After months of half truths, hollow promises, claims of greatness, veiled threats and televised showdowns, it’s finally over. No, I’m not referring to the overhyped but ultimately disappointing Mayweather vs Pacquaio “fight-of-the-decade”, but the far more unexpected outcome of the UK general election. The ruling Conservative Party has comprehensively won the battle and war for the hearts – or at least the minds – of UK voters.
The political landscape has not changed much since campaigning for the 7th May UK General elections started nearly a month ago. One-on-one interviews of Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition leader Ed Miliband, two televised debates featuring the main party leaders and the launch of the party manifestos have yielded much noise but ultimately shed little light on how and by whom the country will be governed in the next five years (See Figure 2). Read more
Sir Winston Churchill in October 1939 famously compared forecasting Russia’s action to “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. He could easily have been describing Russia’s actions in the past 18 months or the challenge of forecasting who will be in government after the UK general elections on 7th May. The only certainty, even if eight weeks is a long time in politics, is that these parliamentary elections are likely to be the closest fought and hardest to predict in recent memory. Read more