We have a winner…
May 7th, 2005Bill Rammell wins Harlow by just 97 votes (more on that later…) giving Labour 356 seats in Parliament. With the single remaining undecided seat, Staffordshire South, to be elected next month, and almost certainly to return a Conservative MP, that means Labour’s majority for the coming Parliament is 66…which means the winner of the election sweepstake is… Jess. So congratulations to her.
May 7th, 2005 at 17:18:00
I listed that result in my blog too! Are we both equally sad, therefore? For some reason, my pulse quickens when I think of that Staffs South by-election…
May 8th, 2005 at 13:46:22
Exactly what the BBC exit polls predicted at the start of the night. Glad I didn’t stay up for the whole thing after all then.
May 9th, 2005 at 17:53:23
Now the full results are in, the Guardian today said Labour’s majority is 67. Dont mean to quibble but that means I win!
May 9th, 2005 at 19:46:48
No… the election in Staffordshire South still has not been run yet, it will be run next month; it would be unfair to count the seats now since the election has not been run in all 646 of them.
May 10th, 2005 at 16:48:02
And it’s probably going to be a Tory shoe-in anyway…
May 10th, 2005 at 23:03:12
The terms of the sweepstake were “the majority that you think Labour will win by on May 5th”. Since the bleary eyed folk of Harlow didn’t return results until Saturday, by last thing on Friday their majority was 66, after all (I think, but I’m not very good at maths). If I’m right, you’re right, but not for the reason given.
May 10th, 2005 at 23:26:28
Hmm, the Harlow vote did take place on May 5, when it was declared is irrelevant… given I said Labour’s majority after the vote on May 5 and not “the general election”, maybe Neil wins after all…
(Trust a lawyer to spot that one…)
May 10th, 2005 at 23:35:40
Yes, that was my initial thought. But then, when does one win an election? When the poll closes? When all the results are in? Or when Peter Snow says so? If a tree falls in a wood…