Revealed: The Nation's Fantasy Cabinet |

Friday 23rd April 2010 | 14:16

Revealed: The Nation's Fantasy Cabinet

A new nationwide poll by PoliticsHome reveals who the country would appoint to a national unity government, and what roles they would be given.

As the polls continue to tighten, and the possibility of the Liberal Democrats being asked to support one party with more seats, and another with more votes, PoliticsHome has asked voters across the country how they would cast the characters in a national unity government of all three main parties.

Looking at a full list of senior politicians from each of the main parties, respondents first selected nine politicians to fill the top nine jobs - and each of their lists had to include at least two from each party.

We 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.

FOR FULL RESULTS AND METHODOLOGY CLICK HERE

The results show an extraordinary consensus on some of the biggest jobs in government, and will add to the idea that a hung parliament may be the wish of the voters.

The nation's fantasy cabinet appoints David Cameron as Prime Minister, Vince Cable Chancellor, Nick Clegg as Foreign Secretary, and Alistair Darling as Home Secretary.

Other surprising findings were that Gordon Brown was not selected to be part of the top nine, and that Hilary Benn made the cut - as one of the least well-known, he gained broad support as 'untainted' from nonaligned and Conservative electors.

To choose your dream cabinet, CLICK HERE.

THE RESULTS

David Cameron - Prime Minister

Vince Cable - Chancellor of the Exchequer

Nick Clegg - Foreign Secretary

Alistair Darling - Home Secretary

William Hague - Defence Secretary

Chris Huhne - Justice Secretary

Ken Clarke - Business Secretary

Hilary Benn - Children, Schools and Families

Alan Johnson - Health Secretary

PoliticsHome interviewed 778 adults by email between 21-22 April 2010. Responses which did not follow the rules were excluded from the analysis. Results are weighted by age, gender and political party identification to reflect the population of Great Britain. A full account of the methodology will appear on the site shortly.

Leave a comment...

stepney

14:46 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
8

Huhne? Would the judges ever get a word in? Benn? After such success looking after the rural community? Conclusion: Planes or nor planes, net emigration to soar...

Robbo

15:09 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
4

Good, the useless Andrew Lansley is out. If enough Labour supporters vote Lib Dem in Cambridgeshire South, Lansley will lose his seat, not just his cabinet place.

Russell

15:33 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
5

I'm sorry and I knw that members of his fanc slub will disagree but should Vince Cable ever become Chancellor of the Exchequer, I think his business/economic acumen will be found out very quickly...

Duncan

15:59 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
1

@Russell - Yes, so do I. I think you'll find it's rather impressive which is why he was able to make a career predicated on it before entering the house. In all seriousness though this verges on a little mad; I'm a massive fan of Nick but he has no experience of foreign affairs. It's Prime Minister or Home Secretary for Nick. Ming Campbell should have been in the poll. It's extraordinary that of the three parties none of the candidates on offer suggest they'd make an impressive showing as foreign sec. Nice to see Ken Clarke as Business Sec. In the utopia in which we, the LibDems, won a majority I would like to imagine that might happen, though I rather doubt it.

Peter Thurgood

16:06 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
5

I am surprised to see that apart from a new Government, we didn't also get a new Queen "Mandy"

http://faustiesblog.blogspot.com

22:26 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
2

This poll does not represent a fantasy cabinet by any stretch of the imagination! The list of LibLabCon 'candidates' was so short, that there wasn't much choice at all - which is why I didn't take part in the poll. No way would any of those in the Labour list be in my fantasy cabinet! Jail would be a more fitting place for them.

ollie

22:37 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
6

still the myth of vince cable continues. Just how much further can the public fall in the stupidity ranks?

David C

23:20 |
23 Apr 2010
Recommended
3

You'll have to do it again with an all women shortlist.

KR

23:39 |
23 Apr 2010
0

The all-male results look less surprising when you consider that only 3 out of the 30 options are female - forget all-female shortlists, your 3 candidates short of an all-male shortlist!

Jim

12:04 |
24 Apr 2010
0

Did no one see the interview with Vince Cable and Ed Balls? It was pretty bad for a man who wished to be Chancellor (Vince not Ed). Since then Vince has voted both ways on a number of key points.

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