Those Clever Young Men at Cambridge Get it Wrong

In a recent account of a Cambridge Union debate, I expressed some pleasure at the odd result of the vote . I wrote that, faced with a difficult choice between Tory attackers of New Labour, and New Labour's own defence of itself, the largest group of undergraduates sensibly chose to abstain.

 

Alas, the result was (apparently) announced wrongly by an official of the Union society. I now have the correct figures, and they are not as interesting or as encouraging as I thought. In response to the motion 'This House believes that New Labour ruined Britain', the votes were as follows.  :

Ayes - 64, Noes - 186, Abstention - 136

 

It certainly confirms my view that very few are prepared to vote for a proposition supported by the Tory Party, however right or true it may be ( I spoke for it too, but made it plain that I included the Tories in the indictment, thus separating myself from the other speakers on my side).

 

But alas, loyalty to the Labour Party is still strong among students. I can only take comfort from the fact that there was, even so, a very arge number of abstentions and that - together with the Ayes, they outnumbered the Labour supporters.