Politics Betting – Lack of Charisma Cooling Election Fever

I’ve been on the continent around the time of a general election and you can hardly move for party supporters canvassing opinion on the street or urging locals not to waste their vote. Every billboard is festooned with political posters and every other vehicle seems to be equipped with a loud hailer and piloted by a passionate would-be councillor or, at least, his best friend. But, of course, we do things differently in the UK, though it still remains to be seen whether televised debates will send us down the American route of electing our leaders on the basis of personality rather than policy. This year, that would probably be a good thing because nothing any of the three men realistically angling to be Prime Minister on May 7th has said so far has exactly set the world alight. Let’s start with the current Downing Street encumbent. Gordon Brown certainly knows his facts and understands the economy but his government, beset by accusations of sleaze, has been almost powerless to cure any of the nation’s ills and many hold him personally responsible for the recent recession. Then there is Conservative leader David Cameron. The likely option should the country decides it needs a change but he was unaccountably lacklustre in front of the cameras in the first TV debate and is relying on a manifesto that is remarkable in the fact that it doesn’t appear to feature any actual policies, which leaves Nick Clegg. A few weeks ago, you would have struggled to find anyone who could name the Liberal Democrat leader let alone relate what he stood for. But Clegg appears to be profiting massively from the indifference being shown towards traditional main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, so much so that one poll even had the Liberal Democrats ahead after Clegg had outshone both Brown and Cameron in the first televised debate. All highly encouraging if you’re a Lib Dem campaigner, though the party can still be backed at 18-1 on betfair to bag most seats with the Conservatives remaining strong favourites (a best 1-3 with Betfred). Labour are a best 4-1 to hang on to power. With the polls suggesting this could be the closest British general election for many years, totesport and bodog are offering 4-6 that there will be no overall majority. If you fancy some of the fringe parties to enjoy some success, you can get 5-2 with Betfred, Blue Square and 888sport against UKIP winning a seat but there is more confidence behind the Green Party, who are only 8-11 (Ladbrokes) to have at least one representative in the next Parliament. Thankfully, I’ll be abroad (Icelandic volcano permitting) when everyone is going to the ballot box so am going to miss the delights of the swingometer – I’ll be thinking of you.