Analysing the UK election

The UK’s political parties are trying to form coalitions after they failed to secure a majority [GETTY]

On this episode of Frost over the World: Malcolm Rifkind, the former UK foreign secretary, talks about the Conservative party; Robert Worcester, the founder of Ipsos Mori, and economist Ruth Lea discuss the economic challenges facing the UK; Stryker McGuire, from Newsweek, and Peter Watt, the former Labour party general secretary, talk about the global impact of the elections and the future of the Labour party; plus, singer and songwriter Joan Armatrading talks about her new album.

This episode of Frost over the World aired from Friday, May 7, 2010.

Malcolm Rifkind

The outcome of the UK election has caused political uncertainty. The Conservatives won the most seats in parliament for the first time in 13 years, but no party won the crucial 326 seats needed to form a stable government.

Malcolm Rifkind, the former UK foreign secretary and recently re-elected member of parliament, talks to Sir David Frost about the results of the election and what they mean for both the Conservative party and the future of British politics.

Robert Worcester and Ruth Lea

One group who had a pretty bad election was the opinion pollsters; most of them have overestimated how well the third party, the Liberal Democrats, were going to do.

Robert Worcester’s prediction in an episode of Frost over the World one month before the vote was amazingly accurate.

Worcester, the founder of the Ipsos Mori polling group talks about the accuracy of the pre-election opinion polls, and economist Ruth Lea, the director and economic adviser of the Arbuthnot Banking group, discusses the pressing economic problems that await the new government.

The election’s global impact

It has been a personality-dominated election, almost exclusively focused on domestic problems and policies. But what about the UK’s place in the world? Have foreign policy questions been left out of this election? And what does this uncertain result mean for the rest of the world?

Peter Watt, the former general secretary of the Labour party, Stryker McGuire, a contributing editor at Newsweek, and Malcolm Rifkind talk about the global impact of this election.

The future of the Labour party

It is not quite clear who finally won the election, but it is clear that the Labour party and their leader Gordon Brown lost. After 13 years in office the party lost almost 100 seats.

So how will the party move forward? Peter Watt and Stryker McGuire discuss the future of the Labour party and British politics.

Plus, singer and songwriter Joan Armatrading, who has long been one of Britain’s most successful musicians, joins Sir David Frost.

It is her 38th year in the music business and she is currently in the middle of a world tour. She talks about her new album, This Charming Life.