The Strange World of Axel Fendersson

So, election tomorrow. And for the first time since I became old enough to vote in 2000, the result is not a completely foregone conclusion. Except that in this constituency it still is. Whatever the overall result across Britain, it is pretty much certain that David Cameron will still be MP for Witney.

So in fact doesn’t really matter how I vote, since in the end my constituency will elect a Conservative MP and my vote will be counted as a vote for the Tories. Even though I’d rather have another five years of our current shambolic excuse for a Labour government than see the Conservatives back in power.

This hasn’t bothered me much before. When the general election result was a foregone conclusion, it didn’t matter so much that the result in Witney was just as predictable. But that isn’t the case this time. There is some uncertainty this time around and suddenly it does bother me that I won’t get a say in which party forms our next government.

Another factor that has got me thinking more about this election than usual is that I know one of the candidates personally. Paul Wesson, who is standing as an independent candidate, I know as a fellow member of Ducklington Morris. There are lot of things, politically, on which I do not agree with Paul. But they are mostly national and international issues on which an independent MP would have little to no influence even if elected. Meanwhile on local issues (most notably the issue of a Carterton-Witney-Oxford rail link) I find a lot of common ground, and I do suspect that Paul would do a good job as a local MP, representing his constituents’ concerns and interests in Parliament.

So how to vote? Not for Cameron, obviously. The man’s a slimy, shape-shifting weasel. And, worse, a Conservative. And while the current crop of Tories may claim they aren’t the party of Margaret Thatcher any more, the evidence suggests otherwise. Joe Goldberg is also out. I first started paying attention to politics in my teens, when Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson and company were re-shaping the Labour party into its current form. I was suspicious of them then. Their fetish for privatisation and insistence that a free market would always fix everything (what kind of lunatic wants to shop around for hospital treatment?) never sat right with me. Their dragging the UK into an illegal foreign war under false pretences was shameful. Their numerous illiberalities (never mind irrelevant paper tigers like ID cards, what about extending the length of time suspects could be detained without charge from 36 hours to 28 days?) were disgusting. All along I grudgingly admitted that for all that I disliked Labour, they were at least doing a good job with the economy, which stayed strong and stable for many years. Now it turns out they weren’t even getting that right. So no, Labour, you don’t get my vote.

Voteforpolicies.org.uk says I should vote Green. Stuart Macdonald does seem to be one of the few non-Tory candidates for Witney with a genuine interest in the constituency and who isn’t just a paper candidate. But while I do have a lot of affinity for the Greens, I am also wary of the party’s lunatic fringe, and it is my understanding that they still fail badly when it comes to science.

The one party that clearly doesn’t fail on science is the Liberal Democrats. Historically, I’ve tended to vote Lib Dem and of the three main parties they are currently talking the most sense. Sure Dawn Barnes will not win the election in Witney and isn’t particularly expecting to or prepared to, but another LD vote that is then discarded due to the system will at least add further weight to their cries for electoral reform.

Overall, I think the Liberal Democrats will be the most likely recipients of my vote in this election. But I might still change my mind and vote Green or for Paul Wesson. If only because if Paul were to unseat David Cameron it would be hilarious.