Stolen seats
Sir: On what evidence does Stephen Pollard (Politics, 20 October) base his contention that the 'only possible reading of the past three decades' is that the voters 'turn to the Conservatives only when the Labour party presents itself as unelectable'?
Since 1977, the Tories have been in power for 18 years (60 per cent of the time) and Labour for 12 years (40 per cent). Apparently, then, Labour spend most of the time being unelectable. Even in 1997, opinion polls were showing that on all manner of economic and social issues, the voters consistently preferred Tory policies, albeit they had become sick of Tory politicians. Tony Blair, of all people, understood that.
As for the supposed unpopularity of the Tories at recent elections, Pollard states that if they had been led by a combination of Solomon, Aristotle, Churchill and Bobby Moore, the party would still have been crushed.' Well yes, they would, but only because the electoral system is so grotesquely biased in Labour's favour. After all, in 2005 the Tories registered more votes in England — by far the largest nation in the United Kingdom — than did Labour, yet won just 193 seats to Labour's 285. That's not so much 'crushed' as 'ripped off'.
David Thomas West Sussex
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