You could be forgiven for thinking British politics is going all a bit Pete Tong. As conference season ends, we have been treated to one extraordinary proposal after another.
The Greens passed a motion which said Israel has no right to exist, which earned complaints of antisemitism to Sussex Police and saw leader Zack Polanski banned from the country. Quite right, too, even if he didn’t vote for it.
Andy Burnham opened up the possibility of rejoining the EU, an unthinkable suggestion before he became PM. There’s a logic to putting everything on the table as we negotiate a reset with Brussels. But even so…
And he put into motion his long-held view that our electoral system should be changed so every vote counts.
There is also a democratic logic to that. Under our first-past-the-post system, a vote for Labour in a super safe Tory constituency, or a Tory vote in a Labour one, counts for nothing. But still…
According to Peter Kellner, the PM should take care what he wishes for. The veteran pollster did some number crunching for New World and the result was illuminating.
He used the latest YouGov survey, which shows that if there was an election tomorrow, Labour would emerge as the largest party with 241 seats. The Tories would have 130, Reform 123, Libs 71, SNP 55 and Greens nine.
Not enough for a Labour majority, you will notice, which would mean a coalition with the Lib Dems and Scots Nats.
And that’s why I don’t think Mr Burnham will be calling an election any time soon, despite all the speculation to the contrary.
But this becomes horrific for Labour under proportional voting. The party would be down to 164 seats with Reform on 150, Tories 136, Libs 77, Greens 78 and SNP on 27.
If Labour had any hope of governing, they would need to form a coalition, not only with the Libs and Scots, but the Greens as well. Can you imagine the pig’s ear that mish-mash would make of running the country?
The Tories did their best in Birmingham to make themselves relevant again and we can expect leader Kemi Badenoch to make a decent fist of it in her speech this morning in furtherance of that end.
But some of the policies they came up with just don’t sound credible. Their shadow Welfare Secretary Helen Whately promised “tough love” for the young jobless, which had plenty of toughness but very little love.
The Tories reckon they can create 50,000 new prison places despite managing only 500 in their 14 years in power and closing 23 prisons. Pull the other one.
And they suggest deregulating housing construction could knock £50,000 off a new build. One regulation they want to get rid of is the Community Infrastructure Levy.
This is charged on new developments so roads and schools can be built to accommodate all those extra local people. Seriously. Would you want to see that ended?
Jeremy Clarkson made a joke about the empty seats he spotted at conference. They are indicative of the long journey Ms Badenoch has ahead of her before her party is trusted again.
Yet the Tory leader will say in her speech: “Everyone else has been going the wrong way. We are the ones who know the right way.”
She may copy former Chancellor George Osborne, who turned Conservative fortunes around in 2007 by promising to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1million. Yet nowadays fewer than five in 100 people pay it, so there are not many votes there.
Which is why it is the empty boxes next to the names of Tory candidates on ballot papers Ms Badenoch really needs to worry about.
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