So I voted yesterday, dragged myself out of bed, full of cold, and into town to place that X in a small white box. Trouble was, who to vote for?

I always thought it would be so easy to choose. Born of left of centre parents and almost a fully paid member of the Socialist Party when I was at college, red was the colour, Kinnock all the way. 1992 election, the first I could vote in – typical that I was called away to work at an exhibition in Manchester two days before and didn’t get to do my bit after all. Very disappointing, and even more so when I sat in bed in the hotel room, watching the results come in. Tory. Tory. Tory. On and on …

1997 and a new face to Labour, Tony Blair. I voted with pride, and held my head high the next morning. Welcome to a bright new future. And it did seem to be that way for a while … until it became clear that Blair was just a Tory in socialist clothing.  Back to the drawing board.

Since then I’ve voted Lib Dem – after all, they are the most left of centre mainstream party these days, and I was a big fan of Charlie Kennedy. Not so keen on the faceless people running the party now though, but who to vote for this time round? I live in a Tory stronghold (aren’t they all now though) …

And as for the Euro elections, phew what a choice. Easy to dismiss most of the parties immediately – BNP, UKIP, Tory, anyone who cares one way or the other about the EU, Christian People’s Alliance all get ignored. Not sure what the Jury Team or English Democrats are all about, and though I’m tempted to vote for the sole candidate for the Roman party I resist the urge. A moment’s deliberation and  … X  … I’m done here.

Will it make any difference? The day after the event, it doesn’t look like it. Oxfordshire – indeed, England – is a sea of blue, with only Bristol and Bedford bucking the trend so far. I was hoping for some rays of hope to gleam yellow on the map but it wasn’t to be. Doesn’t bode well.

So who did I vote for? That’s between me, the pencil and the ballot box. But I’ll give you this for nothing, it wasn’t a primary colour.