03 October 2006

The Amazing Mrs Pritchard

I watched the BBC's "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" tonight, since I can't help myself, I'm a political junkie. I was curious as to how plausible it would be, and remarkably, it was. I mean, man-management at a supermarket being applied to a local MP's campaign ... backbench MPs defecting to an insurgent Independent campaign ... a high-profile woman frustrated at the glass ceiling in the shadow cabinet defecting to become the Chancellor-in-waiting ... a Terry Leahy/Anita Roddick amalgram lending £10 million to the campaign ... all reasonably plausible.

Ross Perot did get over 20% in one of his two runs at the US presidency. Insurgent Internet-led campaigns (South Korea, Howard Dean, Jesse Ventura) have all led to success. When you have voter turnout being 60% in general elections and 40% in local ones, there is a vacuum to be filled.

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