The Record After 12 Years

This morning I'm back at the internet cafe, instantly refreshed by a double cortado and a small glass of aguardiente. The reason for my popping in to face Rafael again is that I completely forgot to file a note of congratulations to The Great Leader on twelve years as "El Patrón".

To commemorate this anniversary it's worth reviewing his relative success compared with previous party leaders. One objective way to do this is to look at the results obtained by leaders in General Elections in ranked order:

Leader - Elections fought - Average number of seats won
Blair - Played 3, won 3 - 395
Thatcher - Played 3, won 3 - 371
Macmillan - Played 1, won 1 - 365
Eden - Played 1, won 1 - 345
Bonar Law - Played 1, won 1 - 344
Major - Played 2, won 1 - 251
Baldwin - Played 5, lost 3 - 357
Heath - Played 4, lost 3 - 289
Churchill - Played 3, lost 2 - 260
Douglas-Home - Played 1, lost 1 - 304
Howard - Played 1, lost 1 - 198
Hague - Played 1, lost 1 - 166

The numbers speak for themselves.