Welcome to CNN’s Presidential Election Night Special. We’re just getting the results in live from the 51st State. We can confirm that the Great State of Great Britain has voted overwhelmingly for Senator John Kerry. This is a big blow for George W. Bush, and a humiliation for Governor Blair, who viewers will remember strongly backed the President during the campaign.’
If Britain could vote this November, no one doubts what the result would be. Kerry would win by a landslide. He’d win votes across the board. Not just on the Left, but on the Right too. In fact, Kerry would probably get more votes in the Tory shires and suburbs than he would from Labour’s urban heartlands. Because here is the truth that dare not speak its name: many Conservatives don’t much like Bush.
Not all Conservatives. I’m a signed-up, card-carrying Bush fan. I have been ever since I met him when he was governor of Texas. So too is Michael Howard. He shares with George Dubya a passion for baseball. When they met on the recent state visit, they spent half their time poring over Major League batting averages. Then there’s William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith. The President made an effort to see both of them when he didn’t have to, so they like him too. But even among Conservative MPs, let alone with Conservative supporters in the country, it pains me to report that we Bushites are a minority.
This week I carried out my own focus group on the Tory benches in the House of Commons. Here’s what they think of the President — off the record, of course. ‘George Bush scares the hell out of me,’ said one MP. ‘Bush is a man who might wail at the Moon — I don’t feel comfortable with him, unlike Kerry,’ said another.
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