DAVID PRYCE-JONES: Westminster Election Diary. “The pundits repeated in unanimous chorus that the Conservatives and Labour were neck and neck. Through the night, though, the Conservatives were winning seats by ever-larger margins, and Labour was losing them. By now, David Cameron is evidently able to form a Conservative government unshackled by a coalition. The astonishment and disbelief of those chorusing pundits, especially on the BBC, is a comedy that lightens the spirits. The cause of the Labour downfall is simple enough. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, proves to be a hard-line Leftist, believing that the state should control the individual and the individual should have no control over the state. Resenting capitalism, he wants to control markets and punish through taxation everyone who has benefitted from markets. He reminds me of Mikhael Gorbachev whose policy of perestroika was supposed to have the edge over reality. One look at him has been enough for the people of England.” Would that Americans had been so discerning.
Plus: Tunku Varadarajan: 10 UK Election Takeaways. “When you compute Tory gains, and the astounding likelihood (as of this writing) that UKIP ranks third among the parties for votes polled in England, you have a picture of a defiant, nationalist England. The Scots will separate, but on England’s terms.”