Political chances: Myth and Reality

Political chances: Myth and Reality

We know the amount of ink used to depict images of an impending catastrophe for the Conservative Party and the sudden rise to power of the UK Independence Party. The announcement of the death of the Conservative Party, like the announcement of the death of Mark Twain, might be highly premature.

There are about 650 seats in the House of Commons and there are about 433 principal authorities in the United Kingdom as a whole. How many of the said seats in the House of Commons and of the principal authorities would UKIP have to win in order to have a realistic chance of implementing its political programme?

We must ask the same question when we talk about the British National Party because this is a question that affects any political organisation wishing to enter 10 Downing Street and have a meaningful majority in the House of Commons to be able to implement policies.

If anybody actually believes that a small political organisation will be capable of dictating the terms of engagement in British politics the said person must be deluding himself or herself. Purely and simply, it cannot be done.