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Originally Posted by Ste
the only reason I'd like to see the Conservatives in power is because then we might see a decent opposition party.
I'm pretty sure a lot of Conservatives are really confused what to do when the Labour party are putting forward Tory policies and won't vote against them.
The Labour backbenchers (a lot of whom are very decent people) will then be free to vote against the stupid tory policies.
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I think it likely that Labour as the opposition would be more openly split between the centrists and the socialists, just as the Conservatives were over Europe (and arguably are still). Being out of power does not tend to breed consensus within the ranks - not immediately, at least. This tension between the back-benchers and the modernisers will be exacerbated with the resignation of Blair, which is why he is loathe to step down, especially in the current climate of public distrust. It's a paradoxical situation: the Conservatives are percieved as in need of modernisation to attract new voters, yet many see Labour as the victim of an excessive and manipulative modernising process.
Ah, the cycles of politics.