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English Democrats admit committing electoral fraud

April 18, 2013 wonkotsane EDP 4 comments

Steve Uncles, the political brian behind the English Democrats, has admitted that the party have committed electoral fraud in Kent.

Kent County Council and Kent Police are already investigating what were believed to be fraudulent nomination papers backed up by fraudulent entries on the electoral register. A tweet on his English Passport Twitter account confirms that they have submitted fraudulent nomination papers and by extension, that the entries on the electoral register used to verify the fraudulent nominations are also fraudulent.

English Pisspot Electoral Fraud Admission

From Steve Uncles’ Twitter account

Here’s what Kent County Council has to say on the use of assumed names on nomination papers (emphasis mine):

The nomination paper must include the candidate’s full name, with the surname first. The name should be as it is appears on the electoral register. Do not use any title or prefix such as Mr, Mrs, Dr. The format should be: Miller, Andrew John. Commonly used surname(s) and forename(s) are now permitted providing that they are not likely to mislead or confuse electors, and are not obscene or offensive. A candidate can only state a commonly used name on the nomination paper if they actually commonly use a name which is different from their full name as follows: Miller, Andrew John (commonly known as Andy).

The maximum penalty for committing electoral fraud is 6 months in prison.

Silly Tilly’s Jackanory Conference Speech

March 13, 2013 wonkotsane EDP, Funny No comments

Robin Tilbrook has posted a copy of his speech from the English Democrats’ party conference in Doncaster last week. This rip-roaring event was attended by as many as 50 people, including the speakers. Quite the political force.

I tried to read the speech properly but I was bored to tears very quickly despite the many humorous attempts to mislead people and jackanory stories. I did manage to skim through it though and a few things jumped out.

The Raving Loonies campaigning in Eastleigh

Such as the UKIP by-election results Tilbrook quotes comparing the English Democrats’ awful by-election results favourably with UKIP’s early by-election results. But his list is a selective list of Scottish by-election results out of a long list of by-elections contested by UKIP in every member state of the UK over the period he refers to. He points out that UKIP have lost to the Monster Raving Loony Party before and he’s correct – four times in 1995 and 1996, on one occasion by none other than Peter Davies – but these were the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th by-elections UKIP ever contested and the party had only been in existence for 3 years. Eleven years after being formed and the English Democrats are still losing to the Monster Raving Loony Party – they’re currently drawing on the number of times they’ve beaten each other and the Monster Raving Loony Party joke about it on their website. That’s right, the Monster Raving Loony Party are making fun of the English Democrats’ performance in elections. Strange how Tilbrook’s speech didn’t mention the English Democrats getting beaten not just by the Monster Raving Loony Party in Eastleigh but also by the Elvis Loves Pets Party and the Beer, Baccy and a Pint Party.

Then there’s the suggestion that Nigel Farage approached Tilbrook to offer him the deputy leadership of UKIP in exchange for winding up the English Democrats during the 2010 election campaign – a claim he has repeated many times. Lord Pearson was leader of UKIP during the 2010 election campaign, not Nigel Farage.

It’s interesting to see that Peter Davies’ falling out with the party started when he refused to employ an English Democrats activist as a £35k a year assistant. Clearly getting Peter Davies elected was seen as a money-spinning opportunity for the party and noses were put out of joint when that failed to materialise. That Tilbrook then trivialises Davies’ obviously serious concerns about the takeover of the party by racists and extremists is quite telling of the quality of his leadership.

Finally, it’s brilliant to see UKIP Black Ops get another mention by Tilbrook. UKIP Black Ops was invented by Steve Uncles a while back and those of us who are supposed to be part of this apparently secretive operation (so secret that Uncles knows all about it) funded personally by Nigel Farage have great fun taking the piss out of the English Democrats over it.

I’m sure there’s more in there of interest to those that follow the comical performance of the English Democrats but I really couldn’t be bothered to read any more.

Irony, perjury and the English Democrats

March 2, 2013 wonkotsane EDP One comment

Those who follow the comical antics of the English Democrats and their bungling solicitor chairman, Robin Tilbrook, will find the latest missive from the great failure deliciously ironic.

English Democrats members have been involved in a planned protest outside Abu Qatada’s house in London which Qatada has got an injunction to stop. The English Democrats are explicitly listed as one of the organisations involved in the planned protests which Tilbrook has got a bit stroppy about.

In the latest abuse of our Nation’s “generosity” to illegal immigrants, following Mr Abu Qatada’s cost to the taxpayer rising to over an estimated £1m, his wife and family have been seeking an injunction, on the back of legal aid, to prevent any protesters from appearing outside their new taxpayer funded house in Stanmore, North London.

In the midst of suing all and sundry who might be contemplating protesting, the English Democrats and I surprisingly found ourselves included in the list of Defendants, despite never having expressed any intention to take part in any demonstration!

That is of course not the remit of a political party standing in elections and not a sensible approach for a political party to take.
That does not mean of course that the English Democrats would not morally support well-behaved and lawful demonstrations against Abu Qatada’s abuse of our welfare benefit system. It is English Democrats’ policy that non-citizens should not be entitled to any welfare benefits at all. We do also seek the immediate deportation of all illegal immigrants.

Having made our position crystal clear in various letters and also in a witness statement, which I reproduce below, even Labour supporting Bindmans solicitors who were acting for the Qatadas rushed to remove all mention of me and the English Democrats from the proceedings.

On Thursday I was in the High Court of Justice in the Strand before Mr Justice Silber and the Order was made removing us from these proceedings and also dropping all claims against us.

Here is my witness statement. What do you think?
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE CASE NO. HQ13X00479
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
BETWEEN

THE WIFE AND CHILDREN OF OMAR OTHMAN
Applicants/
Claimants

and

(1) THE ENGLISH NATIONAL RESISTANCE (by its
representative Paul Golding, Paul Pitt,
James Dowson and Andrew McBride)
(2) BRITAIN FIRST (by its representatives Britannia Campaigning Limited,
Paul Golding, Andrew McBride and James Dowson
(3) THE ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE (by its representatives Kevin Carrol, Trevor Kelway and Joel Titus)
(4) THE SOUTH EAST ALLIANCE (by its representative Paul Pitt)
(5) THE ENGLISH DEMOCRATS (by its representative
Robin Tilbrook)
(6) PERSONS UNKNOWN WHO ARE INTENDING TO ASSEMBLE OUTSIDE THE HOME OF CLAIMANTS INCLUDING INDIVIDUALS ASSOCIATED WITH “MARCH FOR ENGLAND”
Respondents/
Defendants

___________________________

WITNESS STATEMENT
___________________________
I, Robin Charles William Tilbrook, of Quires Green, Willingale, Ongar, Essex, CM5 0QP, will say as follows:-

1. I am the Principal of Tilbrook’s Solicitors and Chairman of the English Democrats.

2. I would state, for the record, that neither I, nor the English Democrats, have ever organised or attended a demonstration at or near the Applicants’ house. Nor do I believe that any member of the English Democrats have ever attended any such demonstrations. So, with the greatest of respect, the chronicle of misbehaviour that the Applicants’ Solicitors affectingly relate cannot properly be laid at either my or the English Democrats’ door.

3. Further I have never had nor expressed any intention of attending any such demonstration nor have I or the English Democrats given any indication of any intent to do so.

4. I would also confirm that the English Democrats do not engage in street protests as a general rule, except to small media orientated events on issues such as prescription charges. The English Democrats are more involved in the ‘West Lothian’ question and the English Constitutional questions arising from devolution. Neither I nor the English Democrats have ever taken part in any protest relating to Islamists, such as Abu Qatada.

5. I would also point out that I confirmed the substance of what I am saying in this Witness Statement in writing in correspondence to Bindmans prior to them issuing any proceedings or applying for an Injunction. I am a Solicitor and Officer of the Court and so I do think, with the greatest of respect to them, they should have taken me at my word, especially given that the “evidence” which they offered against me and the English Democrats is ridiculously flimsy and comes from a third party website which does not even expressly state that either I or the English Democrats are involved in the new organisation or more pertinently the protest itself.

6. My primary involvement at the meeting reported in that email was a guest speaker on the topic of Englishness and, in particular, the rise in English National Identity which has been demonstrated in the results of the 2011 Census which shows that over 60% (more than 32 million people) within England have self-identified their national identity as being “English Only”.

7. I do naturally support the rights of people to protest and I do support those protests being done in an orderly and civilised manner, which I understand is the intention of the English National Resistance. That support fairly obviously does not give rise to any presumption that I or the English Democrats are somehow members of the organisation; any more than the comments of senior establishment politicians in Parliament criticising Abu Qatada could be taken to imply anything similar from them!

8. I am aware that Labour strategists have identified the English Democrats as a threat to them and that is particularly so, not only after our victories over them in the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council Mayoralty, but also our very good performance throughout South Yorkshire in the Police Commissioner elections in which we came second to the Labour candidate whilst winning the vast majority of all the second preference votes as well. I suspect that the sole reason for drawing me and the English Democrats into this matter was Bindmans’ Labour supporting agenda, rather than any proper legal basis. I regard that the whole way that the Injunction has been approached as being fundamentally a politically motivated abuse of process and, indeed, no doubt also of the taxpayers’ contribution through legal aid/public funding.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts in this Witness Statement are true.

Signed …………………………………….. Dated……………………………..

Robin Charles William Tilbrook

Just read point 3 of Tilbrook’s statement again:

3. Further I have never had nor expressed any intention of attending any such demonstration nor have I or the English Democrats given any indication of any intent to do so.

But what’s this on the English Democrats website?

Did someone say “perjury”?

This statement in point 5 is also amusing:

I am a Solicitor and Officer of the Court and so I do think, with the greatest of respect to them, they should have taken me at my word, especially given that the “evidence” which they offered against me and the English Democrats is ridiculously flimsy and comes from a third party website which does not even expressly state that either I or the English Democrats are involved in the new organisation or more pertinently the protest itself.

Tilbrook dragged me in front of a High Court judge last year on an entirely baseless accusation of libel. Despite being a “solicitor and officer of the court” he was clearly too stupid to understand that decades of legal precedent were against him and would listen to me, my solicitor or my barrister when they told him that he had no case. He persisted, bungled his way through a brief hearing and was told by the judge exactly what he had already been told – that there was no case to answer. I wouldn’t take Tilbrook at his word if he said night follows day, let alone something like this. I’m surprised he hasn’t threatened to sue Abu Qatada or his solicitors.

Finally, point 8 is the most ironic one of all:

8. I am aware that Labour strategists have identified the English Democrats as a threat to them and that is particularly so, not only after our victories over them in the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council Mayoralty, but also our very good performance throughout South Yorkshire in the Police Commissioner elections in which we came second to the Labour candidate whilst winning the vast majority of all the second preference votes as well. I suspect that the sole reason for drawing me and the English Democrats into this matter was Bindmans’ Labour supporting agenda, rather than any proper legal basis. I regard that the whole way that the Injunction has been approached as being fundamentally a politically motivated abuse of process and, indeed, no doubt also of the taxpayers’ contribution through legal aid/public funding.

Tilbrook was fixated on his belief that my solicitor was a UKIP supporter and that this had some relevance to the case. My solicitor repeatedly told him that he wasn’t a UKIP supporter and that his political beliefs were of no relevance and none of his business anyway. His vexatious case against me was entirely politically motivated and his case, such as it was, was all about the English Democrats rather than himself. His sole reason for pursuing me was because I am a UKIP supporter, because he sees me as the main reason so many good English Democrat activists left his party for UKIP (I was largely responsible for UKIP declaring its support for an English Parliament) and because I have never backed down from exposing the thuggery and racism in the English Democrats in the face of threats, abuse and defamation from their senior members. And how amusing that Tilbrook is still crowing about the English Democrats somehow winning the Doncaster mayoral elections even though Mayor Peter Davies has left the party because of its links to racists and fascists.

I hope Abu Qatada’s solicitors don’t want any money out of Tilbrook, I’m still waiting for my legal costs to be paid over 8 months after he lost his court case.

English Democrats embracing militancy

February 10, 2013 wonkotsane EDP 2 comments

The English Democrats lost their “celebrity” elected mayor of Doncaster this week when he resigned from the party over the takeover of the party by BNP defectors.

Chairman of the English Democrats, Robin Tilbrook, took the news badly and smeared Mayor Peter Davies accusing him of being a gambling addict and heavily criticising him. The day before, he was praising him and holding up as a shining example of the English Democrats’ “success” in an article which has since been deleted.

One of their 6 (yes, six) councillors, Mick Glynn, has resigned in disgust at Tilbrook’s outburst leaving them with just 2 parish councillors, 2 district councillors and a county councillor.

The takeover of the party by the BNP is one of the least worrying aspects of the English Democrats’ recent lurch to the far right. More worrying is the forming of an alliance with anti-Muslim, white supremacist and British nationalist groups and the abandonment of the democratic process:

The political / elections route has always been the main focus for patriotic politics, but in recent years the emphasis has shifted away from elections towards militancy, campaigning and direct action

Thank god the English Democrats are in terminal decline, the thought of this bunch of racists, extremists and white supremacist militants in a position of power doesn’t bear thinking about.

English Democrats lose their elected mayor

February 5, 2013 wonkotsane EDP 2 comments

So the English Democrat elected mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies, has finally announced his intention to resign from the party over its links with the far right.

Davies claims to have only just discovered his party’s links to racist and extremist groups and is “concerned” about recent claims former BNP members have joined the English Democrats. The takeover of the English Democrats by the BNP, EDL and other extremist groups has been widely publicised for the last few years and Steve Uncles’ attempt to form a partnership with Sinn Féin is well documented. It is also well known that 4 in 10 of their candidates at the last local elections were former BNP members.

Hope Not Hate recently announced that they were targeting Peter Davies at the next mayoral election because of the English Democrats’ links to extremists and only a few days ago reported on the English Democrats’ new alliance with a new fascist group, English National Resistance. Davies is either naive or telling porkies and you don’t get elected as mayor of a large city by being naive.

Why I left the Campaign for an English Parliament

October 18, 2012 wonkotsane General 5 comments

I really didn’t want to do this but thanks to the dimwit English Democrats political brain, Steve Uncles, claiming on one of his Twitter accounts that I have been kicked out of the Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP) I now have to explain why I left.

Before the current Chairman, Eddie Bone, became the Chairman we had some run-ins over some pretty shocking decisions which he somehow managed to convince the National Council were good ideas. The most notable one was the switch to monthly Direct Debits for collecting membership subscriptions which was agreed despite it being explained by the Treasurer at the meeting that the CEP would have needed something like 100,000 members to make it break even. This was really the start of a sustained period of financial mismanagement that continues to this day by both the Chairman and the NC.

A clique quickly formed around Eddie and NC meetings rapidly turned into rubber stamping exercises for decisions already made by this inner circle of NC members. Dissent was frowned upon and half the time at NC meetings were consumed with vigorous sales pitches for what had already been agreed outside the meetings.

Eddie set up the Workers of England union and took on an expensive office and then tried to convince the NC that the CEP should move in to it and share the costs. The cost was unsustainable – the CEP was already losing money and members year on year and thankfully sense prevailed for the time I was on the NC despite repeated attempts to get the CEP moved into the Workers of England office.

Eddie became Chairman in a two horse race between him and myself. I didn’t want to be Chairman but nobody else put their name forward and a number of NC members (the ones outside the clique of course) were so concerned at the prospect of Eddie Bone as Chairman that they asked me to put my name forward. David Wildgoose asked me to support him as Vice Chairman if Eddie was elected as Chairman so that he could try and moderate him which I did.

Following Eddie’s election as Chairman (one member of the clique was given a number of proxy votes from NC members who turned up to meetings so infrequently I’d never even met them) the clique became more important and no decisions were made at the NC. Any disagreement with what had already been decided before the meeting was met with quite strong defence and it was clear that differing opinions were not welcome. The Chairman’s job quickly (and unofficially) became an Executive Chairman’s job and unilateral decisions were made not just about the running of the campaign but about spending money. This is against the CEP’s constitution and MOA but pointing this out got myself and others nowhere, just further ostracisation.

During his reign as Chairman, the CEP’s reserves of about £10k have been spent and with pretty much nothing to show for it. The “battlebus” (a flat bed truck with an apex on the back) has been used infrequently and presumably sits on the Chairman’s drive. As far as I’m aware it is still legally owned by the Chairman despite the CEP being a limited company and able to own property and the Chairman of the English Democrats, Robin Tilbrook, made a considerable donation towards its cost in exchange for his party being able to use it as well.

On that note, I raised concerns about the English Democrats using the “battlebus” and pointed out that it was only a matter of time until a journalist noticed they were using the same truck and linked the two together and by extension, linked the CEP with Steve Uncles, the BNP and the England First Party as well as the English Democrats. This was dismissed of course and recently the CEP was mentioned for the first time on Hope Not Hate’s website because of its links to Steve Uncles, the English Democrats and the BNP (England First Party have all but disappeared).

At some point during all this I gave up going to NC meetings and gave notice that I would resign from the NC and would reduce my patron membership of £100 per year to the standard membership of £20 per year until I saw the CEP spending money properly. My resignation wasn’t accepted as the NC decided it could scupper the talks that were ongoing with UKIP over an English Parliament policy and as an English Parliament is something immensely important to me, I allowed myself to remain on the NC on paper but didn’t attend any meetings or comment on any NC business unless it was something that was of dubious legality. There was no sign of improvement in the way they were spending money so I cancelled my standing order and allowed my membership to lapse. This should have resulted in my automatic removal from the NC but they decided not to remove me from the NC because of the work they were doing with UKIP. I again allowed this to happen because the cause is more important to me than the Campaign.

However, when the Treasurer reported that the CEP had spent so much money there was only enough left to keep the Campaign ticking over and doing no campaigning for 18 months I took the decision to assert my resignation and insist on having myself removed from the list of company directors. I had no involvement in the CEP, I had ceased to be a member and I abstained from attending and voting at NC meetings and was certainly not going to be listed as a director of an insolvent company.

After I had successfully been pushed out of the CEP attention was turned to Mike Knowles who was constructively (and unconstitutionally in my opinion) dismissed from the NC. The purge complete, the NC has descended into secrecy and members are not allowed to know what decisions are made and what their money is spent on. Campaigning is virtually non-existent and the Chairman is the only public representative of the CEP. The money has almost all gone – spent on admin, subsidising the Workers of England union office and paying expenses for the Chairman and his friends who have been employed to do work that never seems to be done.

What has the CEP achieved for all this money they have spent? The Chairman has contributed to a couple of newspapers and on each occasion has displayed a serious lack of understanding of the constitution and of devolution which is slightly worrying for a campaign group that exists solely to advance the cause of constitutional change to bring about devolution for England. The judgement of the NC and the Chairman has been terrible in terms of how the Campaign is run, how the membership’s money is spent and in its associations with the English Democrats. The CEP has turned from a campaign into a think tank but without the vital ingredient of any think tank which is a panel of experts in their field – all those people have left.

So that’s the reason I left and the reason I’ve not publicised all this until forced to by Steve Uncles? Twofold really: firstly because I have no desire to damage the CEP out of spite and secondly because if the CEP goes into administration before we get an English Parliament or an alternative civic nationalist campaign is set up to replace it, the English Democrats will end up as the only organised voice of English nationalism and that really doesn’t bear thinking about. As I said at the start of this post, I really didn’t want to do this but Uncles left me with no choice.

My terrorist-appeasing, racist-loving stalker is at it again

January 13, 2012 wonkotsane EDP, WTF? 3 comments

You’d have thought the de-facto leader of a failing political party crippled with debt and haemorrhaging members would have better things to do with his time than Google my name every day to see what I’ve been doing and researching my past but apparently not.

Steve Uncles’ latest “exposé” on me is the startling revelation that I used to vote Lib Dem, once supported the English Democrats and didn’t support UKIP.

I’m quite open about my political past – it’s all over the internet and I’ve never tried to cover it up. I voted Lib Dem when I was younger because I didn’t support Labour or the Tories. I didn’t really know anything about the Lib Dems, I just voted for them because they weren’t one of the other two. This is where the Lib Dems’ vote mainly comes from – the “None of the Above” vote. In 1997 I voted Labour because Tony Blair seemed to me to be a nice enough bloke and because I wanted to make sure the Tories lost the election. When I was a kid my parents did quite badly out of the Thatcher years so my view of the Tories was influenced by their loathing of Thatcher so I decided (like most of the country) that it was time for a change.

I’m a relatively recent convert to euroscepticism as it happens. In 2005 when I wrote the blog post the racist-loving terrorist-appeaser has quoted (yes, he’s that desperate to dig up some dirt he’s gone back 7 years … and still not found any) I was marginally pro-EU. I thought a single currency was a good idea (some of the arguments for it are still valid such as saving companies from currency charges) and I thought that on balance the EU was a good thing for the country.

Just like supporting the English Democrats, my support of the EU was a product of the naivety of youth and a lack of real information about what I was supporting. Over time, I came to realise that the EU was an affront to democracy, an undemocratic, corrupt organisation hell-bent on destroying my country. I realised that voting for someone you don’t want to get rid of someone else you don’t want is a waste of a vote and only ends up with you getting someone you don’t want. Over time I also came to realise that the English Democrats were not the party for me and that Steve Uncles in particular was not somebody I wanted to be associated with. When I turned down his offer of setting up a branch of the English Democrats in Telford, help with elections and funding many years ago I knew I had made the right decision – I instantly became an enemy of England and this barely-sentient knuckledragger has made it his mission to harass me ever since.

Do not approach this stalker, he has serious delusions of adequacy and if excited may attempt to engage you in barely coherent and slurred conversation

Even when I first started supporting UKIP I said that I wouldn’t want a UKIP government, just enough UKIP MPs to set the agenda. I make no secret of that either, it wouldn’t take a genius to go on Google and find places where I’ve said that on the internet – after all, Steve Uncles can manage to turn up something I said 7 years ago so any creature with opposable thumbs should be able to do it. Just like I changed my opinion of the EU and the English Democrats, I changed my mind about a UKIP government and I can’t imagine a party that would make a better job of running the country.

As for the aforementioned Garry Bushell – he lost that election but he also came to see the English Democrats for what they are and declared his support for UKIP.

I know why fat boy (as he’s known to his colleagues) stalks me – it’s because I refuse to cave in to his threats, intimidation, libel and harassment. What I don’t understand is what he thinks he will achieve from it. I don’t read the English Pisspot libel factory unless someone tells me that he’s obsessing over me again and everyone that reads what he writes just thinks he’s a cock and let’s be honest, they’re not far wide of the mark are they? He cosies up to BNP racists, tried to do a deal with Sinn Féin terrorists, makes jokes about suicide victims and abuses and threatens anyone who stands up to him.

Still, he does serve a purpose: no matter how bad you think things are, you can always take comfort from the fact that you’re not Steve Uncles.

BNP Butler joins BNP Barnbrook in the English Democrats

November 28, 2011 wonkotsane BNP, EDP, Racism No comments

Eddy Butler, the former National Front, former BNP, former Freedom Party, former BNP a couple more times, former BNP national elections co-ordinator, has joined the English Democrats.

The announcement, which was the EDP’s worst kept secret since his mate Richard Barnbrook joined in January, will be a bitter blow to the handful of party activists that haven’t yet joined UKIP who had hoped to stop the BNP takeover of the party.

UKIP recently announced a revised devolution policy that would see the creation of a federal UK with devolved parliaments for all four home nations. The final touches are being put to the full devolution policy paper before it goes to the membership for ratification. UKIP is the only non-racist, mainstream democratic party advocating the creation of a federal UK with equality for all four home nations.

English Democrats: not left, not right, just racist.

Election Prediction

May 3, 2010 wonkotsane Labour, Lib Dems, Tories, UKIP 13 comments

The election is almost upon us and it’s time for a prediction I think: Nick Clegg will be Prime Minister.

Now, don’t get any silly ideas about the Lib Dems winning the election because they won’t. The Tories will win the election with most seats but they won’t have a working majority and Cameron would rather go without than share power. The newspaper ads and constant talk about how terrible a hung parliament would be confirm that Cameron is out for absolute power and nothing less.

There will be no shortage of offers to form a coalition with Cast Iron Dave but they will be rebuffed. The party faithful will be told that it’s better to let a LibLab coalition limp along for a few months before collapsing and then the Tories can romp home to victory in a snap election. Most of them will fall for it of course and those that don’t will accept it for the greater good.

So that just leaves the Lib Dems and Labour. The Lib Dems will come second on Thursday, relegating Labour to third place. Clegg will want a coalition of the left which rules out the Tories and whilst the SNP and Plaid will make gains at the election (the former more so than the latter) they won’t have enough lobby fodder for Clegg to see off the Tories so it will be a LibLab coalition with Clegg as Prime Minister.

Whether El Gordo will manage to cling on as leader after the election remains to be seen. Mandelson is already leader in all but name and I expect him to take over the reins from El Gordo at some point after the election. Clegg says he won’t work with Brown but once he smells victory he’ll soon change his tune.

And what about the non-LibLabCon/celtic nationalists? Well, UKIP will come out with a handful of MPs – I think between three and five. The BNP will retain some deposits but they won’t win and seats. The English Democrats will spring a few surprises but won’t win any seats. The Greens will come worryingly close to winning a seat but won’t quite make it.