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THE BRITISH POLITICAL system has been through an upheaval for the second time in just under a year. Most commentary told us that the election would not go this way: the Conservatives, remember, were supposed to get a massive majority, all but wiping out Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party, and then form the biggest Tory majority in decades.
They ran the most stage-managed of campaigns, with the bulk of the UK media supporting them and refusing to apply due scrutiny. Theresa May wanted an election focussed entirely on Brexit negotiations.
However, Labour successfully shifted the focus to include basic social issues that affect people’s everyday lives.
Most polarised election in a long time
Commentators have been caught off guard. We have spent eight weeks hearing about how many seats the Conservatives will gain; in the end, they lost 13 while Labour gained 30.
It would appear that those claiming to have their finger on the pulse of UK politics are looking in the wrong places, ignoring the significance of street rallies attended by thousands in major cities around the country in the days running up to the election.
This was the UK’s most polarised election in a very long time. The Tory party moved even further rightwards under May, and at least one candidate ran on a “burka ban” platform in agreement with UKIP.
The Labour leadership moved back to its left-wing roots, a process which resulted in a radical manifesto which appealed widely and caused massive swings towards Labour in many constituencies. Crucially, Labour offered an end to the austerity that has torn British society apart for the last seven years.
The Conservatives campaigned in the only way they know how to: using the politics of fear and division. They spread fear about Brexit negotiations, the economy, Corbyn himself and terrorism following the London and Manchester atrocities.
Conservatives suffered a considerable loss
If we measure success in terms of how the result meets the expectation, the Conservatives suffered a considerable loss. They maintained their position as the largest party, but not their parliamentary majority.
Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system means that, while the Tories got just 2.4% more of the popular vote than Labour, they won over 20% more parliamentary seats.
Labour’s positive campaign led the party to increase its vote share by 9.6% in just over two years. This increase happened after the 21-month leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Even Tony Blair did not increase Labour’s vote share by this amount in his 1997 landslide victory (and Labour enjoyed considerably more press support during the 1997 election).
Corbyn isn’t too left-wing for the electorate
The movement represented by Corbyn can celebrate their successes following Thursday’s result. They have created an enormous crisis within the British establishment. Several myths peddled continuously during the last two years have now comfortably been put to bed: for example, Corbyn’s policies did not make the party “unelectable”, nor were they too left-wing for the electorate. It would seem that the opposite was the case.
Poor poll ratings two months ago can almost certainly be attributed to the continuous assaults taking place on Corbyn and his team.
The Tories – having taken their support for granted and lost much of it – now have to call on the hardline DUP for support, in what is going to be messy and weak parliamentary rule of the hard right flavour.
The Labour party is on an upwards trajectory, and its supporters will feel emboldened following Thursday’s election. It’s undeniable that, at the grassroots level, a serious political shift is underway in the UK, which sees austerity and privatisation rejected in favour of properly funded public services, and a society run in the interests of the majority.
The British Labour left have every reason to be hopeful of their chances in any future election. And the Conservatives have every reason to feel uneasy going forward.
Rob Winkel is a freelance writer.
Should be an interesting introduction for the average English person to the weird universe the DUP inhabits….
@Kieran Magennis: they do orbit in a parrallel universe. in a way i’m pleased the mainlanders will finally get to know them.
@Kieran Magennis: I can’t wait for the UK to finally experience the hard, unrelenting bitterness and bigotry of the DUP first hand. They might finally start understanding the realities of living in NI.
@Elizabeth Gregory: exactly bigotry has no place In any country and DUP are the closest you will get to find to the perfect unadulterated definition of BIGOTRY in action
@Kieran Magennis: a universe that is 6,000 years old
one homophobic and the other racist, should get on wonderfully…
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh:
Woah, hold on a minute. You can’t just make a statement like that unchecked.
The DUP are both homophobic and racist
Please replace “Rob Winkel is a freelance writer” to “Rob Winkel People Before Profit Cork reports”: http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/2016/08/irish-housing-private-developers-cannot-deliver/ if the Journal wishes to maintain its reputation as a neutral media organisation.
@BrianMcB: That’s it, attack the messenger.
@Just Me: What is wrong with demanding some honesty?
@BrianMcB: journal neutral…hahhhaaaaa
The outside world view of the DUP can be entertaining. Its an old but oft repeated line from an airline captain on the approach to Belfast airport.
“Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seat belts for approach and please remember to reset your watches to the 16th century”.
@Brendan McLaughlin: The Amish people of mid West USA, are more forward looking than the DUP.
Don’t forget the DUP’s links with the KKK. A right mess the UK will be in.
After reading this and listening to numerous commentators over the last few days I think the Labour ‘success’ is being over stated. The Tories only lost because they took their privileged position for granted and thought that they would pull a long suffering electorate along with them. If Labour had a more moderate and youthful and progressive leader then they might have even won. Corbin’s perceived weakness was a key reason the Tories thought they would get a good result. The great effort that he and the Labour Party put in saved their skins but wasn’t enough to win. If Corbin had put the same effort into remain then we would not have this Brexit crisis I think. The DUP Tory alliance is going to be a disaster for NI. The British government will no longer be a neutral broker in the North.
@Desmodromic: it’s hard to say, it’s because of Corbyn that so many young people voted, and they voted in massive numbers. Also, the media attacks on him helped get the labour voters to the polling station. One thing is for certain, Tories – 13, Labour +30. May sure as hell has been put in her place
@Desmodromic: I was rather interested in the non Scottish part of the result. If they gained 13 seats in Scotland as it moved away from being a one party state then their losses in the rest of the UK are even more dramatic- but in truth Labour are celebrating an election loss only because of it’s low expectations.
There always was a risk, and I think it happened before, that the NI Unionists would hold the balance of power and it does not bode well for Brexit negotiations either if they try to influence the Northern Ireland part of the negotiation. It needs someone strong to stand up and do what is right and Teresa May seems to change direction with each passing Atlantic storm.
@ Niall. Someone said that NI was the cockpit of the Brexit process. The DUP are now the pilot I think in that analogy, I fear they will revert to the old pattern and take maximum advantage of the once in a generation power that they has landed in their lap. The DUP have a very grudging nature and attitude (not unique to them) but it bodes very badly for NI.
The Democratic Unionist Party – democratic in the same vein as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or the German Democratic Republic.
Conservatives and DUP, a combination of the really bad and even worse, led by two dismally bad leaders. Not much future in that, I think.
I certainly wouldnt call them hard right. Another label thats only suitable for hitler. Only because they wamt to leave europe so calm the caks
@Joe Mc: Aligning yourself with homophobic, anti-abortionist, sectarian Christian fundamentalists isn’t a move to the hard right? Yeesh, I dread to imagine what actually counts as ‘hard right’ under your definition.
@Harry Whitehead: absolute rubbish, the UK is one of the most liberal countries in the western world. They have abortion and the most diverse population in europe and you call the hard right. Get lost ya troll
@Joe Mc: Abortion isn’t available in NI. And now they’ve made a deal with the very people who ensured it isn’t.
@Harry Whitehead: abortion isnt available here either so does that make us hard right
@Joe Mc: #Goodwins Law
@Harry Whitehead: The DUP will be the soft underbelly of this government. The British media not supportive of the Tories will crucify the DUP for it’s stance on social issues and the illegal terrorist support it receives. I can’t see the British government made up as it is lasting.
It would be great to have a labour party in Ireland.
@@mdmak33: I wonder what it would be like to have one of them.
What a laugh.a bunch of Irish protestants,who can’t run their own country are now going to run England .
@Francid Dooley: Since when was Northern Ireland a country?
It seems to me after listening to Theresa May after her visit to the Queen, that May doesn’t know who the DUP really are and her reference to ‘many years of working together with unionists’ was a false statement. The last time a Tory government was propped up by unionists was when it was with Official Unionist, a different party altogether.
“Freelance writer”
The Conservatives and the DUP is a brief marriage made in hell by two parties, each led by highly doctrinaire and enormously flawed leaders.
I can see the synergy between the two parties in their reactionary values, verging on fundamentalist in one case and fundamentalist in the other case, but they are actually too closely aligned to make a good partnership.
The best option would be for the DUP to be absorbed into the Tory party.
Reactionary people are reactionary by temperament; they just can’t help it.
The Conservatives and the DUP were made for each other. The DUP will make the Conservatives worse.
Bad gets worse in U.K. Politics.
Thankfully Labour are rising.
You are totally wrong there Rob, Theresa May ran a campaign based upon herself and didn’t even mention conservatism or brexit until the end of the campaign. She took the British people for granted and didn’t use her cabinet colleagues for support. She is even more dangerous to British interests than Margaret Thatcher ever was.
Loyal conservative government supporters were hung out to dry by Theresa May and many of them lost their jobs in government because of her personal crusade.
Well Rob.
Sounds like the Commie inside you is delighted with a bit of Tory misfortune.
Would you be biased?
Bitten by the cat or bitten by the dog.
They had the choice between Thatcher Clone wannabe living in last century or a crypto communist. Now they get Thatcher Clone wannabe with free religious fanatics. Same difference. Pharisees one and all.
Enjoy the mess.
Hard breast looks dead. Scottish conservatives and others should keep us safe.
@Alan Mulcahy: nice autocorrect!
Hard brexit looks dead…
The connection to the DUP will destroy the Tories. Already quotes from DUP members are spreading like wildfire on Twitter and the reaction is one of mounting horror from the brits.
@Simeon: We have seen what their hatred and bitterness has done, now it’s the Brits turn to see for themselves .Wonder how long they’ll put up with it.
One good aspect of the DUP is their “family friendly” policies. That is anti Abortion, anti Divorce and so on. The negatives are their attitudes to immigrants, Protestants (believe it or not) and the Irish and Scottish languages. I wonder will they organize bonfires in London for the 11th?
@hallelujah: all negatives, anti same sex marriage as well.
DUP, the party that can can only scream, roar and rant “No, no, no and NOO!”
Best laugh of the day: I clicked on the link to this article on my phone and got a message: “Something went wrong”
:-)
Very poor analysis. The election was to stop Tory in party fighting over Brexit. It demonstrated where the electorate stood to the hardliners and served its purpose. Labour remain unelectable – read their manifesto. What is interesting is is that we have a fiscally conservative but socially liberal leadership across the five nations with the exception of arlene…will she be for turning?
@Dan Jacobson: the DUP is certainly not socially liberal. Neither is the Conservative Party.
@Tony Daly: show me a socialist party that does anything but pay lip service to real equality … and that means appointing women to the top job rather than handing out tokenism. BTW Arlene is the leader of the DUP and the exception made in my point.
As Theresa May shouts to her party “hard right, pull hard right”, Arlene will be shrieking, “harder right, harder right, pull harder Right”.
Without question these dirty pigs with miss piggy won’t be happy till they cause carnage up north and try send it back to bad days, tramp
The TORY,s thought they would have the DUP all on board by today! Another Major Arrogant Mistake by Mrs May. Brexit might be simpler and Quicker..
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