Obligatory "On the British Election" Post

My only halfway interesting thought on the recent British election: British voting patterns are an interesting example of the strange dual status of Great Britain, both European and Anglospheric. They have a first-past-the-post voting system, like the United States, but have a European-style party system, with three major parties and a smattering of minor/regional parties. Which is why Labor was able to turn a relatively modest popular vote plurality (35.2% vs 32.3% Conservative and 22% Liberal Democrat) into a fairly sizeable majority among MPs (356-197-62). They just had to narrowly win a large number of three-way races to give Tony Blair (and, soon enough, Gordon Brown) quasi-dictatorial power in a country where almost 65% of voters went with another party.

I suppose this odd pastiche of electoral systems is just part of what makes Britain Britain, but I can't help but wonder if they wouldn't have a healthier political system if they just picked one or the other and went for it whole-hog. (On the other hand, the United States and Germany aren't exactly shining examples of the uncorrupted polis, either. Maybe it's time to give divine right monarchy another try?)