2010 election :::
Con 306
Lab 258
Lib 57
Loony Tunes and others 29
Its difficult to see how the Tories CAN win an election out-right in 2015. We should remember that they didn't win outright in 2010 either, relying instead on the 57 Liberal MPs, to sell their souls to the Devil, in order that Cameron was able to take the trip up the Mall to have Afternoon Tea with the Queen.
The Libs perhaps have now learned the old lesson that if you are going to sup with the Devil, you had better have a very long spoon indeed.
Most of the votes for the Libs in 2010 came from traditional Liberal Voters. It must have come as a shock to these people that actually, they might as well have voted Tory, for all the good it did them. Given the present scandals with the Libs, its difficult to see that they would vote Lib in as many numbers in 2015 as they did in 2010.
So it will be back to the usual Con-Lab contest. The Tories are very behind in the polls compared with Labour, and while polls can't be entirely relied upon, it would be very odd and unprecedented if every single poll was wrong.
So I predict a win for Labour, albeit with perhaps a small majority. The Libs will dance about as usual, getting ready to brown-nose pretty much anybody in order not to be left in the doldrums that their Party has been in since before the Second World War. It worth bearing in mind that the Libs had single figure representation in Parliament for years and years. They actually lost 5 seats in 2010 !
UKIP also has the Tories worried. They might be as mad as a box of frogs, and they will almost certainly not win many seats, if any in 2015. But they will take many more votes away from the Tories that they will take from Labour. If it hadn't been for UKIP, the Eastleigh might very well have gone to the Tories.
No wonder Ashcroft is worried !