Put faces to the names at the gloating-free get-together

Whenever in the past few months the idea of a post-election party has been raised my main concern has been that it could turn into an occasion for gloating and that only those supporting the winner would feel comfortable being there. Well the great thing about Election 2005 is that nobody got quite what they wanted so there’s been no gloating.

Labour, as predicted, got back with a reasonable majority but losing one vote in seven on four years ago, only getting 35.2% of the overall UK vote, and seeing a lot of seats fall took the edge of their victory.

The Tories certainly made progress on the previous two elections but did not quite make the 200 seat target and saw their vote share increase by just 0.5%.

The Lib Dems saw a big increase in their vote and ten more seats than 2001 but it wasn’t quite the hoped for breakthrough.

The pollsters all got a bit closer and one got it dead right. But we are still waiting for a poll that when tested against real results under-estimates Labour.

The party is being organised by Book Value and it would be helpful if people could post here whether they can attend so we can get an idea of scale. The plan is to book a room in a pub or club near Westminster. We have not worked out the finances yet and but we are hoping to find some sponsorship to cover the core costs.

Mike Smithson