We should all feel ashamed of this dull, passionless, hole-in-the-corner election

The 2005 general election has been, by a very great distance, the dullest in recent British history. It is far duller than 2001, and that was very dull indeed. It is so exceptionally dull that even the broadsheet newspapers — forget the tabloids — have become extremely reluctant to put political news on the front page. Instead they relegate it to the worthy sections far inside which virtually nobody reads. Broadcasters face an even more acute problem. Viewing for election coverage has fallen sharply. The Jonathan Dimbleby Programme, one of the strongest weekend political shows, normally attracts some 800–900,000 viewers. Its viewing audience collapsed to a pathetic 200,000 last Sunday.

Many ordinary voters have no awareness that an election is going on at all. Fewer posters are out than in previous elections, and door-to-door canvassing has ceased in certain areas. Even when it does take place it is sometimes fraudulent. This is what one London voter, Peter Martin, wrote in a most illuminating letter to the Independent: ‘The Labour parliamentary candidate for Tooting has a flyer on which are printed the words “Sorry you were out when I called round today.” I was at home when such a one was delivered to me. Indeed I watched a man put it through my letterbox, but he did not ring my doorbell. As well as not actually “calling” on me, this political postman was not the candidate, of whom there was no sign.’

Labour, and to an alarming extent the Tories too, have gone to extreme lengths to freeze voters out of their campaigns. A very good example is the Labour party rally I attended in the small Northamptonshire town of Rushden last Wednesday. This event was shown across the TV news regionally and nationally that day, and ordinary viewers might well have gathered the impression that here was the Prime Minister out on the stump, meeting the public and taking part in the democratic process.