ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well now, 2015, this is one confident prediction, will be an unpredictable year for politics.  Many pollsters are predicting a hung parliament so it could be as unpredictable then as 1974 when there were two general elections in one year.  I am joined now from Andover in Hampshire by a man who was first elected in that memorable year, the Conservative MP and former Cabinet Minister, Sir George Young, a very good morning to you Sir George.  Take us back to 1974, so many differences of course in terms of our society and the political situation but do you think history could repeat itself in the broadest form?

SIR GEORGE YOUNG: Well Dermot, there has been on key difference since 1974, we now have the Fixed Term Parliament Act.  Both the elections in 1974 were when the Prime Minister decided it was time for an election, went to the Palace and off we went.  The Prime Minister can no longer do that, under the Fixed Term Parliament Act you either have to lose a vote of no confidence and then no one else forms a government within 14 days or the House of Commons votes by a two-thirds majority for another election so there has been a key constitutional change.  But going back to ’74, the first election was called by Ted Health after only what, three and a half years, on the issue of who governs the country.  We had the three day week, the unions exercising their muscle and Ted Health wanting a mandate from the country to carry on governing which he narrowly failed to get.  We got more votes than the Labour party but four fewer seats.  Then later on Harold Wilson went to the country in October and got a majority of three which gradually eroded over the next few years and we ended up with a parliament with no overall majority for the Labour party. So that is the background.  Obviously I hope and believe my party will win outright on May 7th and to some extent this may be academic.

DM: What is the thinking within your party as you go through those discussions about 2015 and how the deck may fall?  We are hearing that there is a feeling within senior levels within the Conservative party that you don’t want to do it again, i.e. you don’t want to go into coalition again if at all possible.  Is there a thinking that if the Conservatives are simply the largest party with no overall majority, that you would try to go it alone and get support when and where you need it?

SIR GEORGE YOUNG: I understand that speculation against the background of the opinion polls but the Conservative party is going flat out for an outright majority and for that reason we don’t really want to get side-tracked into discussions about what happens if you don’t get it.  We have a strategy to win the key seats that we need to get a working majority at the next parliament and therefore all this chat about possible links with UKIP or another coalition with the Liberal Democrats is somewhat of a distraction from what people in the party really want to do which is to win a mandate in our own right.

DM: Yes but of course you must be having those discussions, I’ll try one more time.  Personally, Sir George, would you be happy getting back into bed with the Liberal Democrats or do you think it might have to be UKIP?  

SIR GEORGE YOUNG: I think both my party leader, David Cameron, and Nigel Farage have ruled out a coalition between UKIP and the Conservative party so I don't think that’s going to happen.  I think the coalition was right in 2010 when we had an international crisis and a real pressure on the British economy and the pound and I think the coalition has worked well and I’ve been proud to have played a part in it but I think there is a risk if we have another coalition of this country drifting into a sort of European style of politics where you have permanent coalitions perhaps changing during a parliament and I think our first past the post winner takes all has served the country well and I hope that’s the outcome in May.

DM: Okay, Sir George, thank you very much for your thoughts, Sir George Young there, on parallels or not with 1974.