiasm, but mostly with reluctance of choosing the best of a bad lot!

David Vinter, Louth, Lincs., UK

Thanks for this cogent and concise analysis of the situation, especially to show the spin doctors that there are moments in politics when spin just doesn't work and Thursday night was one of them. In fact, I am excited by what happened because it means everything is now on a knife edge and it should be very interesting to see how it develops over the next three years.

My prediction: the LibDems to be anhilated if they don't change their leader fast, which would be a pity after all their hard work over the years to increase their numbers, and wooden, boring Mr Brown to help Labour lose a lot of members with his self-absorbed and arrogant approach. The fourth term curse will also be in action to prevent Labour coming back. Finally, David Cameron to build slowly but meticulously on what happened this week to win outright. I never thought that someone as pro LibDem as I would be rooting for the Conservatives! Just shows the power of change to smack us in the face with its effect.

Elaine Sihera, Maidenhead, United Kingdom

No doubt Mr Salmond will feel morally obliged to run Scotland without the subsidy he so anxiously wishes to escape. That should be good news south of the border.

Steve, Inverness,

You're right that the electorate would find it deeply disturbing if the Lib Dems propped up the failed Labour party in Scotland.
But what a chance for the Tories - to show that they really have changed, by constructively supporting the SNP, working with the greens (whom the Tories are trying to emulate on the environment).

Also - roll on independence. In this day and age, we should encourage individual nations to specialise. We can be best of friends, yet remain distinct. Just ask Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

And independent Scotland could happily return to a more neutral foreign policy, like Ireland, and reduce military expenditure - investing the savings in hospitals, education & training, and tax cuts to attract international businesses (like Ireland).

Carl, Brighton,

Now, now, now Matthew, the Labour Party is doing well, their great leader says so and when has he ever told a pack of lies? Are you not listening to the spin? The interesting thing will be...... can Gordon 'lie' as professionally as Blair? He is going to have his work cut out isn't he?

judy, Liverpool, england

Very astute article, especially about the impending coalition in Scotland. Paradoxically the worst outcome for the SNP now would be for Alex Salmond to "win" and become First Minister. By the next election voters would be sick of the sight of him and nervous about full independence for Scotland. A Lib -Lab pact, however , would be brilliant news for Alex, with every problem attributed to the grubby pact which had thwarted the will of the Scottish people etc etc.

John Bailey, Southampton, Hampshire

So we see the other side of bliars and nulabours legacy Iraq and the break up of the UK .was this planned so the eu could take over more easily we may never know for sure.but devolution will break up the UK that is for sure.

mitch, wolverhampton, ENGLAND

I cannot understand what motivates the Scottish independence movement. Surely the boot is on the other foot? Was not the Union between Scotland and England the work of a Scottish king, who inherited the English throne, and decided it would be more practical to reign where shipping fleets could sail up the Thames and do business? Still, if Scottish radicals really do want independence, and are confident that the Scottish tax-payer can meet the demands of education, health and defence, without any help from south of the border, then the English would benefit financially and have no cause to protest.

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

Surely Matthew, you must have grasped the Blair/Labour dictum "If it works, break it".
The pathetic lack of experience in a Labour government during the early years fuelled changes which have proved disastrous. We have been in the 'cover up' phase for the last few. If life experience is anything to go by, McCavity Brown will not be long in admitting mistakes but "nothing to do with me guv". He will do a Nixon and 'bring the boys home' early on..
As for the Conservatives, just another YTS waiting to be put in charge straight from the political academy.

michael murphy, brightlingsea, england

We will at least have a fine example of Proportional Representation in practice ... not "reflecting the will of the people", more like enabling a few Lib Dem leaders to stay in top jobs and decide who is in charge, irrespective of how badly they do themselves..

David Stuart, Aldershot,

A View from England

Tom, San Francisco, California

This is just a mid-term protest vote against Blair and Iraq. The Scots and Welsh will turn back to Labour at a General Election just to stop the Tories getting in.

There is only one prospect worse than Blair and his misguided war and that is the Tories destroying everything Labour has achieved in the last ten years.

John Palmer, Chippenham, Wiltshire

The truth is the results were lousy for all three main parties.
Labour has the comfort of knowing that much of their dismal performance can be put down to a conventional mid-term kicking - especially after ten years in office - coupled with a relentless media-bashing over the Party leadership and the Iraq war. The problem for the other two is that even without that handicap, and with Labour currently weighed down by it, they still look unelectable. Don't crow too soon Mathew - or, on second thoughts, do.

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

If Ming is against Scottish independence then why on earth would he shack up with the SNP? And why would a LibDem-Labour pact be "a terrible blunder" - just because of the horrid things the SNP might say?

Is the break up of the Union really a price worth paying just to do down Labour in Scotland?

Bob T., London, UK

Well said Mr Parris,particularly in forcefully nailing the sad decline of objective political analysis in the BBC,which seems to be ideologically dominated by the metropolitan,pol iticallycorrect liberal left.

R G James, Brasschaat, belgium

Dade County, not Dale County

John Young, Cairo,

The Scottish result has made politics much more interesting, a firm illustration that "one person one vote" really does count.
Is it perhaps time now to reconsider extending proportional representation to the national stage?.

william grierson, Kimpton, UK

dear Eric from harrogate you must be the only person in the uk with a nuclear bunker in your garden come on lets
get real here politics is about running a country not about
slick personalities in suits the way forward into the 21st
century is new tax policies new health policies the health
of the nation is paramount if a country is to do well.lets
forget the spin we need new minds and brains in
goverment green issues and energy issues are very
important now and new industry.

george william taylor, hull, uk

Matthew Parris writes:

“The difficulties with which we seem to have landed ourselves arise from an attempt to find a solution to a problem that never existed in the first place.”

He is wrong, there is a problem. The problem is the demand for proportional representation. Countries with proportional representation always get greater participation in elections than we do. The Government’s reforms are an attempt to increase participation and so it can be claimed that the first past the post system can produce the same levels of participation as proportional representation systems.

Clearly these reforms have failed.

Ray Frowd, Cambridge,

Good analysis apart from the conclusion. The thought of a Lib-Lab pact after the next election fills me with dread, since the Liberals would exact far too high a price - a commitment to PR. Paradoxically, PR removes genuine choice from the electorate and guarantees soggy, centre Government ( and the inevitable corruption that goes with it), virtually for an eternity. No! Give Cameron his majority and pray that he makes good use of it.

Richard Marriott, Kidderminster, England

It's better for a Tory writer not to use the words 'it's well to remember'. Many of us do - which is why I pray no Conservative Government ever exists in the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren or hopefully ever. Remember the days of the banana republic under John Major when we were deemed unfit to operate with competent European countries.Remember the 3 million unemployed and the C19 scenes of British police baton charging workers . Remember the Tory conference in Blackpool when Thatcher had to have a warship moored in Morecambe Bay in case of attack by her own people, so despised and hated was she. Anyone who put a cross against a Conservative name on Thursday has amnesia or dangerous ignorance. Remember? We'd better. They had their chance to ruin the country once and we just managed to stop them in time in 1997. Don't give them the chance again - next time they might succeed.

eric, harrogate, uk

Yes, what amazes me that after ten years of lies(spin)sleaze, soaring taxes and general incompetence there are stiil people out there who vote for them - perhaps vote rigging is part of the so called educational system.

victor , Malaga, Spain

I want more to do in a polling station than put one cross in one box. It is not worth the effort. Give me referenda, local or national. Let me vote for the District Attorney, District Judge, Police Chief, School Board, Roads Commission, give me some control through the polling station

TomTom, Leeds, England

Of course Labour has had dreadful results after 10 years in power, just as the Tories did in 1997 after 13 years in power. It's been swings-and-roundabouts in our electoral system ever siince the war, whether in local or general elections. So it's inevitable that sooner or later the Tories will again be the UK's governing party, just as it is equally inevitable that after a few years Prime Minister David Cameron will be booted out in favour of Prime Minister David Miliband.

K Philips, London, UK

You touch on the subject of postal voting. This is "manna from heaven" for the corrupt. And no prizes for guessing which strata of society will be in the vanguard. Cameron must do all in his power to stop this. Unless of course the issuance of identity cards ( as in Hong Kong ) comes into effect. But is New Labour competent to introduce such a system? No sir!

B. J. Carroll, Hong Kong, China

What a pleasure it is to be on holiday in Hong Kong and to be able to read Matthew Parris. Pure unadultarated pleasure.

Alan Howarth, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire