General Election 2015 results: Only David Cameron can lead Britain now – Editor’s Letter
Back in 1992, when the Conservatives denied the polls to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the May number one hit was Please Don’t Go. If the astonishing exit poll is right, Britain has echoed its sentiment again, calling on Cameron to stay in Number 10.
But in truth, David Cameron was always the only leader who could form a government today. There is no arguing with his record in office. For all that remains to be done, under Conservative leadership, Britain is growing again. New jobs have flowered. The debt keeps mounting but the deficit at least has been cut.
The contrasting spectacle of Ed Miliband’s 70s-styled, retro Labour may have concentrated the nation’s mind.
For even if the poll is wrong, Miliband cannot form a government. He may want to try – but he can never succeed. His anti-market manifesto patched together a coalition of well-meaning folly, too often grounded in resentment.
It feeds on the glamour of populist gestures like a tax on high-priced homes or hitting out at hedgies. It does not care if any of this can work, and it has long been clear that it never could.
Today, on the 70th anniversary of VE Day, the great, but divided, nation revealed in the campaign needs healing. We need a new settlement on the union, and to debate our ties with Europe. Miliband can only offer a booby trap – a disaster waiting to happen. For all his faults, Cameron can govern.
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