Well, some very interesting results have emerged from a nationwide poll that was conducted by the PoliticsHome website who asked voters across the country how they would cast the characters in a national unity government of all three main parties.The results, amazingly, show an extraordinary consensus on some of the biggest jobs in government, and will add to the idea that a hung parliament is most desired by the electorate instead of a majority government.
As illustrated by the image at the top of the post, the nation's ‘Fantasy Cabinet’ has at its head the Conservative leader David Cameron as Prime Minister, with Liberal Democrat Vince Cable as Chancellor, his party leader Nick Clegg as Foreign Secretary, and Labour’s Alistair Darling as Home Secretary.
It is perhaps surprising to see that Gordon Brown was not selected to be part of cabinet but the little-known Hilary Benn did.
To produce these findings, PoliticsHome invited its readers to look at a full list of senior politicians from each of the main parties, and at first select nine politicians to fill the top nine jobs – with the requirement that each of their lists had to include at least two from each party.
Each respondent was then asked them to assign jobs to their chosen nine politicians.
The 778 responses were then weighted by party ID, age and gender to represent the UK at large - and any respondent trying to bypass the rules was excluded. (Read the full methodology here)
The ‘Fantasy Cabinet’ in full:
David Cameron (Conservative) - Prime Minister
Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat) – Chancellor of the Exchequer
Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) - Foreign Secretary
Alistair Darling (Labour) - Home Secretary
William Hague (Conservative) - Defence Secretary
Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrat) - Justice Secretary
Kenneth Clarke (Conservative) - Business Secretary
Hilary Benn (Labour) - Children, Schools and Families
Alan Johnson (Labour) - Health Secretary
To choose your dream cabinet, click here.
