General Election 2015: With more options to form a government, Miliband should win this campaign

But if he loses, he should go

If Miliband is PM, it is expected that Cameron will stand down as party leader quickly (PA)

Last leader standing

It is an extraordinary thought that in a little over a week’s time, either Ed Miliband or David Cameron could be out of a job, and the other will be prime minister. That is the stark and, I have to say, rather thrilling zero-sum brutality of elections – at least for the Labour and Conservative parties.

Unless, of course, the result of this Thursday’s election is so inconclusive that the talks go on for weeks. Whitehall will become a running buffet of TV cameras, journalists and exhausted negotiating teams going to see the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood. If this is the case, I think it will serve the political parties right – none of them will have come up with a majority-winning leader, manifesto or vision for voters, so they must be locked in a purgatory of red-line negotiations and Shrewsbury biscuits as punishment.

But what happens if, when eventually we get a prime minister, his opponent does not leave the stage? If Miliband is PM, it is expected that Cameron will stand down as party leader quickly. Yet if the scenario is the other way round, I’m told that it’s not a foregone conclusion that Miliband will stand down as Labour leader. Allies say that, barring a comprehensive defeat for Labour with an outright Tory majority, Miliband would remain in place as leader in case there is a second election – particularly if that Conservative-led government looks unstable. He has proven himself as a strong leader through this election campaign, they argue. It would be too risky for the Labour Party to go through a protracted leadership campaign in case the government collapses. And while no one wants a second election, there might be no choice.

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But the idea of Miliband doing what Neil Kinnock did in 1987, and staying on for another term to fight in 1992, fills some Labour figures with horror. While the party has been publicly united for months, some are waiting for defeat to herald a fresh start under a new leader.

I think they are right. In 1987, the Labour Party did not have a viable alternative to Kinnock. Today, they have an array of young stars who could stand. It doesn’t matter if there is a second election and Labour still doesn’t win – better to have a bright new leader ready to regroup for 2020, surely. If Miliband hangs around and a second election never comes he will drive his party mad with frustration.

I still think it is more than likely that Miliband will be PM after this week. He is likely to have more options than Cameron to form a government. But if Miliband loses, he should go. At 45, he may be five years older than William Hague was when the Conservative Party under his leadership lost the 2001 general election, but he is still young enough to follow in the Tory’s footsteps and have an admirable Cabinet campaign after a period away from Westminster – perhaps in the international arena. Maybe there will be a vacancy soon at the International Rescue Committee.

Warrior women

Why is it always a woman voter who is the standout challenger to party leaders during election campaigns? In Thursday’s excellent Question Time, marketing company boss Catherine Shuttleworth was the best audience member who took Miliband to task over his stance on business. In 2010, it was Gillian Duffy who rattled Gordon Brown on immigration, while in 2005, Maria Hutchings had Tony Blair on the rack over the closure of a special school.

Back in 2001, Blair was harangued by Sharron Storer because her husband could not get a bed on a cancer ward. Further back in time, Diana Gould memorably and devastatingly cut Margaret Thatcher down to size during the 1983 campaign over the sinking of the Belgrano a year earlier.

These exchanges underline two things: one, the notion of “women’s issues” is rubbish, because these female voters were angry about a whole range of issues; and second, if the main parties in Westminster were led by women, all the obfuscation and evasion would be swept away by straight talking.

Cabling his request

Last week Vince Cable, currently Business Secretary, suggested in a newspaper interview that he would like to be chancellor in any new coalition because he would only want an economic role. While this might be more likely with a Labour-Lib Dem government, I can’t see Ed Balls budging from that position. I hear that Cable is being lined up as a minister without portfolio, fulfilling a similar role to Ken Clarke – a wise veteran telling it like it is, or trouble-causer-in-chief, depending on your point of view.

Get ready to ‘disco nap’

The traditional Thursday-night-to-Friday-morning election night quandary of how long to stay up is even harder to resolve this time, because the results could be so inconclusive. Does one go to bed about 11pm and get up at 3am – or try to go through the night and catch up in the morning?

My solution, with which I realise parliamentary candidates cannot join in as they will still be knocking on doors, is to have a “disco nap”. This is a clubbing term harking back to the 1970s, which involves sleeping between around 6pm and 10pm before going out all night – or, in this case, watching the results roll in from the sofa. I was going to try this method myself before I remembered I have a four-year-old whose bedtime is at 7.30pm. I think the only “all-nighter” I’m up to these days is the sleeping variety.

Who’s been framed?

On the campaign trail in Solihull, Nick Clegg caught sight of my sunglasses, which happen to have yellow frames and dark blue lenses. “Great Lib Dem glasses,” he said. When I pointed out the colour of the lenses, he said: “Yes, but it’s the frames that matter.”

Is this a metaphor for the way he has so deliberately set out his red lines to frame the coalition negotiations? Or, as I retorted, can you have one without the other?

Twitter: @janemerrick23