Dan Hannan gave another great little speech last night. Before quoting Dr Seuss (which must be a first in a victory speech) he noted how voters had done everything they could to tell the Labour Party that they wanted them out. Voters have thrown Labour out of the mayoralty in London. They've ousted them in Scotland and from every county council. They've voted against Labour in Crewe and Nantwich, Glasgow East and, yesterday, in Wales. Yet Labour still carries on, denying the country the change of government it craves.
Labour has fallen MUCH further than the Conservatives in our darkest days. Its share of the vote was just 16% yesterday. Across huge parts of the country Labour was in fifth place. It is in huge financial debt to the trade unions. It received almost no private donations in the last quarter. Its activist base is giving up.
But one thing should shock Labour more than anything else - yesterday's two BNP victories. I don't say this lightly but I blame Labour for the rise of the BNP. I blame Brown for creating Nick Griffin. I blame Labour for introducing the electoral system that has given the BNP this opportunity but much more I blame Labour for its failure to control Britain's borders... for promising a referendum on Lisbon and reneging on that promise... for a failure to get to grips with Islamic extremism... and for a failure to tackle the social causes of poverty.
The challenge for the Conservatives - who did respectably yesterday - is to learn from Labour's huge failures. We mustn't over-promise but we must restore order to our borders, give a sense that Britain is in charge of its destiny and pursue a compassionate agenda that will give financial and structural security to the Labour heartlands - heartlands that the Brown-Blair years have so comprehensively failed.
Tim Montgomerie
> On CentreRight: The BNP is not the 'Far Right'
