It’s vital to know why Labour lost – yet more so to know why the Tories won | Martin Kettle

My prediction for the general election was wrong, but the left is still blind to the real reason why the defeat was so severe

Like many commentators, I got the general election wrong. I thought Labour would finish narrowly behind the Conservatives but would form a government. Unlike most commentators, I feel a responsibility to admit this mistake in the public square. And I want to discuss why so many of us were mistaken this time.

There seems precious little chance of this generally. Too many commentators on the right have spent the last week in hero-worship mode towards David Cameron and, in particular, George Osborne. Meanwhile, way too many on the left have equally rapidly immersed themselves in a ridiculously premature Labour leadership election that provides a handy duvet beneath which to hide from electoral and political reality.

It is a mere eight days since Ladbrokes were offering 10-1 odds against a Conservative majority government

The left should remember Oliver Cromwell: ‘Think it possible you may be mistaken'

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