Will the next Prime Minster break the A1 rule?
May 10th, 2005
One of the quirks of modern British politics is that for the last twenty-six years whoever has been the Prime Minister has sat at Westminster for a seat on the A1 trunk road.
Margaret Thatcher’s Finchley rests at the southern end of the main route to Edinburgh; John Major’s Huntingdon is on the A1 as it goes through Cambridgeshire and Tony Blair’s Sedgefield covers both sides of the highway in County Durham.
So is this “rule” which has lasted a generation going to be broken whenever the new tenants at 10 Downing Street take over whenever that maybe.
The hot favourite to replace Mr. Blair is, of course, Gordon Brown (2/9) whose seat is at the other side of the Forth from the A1 so this would not apply. The 11/2 second favourite Charles Clark’s Norwich seat is not on the road but Alan Milburn (12/1) represents Darlington which is.
The 15/8 Tory leadership favourite David Davis is not on the road but the new riser in the betting, is the MP for Richmond in Yorkshire, William Hague which has the trunk road go right through the constituency.
Mike Smithson
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the William Hague ramp has run its course.
Isiris insanity…brainless lemmings over the cliff again.
I’ll give you an A1 grade if you get it right
Nick Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam constituency - is that on the M1?
Palmer for Prime Minister!
4 - Broxtowe is on the M1, not A1 … if we’d taken Haltemprice I think that’s on the A1 … good news for Davis then!
Mike - Sounding a bit desperate for a theme, are we?
These things are there to be broken, like when a team in blue wins the league the tories win power - that went this year.
Next topic must of course be who will be next leader of Lib Dems and whether another Scottish leader would lose votes in England or vice versa . After that UKIP , Greens etc etc . By the time you have worked through them all , the Tories will have had another failed leader resign and it will be back to them . LOL
Re 8: Ed Davey, because (1) he can speak without notes or a script and (2) he represents a London constituency aand it is the very rapid social changes occurring in London, driven by massive immigration, legal and illegal, as the locals die out or move out, that is the motor of the UK.
The key thing for the Lib Dems is not to get seduced by one of their left wingers such as Simon Hughes or Matthew Taylor. I haven’t got a clue who would be a good leader for them, though I think Campbell is too old and Oaten too overrated. As for Davey, he is so so. Laws is the only one that strikes me as being interesting, from a conservative viewpoint, but I doubt the Lib Dems would elect him.
Gordon Brown’s seat is Dunfermline East, whose westward arm transects, as far as I can tell from the PArliamentary Almanac, the M90 as it runs north from the Firth of Forth to Perth. This is the natural extension of the A1, which only runs from London to Edinburgh, to the north, ultimately via the A9 to Inverness and Wick to John o’Groats, at least 250 miles beyond Edinburgh.
12 - His seat has been redrawn and is now known as Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. Not a terribly salubrious name if one is familiar with either of those places.
Betfair now has markets for most seats in the next GE. The fact that this is a two-way tradeable market makes it much more attractive than the conventional bookies.
Odds are:
Lab 1.58-1.78
Con 2.3-2.82
LD 21-960
BV - the trouble is that you will not be able to take any profits out until after the next election.
I had big winnings on the Tory leadership battle in 2003 that I was only able to pick up last Thursday. With the spread firms you can trade and take profits out even before the event has closed.
14 - true, though at least you can get your original stake back. Do any of the firms have spreads for next time yet? Probably a bit risky given the boundaries remain to be determined!
Its about time we had a A6-er leading the country…
Re: 12 - Kirkcaldy used to be famous for making linoleum - Billy Connolly did a wonderful skit about linoleum and suggested that Kirkcaldy ought to be renamed “What’s that f***ing smell?” after the first comment visitors made on getting off the train there!
10 - we don’t all think Laws would be a bad idea y’know, especially as he’s just increased his majority.
CK still has my support but David Laws would be in the top three - the LDs need someone with a ruthless streak.
Alan Duncan’s constituency (Rutland and Melton) has the A1 passing through just north of Stamford…..
Just occurred to me: does the fact that Malcolm Rifkind used to represent Edinburgh Pentlands count for the purposes of the A1 rule?
Re 21 - even if it did it wouldn’t count as the A1 ends at Waterloo Place a good two miles from Shandon - the nearest part of Pentlands.
sanity documents reins?gentlemanly judicial pinks antiresonance: