I went to Dubai for a week and when I returned Tony Blair had been re-elected. It all seems rather surreal; apparently a general election took place. Where I live, you could easily have missed it. It’s a safe Labour seat and my local MP is not only energetic and popular, but voted against the Iraq war. It was a safe bet that she would get re-elected, and she did. This meant that the opposition parties didn’t waste resources trying to woo voters in my area. Yes, we got the leaflets through the door, but that was it, nothing too intrusive, you could get on with your life and forget there was an election taking place.

In fact my sister did forget there was an election taking place. “Is the election really this week?” she asked four days before the election. “Well who cares”, she added, “won’t make any difference whatsoever”. And it was true that it was hard to see an outcome that could make a difference. I was privately rooting for a hung Parliament. I knew it wouldn’t happen, but a girl can dream. Partly it was the drama of it: A hung Parliament, there is something so theatrical about the term, — but more than anything it was my feeling that no one really deserved to win this election.

Take the three main candidates. Tony Blair has lost his luster. Gone are the days when he could win an election just by plastering his face all over town. He used to be “Trust me Tony”; building a personal brand on the idea that here was someone you could trust. Well who could say that with a straight face now? No, whereas in previous elections you saw his face beaming down at you from Labour campaign posters, now it was the Conservatives who used his face on their posters. “Blair the Liar” was the image they wanted to portray.

The Conservatives ran an exceedingly ugly campaign. Not only did they resort to blatantly calling the prime minister a liar but they played on people’s fears. Their main focus was immigration.

They ran a poster ad that stated, “It’s not racist to want to control immigration” and then rather ominously: “Are you thinking what we’re thinking?” This allusion to thoughts that could not be publicly stated but which presumably people felt but were afraid to say was rather frightening.

That’s bad enough to start with but when this agenda is pushed by a leader who is himself the son of an immigrant, you start to wonder what has happened to the world.

Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservatives, was once branded by Ann Widdecombe — his Cabinet colleague at the time — as having “something of the night”. It’s not too surprising that Ann Widdecombe has since started publishing novels, she seems to have a rather poetic view of the world, but the image stuck. He has never quite recovered. Not that he has ever been a popular politician. He was after all the minister behind the disastrous poll tax in the late 1980s. To give him credit, his leadership seems to have galvanized the Conservatives into regrouping at a time when they seemed to be heading for self-destruct. Whether they chose the right path or not is a different question, but in terms of leadership he stepped in at a critical time and put an end to the public squabbles and disagreements over Europe that characterized the leadership of his two predecessors.

When it comes to leadership, Charles Kennedy could do with going on a training course. The leader of the Liberal Democrats, or the Lib Dems as they are known, is a rather uncharismatic character. On paper the Lib Dems were in a very strong position. First there was the general disaffection with Tony Blair and Labour. Then there was the specific issue of the Iraq war; the Lib Dems were the only one of the main parties to oppose the war. Combine that with a Conservative party running a right-leaning campaign and there were ample opportunities to gain votes from the center and the left. If that wasn’t enough, Charles Kennedy even became a first— time father during the election campaign! He couldn’t have hoped for better circumstances. But he suffered from a severe lack of credibility. Oh the Lib Dems didn’t do badly, they did increase their seats to 62 MPs, but that is still 23 percent of the vote, barely any different to how they have been polling for the last 12 months. Somehow they never quite managed to reap the rewards for opposing the war, not even among the Muslims. The Muslim community in Britain is largely urban and traditionally supports Labour. Though there was a swing to the Lib Dems, it was half-hearted. I watched a cross-section of Muslim voters interviewed on television; the overwhelming message they were conveying was one of exclusion. None of the main parties really represent us, they said.

Now that the election is over, it seems that the real power play has begun. Michael Howard is stepping down and there is speculation that Tony Blair will also be replaced before the year is through. The prime minister says he has been listening to the British public and will heed their concerns. If that is the case, he will do the decent thing and resign, just as a growing number of his MPs are urging him to do. But when did a prime minister ever resign without being pushed?

— Iman Kurdi is a Saudi writer living in London. ([email protected])