Tony! Tony! Tony!
Posted on May 11, 2007 by Richard Beddard
Filed Under Markets |
The table shows how much £1,000 would be worth, if it we’re only invested in shares when the Conservative Party was in power (Con-Port) and if it we’re only invested when the Labour Party was in power (Lab-Port). I’ve updated it to reflect yesterday’s prices, which show the Labour Portfolio standing at £4,581 and the Conservative at £18,639.
While it looks like Maggie trounces Tony, and Conservatives trounce Labour to a degree they can only dream of in elections, up until 1979 the Labour portfolio beat the Conservative Portfolio despite Labour having governed for fewer years. There have been 35 Conservative years since the war, and 27 Labour years.
But Stephen says the stock market’s a pretty blunt instrument for assessing governments, let alone prime ministers:
Strictly, I suppose one shouldn’t expect too much correlation between PMs and the stock market. PMs usually don’t stick around for that long, while changes made by governments can take many years to filter through to the economy, and the stock market is supposed to be anticipating the economy many years into the future.
Footnotes:
- I’ve enthused about the UK Stock Market Almanac before. This table was from the 2005 edition. You can buy this year’s here, and at all good financial booksellers!
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