It would be awfully easy now to say that Gordon Brown is finished. It would be awfully easy to say that the Labour Party is about to implode. It would similarly be a matter of abject simplicity to infer the outright humiliation of all connected with the Labour Party, particularly those heavily steeped in the New Labour project, at the next General Election.

I’m not going to do that, though, because doing that will lose sight of what we should all really be interested in: what does the future of the country look like, as of today, in light of the Glasgow East by-election result. Labour lost. Lost by a slim margin, but still lost. For one of their absolute safest seats, that’s a real shock.

Personally, I hope Labour kick out Gordon Brown on the back of this. It doesn’t matter what the reason for the loss is, Labour have to show a willingness to take drastic action in the face of dire circumstances. Now, generally I’m a Conservative supporter1, but even so I don’t want to see the Labour Party fold in upon itself and disappear like a crisp packet in a campfire. As all good believers in the power of free markets should know, competition will breed a better world for us all. A rising tide, you might say, will lift all boats. Just as MacCartney wouldn’t have succeeded without Lennon and vice versa, politicians can only succeed when they have someone really good to try and beat.

So, I’d like Gordon Brown out, I’d like the next Labour leader and PM to be somebody really great. I want David Cameron to have to really work hard to win the fight – and when he wins it, I want him to just manage it. By the skin of his teeth. A majority, but a majority of 30 or 40, so he has to work just as hard to win the next election, and the next one after that. Glasgow East is going to take us one step closer to that game.

  1. I haven’t voted in a General Election yet, as I was half way through a 5 month trip round the world when the 2005 election was called and took place [↩]