Everybody Knows

In our last post, we looked at the surprising breadth of support for our central proposition - that David Cameron did not win the 2010 election. Left-wing blogger Lisa Ansell and Telegraph columnist Benedict Brogan both wrote separate pieces explaining, respectively, that no-one had won the election, and that Cameron's problems today stem from his failure to win.

Today, reading through my Kindle edition of the New Statesman, I came across not one but two examples of commentators once again reflecting our opinion - again, from across the political spectrum. In an exclusive interview with Nick Clegg, the Marty Janetty to Cameron's Shawn Michaels, guest editor Jemima Khan (who happens to be the sister of Tory MP Zac Goldsmith, so can hardly be thought of as a red-blooded socialist partisan) opines that

'the British public voted - no one party won'

although she also charitably observes that Cameron has won at least one thing - a game of tennis against Clegg.

In the very same issue, however, Hugh Grant turns the tables on News of the World executive Paul McMullan by secretly taping a conversation with him on a great many subjects, including the degree to which Cameron may well be beholden to News International:

'basically, Cameron is very much in debt to Rebekah Wade for helping him not quite win the election'

(emphasis ours, obviously).

A high-flying socialite and a gutter-dwelling hack; the (guest) editor of Britain's best-selling left-wing weekly and a former exec at the News of the Screws. You couldn't get much further apart than Jemima Khan and Paul McMullan, but on one thing they agree: David Cameron may be the PM now - but he didn't win the 2010 election.

Jemima Khan knows. Paul McMullan knows. Lisa Ansell and Benedict Brogan know. Even Nick Clegg seems to know (though he's probably too afraid of getting a chinese burn from Eric Pickles to say so openly). The only people who seem not to know are Cameron and Osborne, gloating about the 'political capital [that] comes from winning an election'. Clearly, the Bullingdon boys need a reminder. And, this May 6th, when they open their post, we'll make sure they are reminded!

It's not just us

It's not a new idea, that 2010 was the election no-one won. Hot on the heels of the election, left-wing blogger Lisa Ansell was saying much the same thing.

Fair enough, you might say - typical lefty sour grapes. But surprisingly, Tories agree with us too. Check out Benedict Brogan, in his column from this Wednesday's Telegraph: 'David Cameron isn't a winner - and that's where his problems begin'. Choice cuts:

'We will shortly mark the first anniversary of the formation of the Coalition, when David Cameron will be able to reflect on his failure to win the last election and all the troubles that stem from that inescapable fact.'

'Mr Cameron...was ahead of his bleary party in realising what an absence of victory might mean.'

'In the coming weeks, plenty of us will contemplate Mr Cameron’s achievements over the past extraordinary year. They are considerable. But we should start by acknowledging that all is not well, and that his problems are an unavoidable consequence of his failure to win.'

It would seem that while a rainbow coalition didn't emerge from last year's vote, the recognition that David Cameron didn't win it really does extend across the political spectrum!