So here’s the plan; it looks like Bush vs Gore 2.0. Bullshit, bluster, and fake it ’til you make it. This is actually incredibly outrageous – we’re in the middle of a contested election and one party doesn’t feel itself bound by what is, effectively, the constitution. And the original version of the Grauniad story in the print edition was considerably worse; it included quotes from a “Tory frontbencher” being actionable about the Cabinet Secretary on the grounds that he worked in the Treasury, was in fact Treasury Permanent Secretary, at the same time as Gordon Brown. Among other things, it is terrifying that the “frontbencher” is so ignorant about the Civil Service that they didn’t know that it’s entirely normal – even expected – for the top man to be a Treasury civil servant.
This seems relevant, not to mention this; I’ve been slipping into a deep sense of fear and loathing all week, rather as you might slip into a silk nightgown.
So I’m going to launch my own counter-narrative now. The answer to “we won we won we won” is “resist the stitch up”. And, as soon as the polls close, I want to get this out as much as possible. As soon as you read this, kindly go and use the phrase.
Update: Sunder Katwala; there’s already a Twitter hashtag and a provisional date for a demo – 2pm Saturday, Trafalgar Square.