It looks as though Tony Blair is in for a tough term, as his greatly reduced majority ought to weaken his ridiculous grip on the commons. His own back bench are likely to rebel in an attempt to wrest him from the premiership. However, he's not a man to take anybody else's opinion on board and is quite good at changing things to suit himself. He's already brought back his best mate and evil sidekick, David "Big" Blunkett.
Poor old Oona King. She stayed loyal to Mr. Blair (admittedly for the sake of her own career), and now she's been ousted by the shameless Saddam snogger, George Galloway, who cynically exploited the anti-war sentiment in the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency. He's got no intention of representing his constituents, and is in it only for his own interests. His single issue campaign carried him to victory, but what is he actually going to do now? Answer: FUCK ALL.
Poor Oona has probably been on the phone to Tony, asking him to help her out.
Oona: Tony? It's Oona.
TB: Who?
Oona: Oona, Oona King, Bethnal Green and Bow, you remember?
TB: Oona, Oona ... oh yes, I think I remember you.
Oona: Look, I supported you over the war, even though I didn't really agree with it, so I need you to help me out now.
TB: Well, look, Oona, I mean, I appreciate what you've done, but, you know, I ... never ... actually promised you anything.
Oona: But, Tony, you can't just drop me now.
TB: Oh yes I can, and that's exactly what I will do. If you don't like it, go and speak to Claire Short and she'll explain what will happen to you if you don't just shut up and go away. This phone call is over.
She's not the only one who is going to feel double crossed. There's Gordon Brown, for a start. He may well rally together all the MPs Blair has used and discarded, including Oona, Claire Short, Robin Cook and the others, getting them all to gang up to get Blair out. It's going to be interesting to see how he tries to get out of this one. Although it looks bad, we should never underestimate a man who has an incredible knack of hanging on to power.
In the end, it's going to have to be his own party, if anyone, that brings him down, and if they fail, he's going to be in for as long as he likes. The Tories are just not upto the job of being the opposition. Now Howard has gone, they haven't even got anybody with much real experience. There's Fat Ken Clarke, but he's the same age as Howard. The Lib Dems as usual have been celebrating last place, because they obviously know their limits. Well done to them.