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Hung Parliament?

May 6, 2010 by B. Daniel Blatt

Exit polls in the UK show a “Hung parliament with Tories as largest party with 307 seats. Lab[our] 255. L[iberal] D[emocrats] 59.”

This may not be as hung as some people would like if British exit polls, like those over here, undercount conservative performance.

UPDATE:  From the updated link above, why does this sound familiar?

2242 Lord Mandelson on BBC1: “People have voted for change but they don’t know what type of change they want”. So that’s cleared things up.

UP-UPDATE:  Tories take King Offa‘s seat!  Been following some of Michael Barone’s coverage of the British election at the Washington Examiner and just learned that the Tories captured the first capital of England: “Conservatives gain High Peak (a suburban district outside Manchester) and Montgomeryshire in Wales (where the Lib Dem had won big in 2005), Leicestershire Northwest , Aberconwy, Basildon South, and they’ve gained Tamworth from the Lib Dems.”  In the 8th century, Tamworth was the seat of King Offa, the first man to be called rex Anglorum–or King of the English.  The word Englisc (so spelled but pronounced as we pronounce the language we speak) did not appear until two centuries later.

Technically, Offa was King of Mercia, but the various kingdoms, Wessex and Kent for example, looked to him for leadership and protection.  Only the Nothumbrians did not fall under his sway.  He was most famous for building Offa’s Dyke, which was, contrary to some of our readers’ hopes, not the court lesbian, but a great fortification protecting the English from Welsh raids.

Several Beowulf scholars believe that that, the greatest poem written between the early days of the Roman Empire and the first stirrings of the Italian Renaissance, was written in Offa’s court.

Thus, the Tory taking of Tamworth has great historical significance.

Filed Under: Literature & Ideas, Politics abroad

Comments

  1. Serenity says

    May 6, 2010 at 6:24 pm - May 6, 2010

    This may not be as hung as some people would like if British exit polls, like those over here, undercount conservative performance.

    Like in 2008 where, after some bleating about ‘Democratic polling bias’ the polls turned out to be… completely accurate?

    I actually did a commentary on the piece I linked, the choice quote in my opinion being “Quite ironic that despite the scorn Bob heaps upon them, the only time the pollsters got it wrong in this election was that they showed Indiana leaning towards McCain when it actually went to Obama”.

  2. Lori Heine says

    May 6, 2010 at 6:45 pm - May 6, 2010

    “Hung” Parliament?

    There’s a Monty Python joke in there somewhere…

  3. GayPatriot says

    May 6, 2010 at 8:20 pm - May 6, 2010

    As Andy Levy said on Twitter in response to the “Hung” Parliament…. “Lucky for Mrs. Parliament”.

  4. Sean A says

    May 6, 2010 at 8:42 pm - May 6, 2010

    “Hung parliament with Tories as largest party with 307 seats. Lab[our] 255. L[iberal] D[emocrats] 59.“

    Yeah, but everyone knows that guys always take the REAL number and add 2.

  5. Sean A says

    May 6, 2010 at 8:43 pm - May 6, 2010

    I have another one:

    No one disputes that the British are hung. They just don’t have any balls.

  6. GayPatriot says

    May 6, 2010 at 9:20 pm - May 6, 2010

    Sean A will be here all week….

  7. Serenity says

    May 6, 2010 at 10:22 pm - May 6, 2010

    Sean A will be here all weak….

    I just watched four solid hours of election day comedy on Channel 4, and not once did any of the comedians there get so desperate as to use a ‘hung parliament’ joke.

    Ugh, it’s past 3AM here now. In 2005, it was all over by now. From what I can see right now though, it looks like the LibDems are going to get less seats than most polling predicted (generally about 100) and they’ll instead end up with what the very late exit polls predicted (around 60, the same or maybe even less than they started with). This is likely LibDem supporters going tactical and voting Labour to try and keep the Conservatives from getting a majority. It’s probably worked too.

    Either way, I’m going to bed. This election is going to take more than a few hours before we get a new government, that much you can be sure of.

  8. GayPatriot says

    May 6, 2010 at 10:32 pm - May 6, 2010

    Reports via Twitter have suggested that Saddam Hussein’s bag boy in Parliament, George Galloway, will lose his seat tonight. That makes any other result well worth it.

  9. American Elephant says

    May 6, 2010 at 10:46 pm - May 6, 2010

    Why doesnt the queen just dissolve the parliament permanently? Its not like Brits could lose any more liberty under a monarch than they have already given up to Labour — indeed, under Elizabeth, I suspect they would get a lot of lost liberty back.

  10. ThatGayConservative says

    May 7, 2010 at 12:09 am - May 7, 2010

    Or is it just a Gay.com Parliament?

  11. ILoveCapitalism says

    May 7, 2010 at 8:35 am - May 7, 2010

    Galloway, will lose his seat tonight. That makes any other result well worth it.

    Agreed. Galloway is truly scum.

  12. GayPatriot says

    May 7, 2010 at 10:57 am - May 7, 2010

    Things always comes back to Beowulf, don’t they?

  13. B. Daniel Blatt says

    May 7, 2010 at 11:40 am - May 7, 2010

    Yes, they do, Bruce, yes, they do.

    A fast learner are you, wise in the ways of the Force.

  14. V the K says

    May 7, 2010 at 12:49 pm - May 7, 2010

    David Cameron chose a strategy of pale pastels (versus the Reagan strategy of bold colors) to mark the difference between the Tories and Labour. As such, the Brits really didn’t see much difference between the parties. Hence, no compelling reason to put a Conservative Government in power. Hence, the hung Parliament.

  15. The_Livewire says

    May 7, 2010 at 6:36 pm - May 7, 2010

    But doesn’t Beowulf always come back to Gilgimesh?

  16. B. Daniel Blatt says

    May 7, 2010 at 6:39 pm - May 7, 2010

    Well, Livewire, I begin my dissertation with Gilgamesh.

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