A potential watershed in British elections

Britain is in the mood for political change, which is noteworthy in itself because this is a country that keeps its parties in power for a long time. Labor has governed for the last 13 years, and the Conservatives held on to the prime minister’s office for 18 years before that. But as British voters head to the polls Thursday, the question is whether they want to switch parties or alter their political system. Public opinion surveys suggest a Dover-scale cliffhanger, possibly leading to a hung Parliament incapable of producing an outright winner for the first time in decades. That could lead to a Conservative minority government, or to a coalition government with the prospect of more change.

The atmosphere does not favor incumbent Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown, 59, a smart, experienced but blunder-prone politician who was not helped by his recent gaffe, ranting about a “bigoted” widowed grandmother into a forgotten microphone. Beyond that, Brown is being held responsible for a bad economy and the country’s growing gap between rich and poor, Labor’s support for the unpopular war in Iraq and for what has been called “complicity in torture” in President George W. Bush’s war on terror, as well as for a scandal last year over parliamentary abuses of expense accounts. He’s fighting for second place.

Conservatives are in the lead with the fresh if decidedly well-to-do face of David Cameron, 43, who calls for cuts in government spending, tax breaks on inherited wealth and a reduction in the size of the state to return “power to the people.” But he has lost a once-commanding lead that would have given him a solid majority in Parliament to form a Conservative government. That is largely due to the Liberal Democrats’ own fresh and fancy 43-year-old, Nick Clegg, who could very well be the kingmaker in a coalition government.

This is new territory for modern Britain. Clegg has been declared the main beneficiary of the country’s first American-style televised debates, but it is not clear whether his rising fortune also signals public support for his push to exchange Britain’s winner-take-all voting system in parliamentary elections, which has served the two large parties, for a system of proportional representation that would favor smaller parties such as his. Cameron opposes the change, and Brown has promised a referendum on the issue, which seems a sensible way to go. Either one probably would need Clegg’s support to form a government or run one. This is a genuinely exciting and potentially pivotal election for Britain.