As May 2015 rolls ever closer, and with the recent news of Ed Miliband’s waning frontbench support, that one particular quinquennial question brings itself to the fore once more: who’s to run the country?
With 20+ Labour MPs set to strike out against the current Leader of the Opposition, Labour’s future in the fast-arriving electoral campaign looks to be swaying, and perhaps precariously close to premature dilapidation. Public confidence is sure to be knocked in a man who can’t hold the attention of his own spokespeople, though cabinet ministers such as Business Secretary Chuka Umunna have turned out in force to support Miliband and encourage continued support from potential voters.
Prime Minister David Cameron, however, cannot be said to be any more popular; his push towards a referendum on the UK’s place in the EU has been received with mixed reviews, both public and political – indeed, Cameron’s coalition cohort Nick Clegg spoke out against the referendum at the very same conference – and as a political stance could spell the end of a Conservative-led government.
However controversial they purport to be, such contentious issues as immigration and the UK’s place in Europe are still responsible new kind of political monster. Where far-right parties such as the BNP and the EDL failed, so UKIP seems to be succeeding, growing even; with a place on national TV debates, an MP in the House of Commons and the possibility of a second just around the corner, Nigel Farage’s game plan is not one to be sniffed at.
Any conjecture on the political future of Nick Clegg, by contrast to our two main party front-runners, seems a little futile. Once the most hated man in politics, Clegg’s transgressions seem only to have been outshadowed by UKIP’s previous booberies, though UKIP are now, ironically, more popular.
The true outcome of this next leadership race remains to be seen, but there is that one sure-fire source of likelihoods and potentials to help us on our way to speculating: what is the bookies’ take on things?
According to Bookies.com, Labour seem set for succumbing to a secondary place in Government, with David Cameron’s odds nudging him ever-so-slightly into the sphere of plausible re-electability. No Overall Majority is the most likely option, with evens on David Cameron to reprise his Prime-Ministerial position.
With the bookmakers’ leaning towards another 5 years of Cameron and Conservatism, we can only look towards the opening of the ballot boxes to confirm what, either way, might spell an especially eventful 5 years for the British people.
