Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I'm no Labour voter or activist, but these last few months I've developed an absorbing interest in UK political developments, browsing several blogs and websites from all across the political spectrum. This website seems to be the most representative of grassroots Labour activitists, and your debates have drawn me in repeatedly, so I felt it was about time to chip in with my own verdict on the issues facing the Labour party.

The state of the Labour party affects everyone in Britain, not just Labour people, so I have a valid right to an opinion. Whether or not that opinion itself is valid is another story, but please read with an open mind rather than dismissing me as merely a Tory troublemaker (you might sense the slow build-up to some, erm, controversial, opinions ahead!).

OK, here goes... it seems to me that the natural order of things in Britain is a Conservative government. Even though Labour has had a good spell recently, this is an aberration. The people of Britain (certainly England) are natural Conservatives, always have and always will be, and unless Labour governments manage to socially engineer our population to such an extent that the natural Conservatives become an oppressed minority, your spells in government will always end in tears.

Now before I go further I must stress I'm not endorsing the Conservative party, I'm just commenting based on my observations of the behaviour, attitudes and culture of Middle England. Middle England represents the silent majority of this country, hence the name. If it wasn't a reflection of the majority, it wouldn't be called Middle England. Mean, median or mode, no matter how you define it, Middle England means the national average. If the government can't appeal to, and represent, Middle England, then it has no business being in government in a democracy. How many of you reading this like or dislike Middle England? If you dislike it, then you really should be asking yourself what moral right you have to represent it in government.

Tony Blair understood this inherently and that's why he won elections. At the same time as he won the elections, the Tories managed to put up leaders who didn't (at the time) represent Middle England. William Hague possibly could have done, had he not taken over the graveyard shift. Ian Duncan-Smith had many of the right attitudes, but not the aspirational factor that most people in Middle England want from their prime minister. Michael Howard had a certain degree of appeal, but was basically tainted from being associated with the dying days of the last Tory government. But now the Tories have David Cameron, who represents Middle England a million times more than Gordon Brown. And it shows!

That's the root of your problem, that basically it seems the Labour party doesn't actually like Middle England. The feeling's clearly mutual, as you can see from the recent by-elections. One thing that springs to mind is that, as Middle England represents an average, although there will be regional variations, you can't argue with the pattern. Hence the ridiculously low turnout for Labour in Henley, the larger but not large enough turnout in Glasgow East, and the losses in London and Crewe.

If your own principles and beliefs, no matter how noble and well-meaning, do not benefit or resonate with Middle England, then you have no business taking these principles with you into British government. It might take a while for the population to catch up with you, but rest assured, once you lose the support of Middle England, you'll never get it back. The British people are amazingly tolerant and stoical, but once you're out, you're out for a generation at least.

The Crewe by-election exposed for me personally the real feelings at the heart of the Labour party, an idiotic, hate-filled class warfare that comes across to Middle England as absolutely inappropriate and a terrible indictment of our so-called caring government. In that one campaign, Labour became the "nasty" party at one foul stroke, a party that showed it basically despises the majority of its population. So is there anyone in the Labour party who actually likes and will stand up for Middle England? If not, there's a Mr Cameron waiting in the wings who knows EXACTLY how to get through to Middle England. Don't say you weren't warned...