Indeed it is rather odd... if the next election shows big Tory gains at the LibDem's expense, especially in the south while continued modest progress in traditionally Labour inclined white collar, guardian reading areas (I know there’s not many, but there are still a few that defined the LibDem advance last year) Featherstone would be very well placed for a leadership big against Clegg after Ming goes.
Perhaps, but she'd have to get re-elected first. Hornsey & Wood Green is an increasingly polarised seat (you have the Crouch End/Muesli Hill areas on the one hand, and Wood Green on the other. Were Hornsey a seperate seat, as it was 'til '83, it would be quite safe for the LibDems now) after all.
It's certainly a very important area for him; Hants is a good example of the sort of place where the Tories have been losing white collar votes to an extent that should be (and probably is) extremely embarrassing. Romsey certainly shouldn't have anything but a Tory M.P.
Romsey should be a fairly straightforward gain for the Tories next election; they should never have lost it in the first place (it was a safe seat in *1997* afterall...) and it's not as though there's a big Labour vote that might be tempted to go yellow to stop the Tories. Eastleigh is much more complicated o/c; there's still a large Labour vote in Eastleigh itself... but... the fact that Huhne wasn't able to "squeeze" it in '05 makes it extremely unlikely that he'll be able to next time round. The Tories should be able to beat him, but it should be quite close.
Oddly enough Portsmouth North is the sort of place where Cameron is unlikely to play very well at all; the fact that it warmed to both Syd "Lynch Mobs are Democracy In Action" Rapson and Peter "If you want a n*gger neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour" Griffiths should be a large warning signal. Historically it's tended to be very, very tight (with the exceptions of the '80's and 2001).
Portsmouth South might actually be a better prospect for the Tories, they did better than expected in 2005 IIRC.
...which becomes better for the LibDems post-boundary changes. That said, they will probably put a lot of effort into ousting Oaten (and will be aware that M.P's hit by sexual scandals tend to be damaged much more than M.P's hit by financial scandals). The new Meon Valley seat will be very close apparently.
Poll
