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Norman Tebbit

Lord Tebbit of Chingford is one of Britain's most outspoken conservative commentators and politicians. He was a senior cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher's government and is a former Chairman of the Conservative Party. He has also worked in journalism, publishing, advertising and was a pilot in the RAF and British Overseas Airways.

The Tories will lose the next election if they enter into a coalition with the tainted Lib Dems

By Norman Tebbit Politics Last updated: May 8th, 2010

337 Comments Comment on this article

What a mess! What an unholy mess! The unloseable election against the worst government in British history finishes in talks to establish the terms on which the losers’ party with only 23 per cent of the votes and only 57 seats might graciously allow the party with 36 per cent of the votes and 307 seats to form a government.

This was the election in which the poisonous legacy of Blair’s NuLab plan for the irreversible change of Britain claimed another victim.

This kingdom, the mother country of modern democracy, is now shown up as incompetent even in managing an election. Not since the Reform Acts of the 19th century have we turned away electors by the hundred from the polls nor been faced with widespread allegations of ballot rigging even in our capital city.

As I say, what an unholy, unmitigated mess. And to cap it all, the leader of the party which should have walked away with a massive majority over a government whose reckless spending has landed us with Greek-style debts is engaged in talks with the losing third party over the terms on which he might be allowed to form a government.

In my view Mr Cameron should make it plain that while he would be willing to form a government and would welcome support from any party, he would offer no hostages, nor concessions as a condition of office.

If that sent off Mr Clegg to do a deal with his soulmates in a Lib Dem-NuLab arrangement or coalition, so be it. It could not last long, for at the most it would only delay NuLab a trifle on the path to economic disaster which it has pursued these last 13 years.

This Parliament will not last its potential five-year span. This election did not complete the purge of the sickness of New Labour. It is the nextelection which will decide the fate of the country – and the Conservative Party will not win that election if it is tainted with the contamination of coalition with a party which puts the interests of Our Masters in Brussels ahead of the interests of the British people.

Mr. Cameron’s priority may be to get into No 10. What matters to the rest of us is what he would do when he got there.

I am sorry that in the midst of this fast-moving political soap opera I have not been able to take up the many comments posted here. None the less, they have made interesting reading. In particular I should thank the very many of you who owned up to taking my advice to vote Conservative to rid us of NuLab, particularly those like ‘Robert Eve’ whose heart said vote UKIP but head said vote Tory. And poor ‘bionic raspberry’! What a dilemma in a Plaid Cymru seat. Who would not vote UKIP as a gesture of defiance?

I am still left puzzled by those who keep on about how dreadful the Thatcher years were, without being able to explain why she kept polling more votes than Blair ever did, or Brown, or Clegg, or even, bless me, Mr Cameron has.

‘Robinson’ tried to explain to me something that he thought I might have missed despite being a Trade Minister for three years. Yes, I did know that some aid is tied to the purchase of British goods and services. But I wonder if he has ever thought that when times are hard that money might be better spent buying goods and services to be used here rather than in China.

Finally, might I say to some of you that a good argument is seldom enhanced by puerile or vulgar abuse and a bad one is made even worse.

In what interesting times we live, I am sorry to say.