Britain’s general election was held on the Fourth of July, and British people came out in droves to declare their independence from the Tory Party’s chokehold on Britain for the past thirteen years and five prime ministers. The Tories oversaw Brexit, a significantly faltering economy, a diminished standing in European politics and global politics and, let’s not forget, Sussexit happened on the Tories’ watch. Rishi Sunak has offered his resignation and accepted responsibility for the Conservative Party’s historic defeat. I’m not a Sunak apologist or anything, but it wasn’t entirely his fault, right? This was a backlash against the party writ large, not Sunak specifically. If anything, it feels like people are still mad as hell at Boris Johnson.
Britain’s new prime minister is Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who can be seen in these photos with his wife Victoria. He will meet with King Charles today and do the ring-kiss thing and then he has to form a government. But first, let’s talk about Labour’s historic landslide:
An earthquake in British politics. With far-right politics ascendant across the English Channel in France, the United Kingdom has swung in the opposite direction. Official election results Friday showed a landslide victory for the country’s center-left Labour Party — its first victory in 19 years, since under the leadership of Tony Blair.
Incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed his win as historic, saying early Friday: “Change begins now.”
“We can look forward again. Walk into the morning,” Starmer told supporters before dawn. “The sunlight of hope, pale at first, but getting stronger through the day.”
For the Conservatives — the party of Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson and the incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — it was the worst defeat in their party’s nearly 200-year history. Prominent lawmakers including former Prime Minister Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Penny Mordaunt lost their seats in the U.K. parliament. Sunak retained his seat but resigned Friday as Conservative Party leader, and apologized to the country.
“I am sorry. I have given this job my all but you have sent a clear signal, that the government of the United Kingdom must change,” Sunak told reporters as he and his wife left the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street for the last time. “I have heard your anger, your disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss.”
After 14 years in power, the Conservatives were punished at the polls for all the tumult that occurred on their watch: Brexit, which most Britons now regret; Johnson’s Partygate scandal, in which the then-prime minister threw parties while the country was under COVID-19 lockdown and lied about them; and the disastrous 2022 budget of Johnson’s successor Liz Truss, which sent shockwaves through financial markets. Britain now has more children in poverty than any other wealthy country, according to the United Nations. Without London, it’s poorer than Mississippi.
This election also upended the U.K’s two-party system, with surging support for smaller parties. The environmentalist Green Party had its most successful election night ever, winning a record four seats — up from one in the previous parliamentary session. The centrist Liberal Democrats multiplied their representation in Parliament. And the far-right, anti-immigrant Reform UK Party will enter Parliament for the first time, with four seats — among them, one for its leader, Brexiteer Nigel Farage, who ran and lost seven times previously.
In Scotland, the once-hegemonic Scottish National Party — which has lobbied for Scottish independence from Britain — was decimated, with Labour taking most of the SNP’s seats. In Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K, the nationalist Sinn Fein party — which wants Northern Ireland to gain independence from Britain and join the Republic of Ireland to its south — won the most seats, becoming the region’s biggest party in the U.K. Parliament.
The Scottish part is interesting, but I don’t completely understand what it means. Is the dream of Scexit over? Because it honestly felt like Scottish support for independence was growing every year? Or was the Labour support less about independence and more about throwing out all of the Tories in general? Anyway, congrats to all of the British peeps who came together to throw out those Tory a–holes. There’s a scary rise of right-wing ideology happening in many European countries, but British people said no, we want a more progressive government. Good for you guys.
Update: Starmer arrived at Buckingham Palace an hour ago and here’s the photo of Starmer meeting King Charles.
King Charles III welcomes Sir Keir Starmer during an audience at Buckingham Palace, London, where he invited the leader of the Labour Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government following the landslide General Election victory for the Labour Party.
Pic PA pic.twitter.com/RYjnV8JTG9
— Elliot Wagland (@elliotwagland) July 5, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer (Leader of the Opposition) departs LBC Radio Studios, Leicester Square in London, England, UK on Tuesday 18 June, 2024 where he was a guest on Nick Ferrari’s radio Show.,Image: 882607967, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer with his wife Victoria make their way along the East Gallery to attend the State Banquet for Emperor Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako of Japan at Buckingham Palace, London, as part of their state visit to the UK. Picture date: Tuesday June 25, 2024. . NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 884750448, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and wife Victoria vote in the General election at TRA Hall, Kentish Town in London, England, UK on Thursday 4 July, 2024.,Image: 887163658, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- London, UK. 04rd July, 2024. Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, widely expected to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is seen at his polling station, with his wife Victoria (in an orange dress), near Kentish Town to vote in a general election.,Image: 887185442, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- London, UK. 04rd July, 2024. Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, widely expected to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is seen at his polling station, with his wife Victoria (in an orange dress), near Kentish Town to vote in a general election.,Image: 887185455, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
I’ll start by saying I am happy that the Tories were so roundly defeated so there is no chance that they can claim otherwise. And I’m very glad the Liberal Democrats who are centre-left have their highest ever number of seats, my constituency went from Tory to LD as did many places. Less good that public sh*tstain Nigel Farage and his Reform party have weasled their way into the Commons on their anti-immigration bile. But it’s difficult to feel too happy about the good news yet because so much has gone wrong and so many times that it feels like we’re getting out of an abusive relationship and have finally stepped into the light in a way.
I think the feeling across the country is more that it was about getting rid of the Tories, not wanting Labour in power. It’s nuanced. There was probably a heavy dose of not wanting to believe that a good thing like Labour coming back into power after 14 years could happen because there has been letdown after letdown when it comes to politics for so long. It makes me think of the Brexit vote or Trump’s win, where there was such a massive shock when the result came in because we didn’t think it would happen, so this time we were protecting ourselves by not being too hopeful. So now it’s worked out, it will probably take time to let the shock wear off because it doesn’t seem real yet that things might start to get better.
Agreed. The Tory-lite Labour Party is no great win; and the ascendancy of Ukip is alarming. The fascist threat will not be averted, until someone does something about inequality, but Sir Keir isn’t going to be that someone. Labour did a lot to defeat Corbyn, but, happily, he got elected (by a larger number of votes than Sir Keir). Y’all need a ranked-choice voting system, like we do, in the US.
With respect, I want nothing like a US system in UK politics.
In % terms it was no landslide, Labour got less than 50% of the vote. This was not a vote for Labour, it was a vote against the Tories. Time will tell if the next lot are any better or have any better ideas about answering a question and telling the truth. The Tories keep stabbing their own in the back ( think back as far as Maggie for example) and they need to stop doing this. Interesting though that much of Europe is swinging hard right.
Frankly I think they are all rubbish!
As a Brit I am more worried about who the leader of the Free World is going to be… Putin loving Trump or Biden. Surely there are some brighter younger men and women fit for the job on both sides?
The King looks absolutely awful in the photo… I don’t understand why he is doing so much ( for a royal) when he is clearly so unwell. Unless his health is much worse than we are being told and he wants some sort of legacy, and wants to try to get us to love Camilla – not going to happen.
@bisynaptic: You seem to be mistaken about ranked-choice voting in the US. RCV is extremely uncommon here in the US. Only 2 states (Maine & Alaska) have RCV for state, congressional and presidential elections; in some other states, it’s used for local elections and some primaries. 10 states outright ban it statewide.
The US does not have rank choice voting. A few states and cities are experimenting with it, but its efficacy is far from proven.
I should clarify, for all who misunderstood: the UK needs ranked-choice voting, like we, in the US, need ranked-choice voting.
Keir Starmer, has bought and sold into some of the Tories thinking, also.
Sorry, disagree Synaptic.
It’s a MASSIVE win in a country that is historically Conservative!
And the line of thinking “they’re all the same” is what got bona fide fascists in power in my native country (Italy).
ETA: the UK doesn’t need any US electoral voting system, PR (proportional representation) would be enough
I think calling them “Tory-lite” is a bit unfair. I think Keir Starmer recognized that he had to abandon some of the more radical progressive ideas if Labour was to stand a change of getting into power in the five year plan that he had set. I don’t think people would have taken Labour seriously if they had made grand promises of getting back into EU or what not. I think they did what they needed to do to appeal to the greatest number of voters. It’s a long, slow recovery ahead. Lots to clean up.
@Innie I think what the “like the US” part meant was that we also need ranked choice voting. We don’t have it (save for a few states) and having it nationwide would be a huge smackdown for our 2 party system which really just needs to go away.
@Sarahlee, I honestly have no idea how to fix US politics. But there won’t be any choices over here – we had a referendum on AV in 2011 which failed miserably. There’s never going to be another solution that works for enough people. I think of FPTP the way Churchill thought of democracy – the worst form of government, except for all the others we have tried.
Yeah, not sure where the “progressive” in the article comes from, Labour is very, very measured despite called “centre left” it’s mostly centre.
Honestly, I think this is also an indictment of the British media and its echo chamber.
The right of the British media created an echo chamber that gave the Conservative Party a distorted view of the world. This led MPs to believe they were untouchable and could behave as they wished, assuming the media would either ignore, play down or excuse their actions. They trusted the cycles of misinformation about opponents and unhinged opinion-based journalism, using it to inform their strategy, which ultimately failed in the real world.
Yes, the party must take responsibility for their actions. However, when you compare Rishi Sunak’s speech this morning to his Governing style during his tenure as PM, the difference is striking. When he came in I thought his leadership would be rooted in decency, getting the real job done but it was so culture war based, it became a turn off. But this morning, it’s almost as if he decided to be himself, ignoring his advisors, or perhaps he finally heeded advice from more centrist advisors. I often wondered what Stamford Business School thought about his leadership style.
The media orchestrated ULETZ outrage, following the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election that led to scrapping of HS2 and reduction in climate positive policy from him was really disappointing. Now, Labour has won Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Boris Johnson’s former seat—the same seat used by the media to fuel outrage, pretending the constituents were the ones aggrieved, while the media was just feeding both sides with misinformation to decrease the number of climate positive policies.
Observing and consuming election coverage from credible, respected media outlets and professional political experts reveals that ordinary people and true media professionals don’t value the British media (BM). The BM’s influence is exaggerated, as they make a lot of noise without substance. Their sensationalist, sycophantic, and hyperbolic headlines, along with fake outrage, make normal people very uncomfortable. Analysis of BM during elections, especially of The Sun, The Times, The Telegraph, Express, and The Mail and BBC Politics Desk, shows a sentiment similar to that of royal watchers who enjoy the pageantry but are turned off and critical of BM’s royal coverage. Those interested in politics and business feel the same about BM’s political reporting. More and more, people just do not believe or respect them.
Gary Lineker gets skewered for tweets but the BBC Political Editor Kuenssberg don’t even pretend partiality, she is obviously Conservative . It’s not about her political leaning , as we all have one, but it’s how the one rule for us vs another for others approach. This election result is also a vote against that media style.
Wednesday, The Times readers were so angry with the paper’s editor lead on Starmer that they had to shut off comments, and readers vented their frustration on the second lead feature—all of them subscribers.
Honestly, anyone who continues to form their understanding, opinions, and reactions solely based on what the British media publishes prefers to live in that echo chamber. Once you look even slightly beyond it, you realise it’s unhinged and disconnected from reality.
One can only hope that Sir Starmer doesn’t pander to the media or shape his government based on their headlines. They are noisy and fatalistic, giving the impression that the world will end if their headlines aren’t heeded.
However, their power is overstated, and their view of the world is genuinely out of touch and unhinged. I truly hope decency is here to stay. We can all disagree on policies and opinions, but let’s move away from disrespect, character assassination, competitiveness, mean-spiritedness, and divisiveness.
Such negativity destabilises and blocks growth, benefiting only the media. Let’s be rooted in decency, respect for all—even opponents—generosity, compassion, building each other up, and coming together for the country. As Sunak said, Starmer’s success will be our success and Britain’s success. Although really, George HW Bush said it first to Clinton when they transferred power but a good line to bring in to today’s world. Where was THAT Sunak 🙁
Good analysis,Joie
Joie Ser, thank you for explaining all of this. There’s a lot to unpack. Voter apathy is telling. I hope there’s a way to get more people energized to vote–assuming the problem wasn’t because of the voter ID requirement. The Tories are like the US Republicans–they know that the more people who vote the less their chances of winning.
@Joie Ser – Hear, Hear! , especially with your comments beginning in the second last paragraph with “I hope decency is here to stay.”
OMG! I’m reading Joie Ser’s comment, leaving out the particulars, this could apply to the U.S.media. The media is not our friend when it comes to politics. They’re routinely creating news, instead of reporting it. Congrats to the U.K. for overcoming the negativity and setting things right.
This is probably the best political comment I’ve ever seen. This needs to be shared with both the US and Canada too because BM media stooges have gotten key positions in our media as well and are pulling the same crap. Be careful when a supposedly unbiased news source is making you feel some type of way folks. And let’s all re-read 1984.
Quite a lot to unpack but agree with the overall sentiment that this was an election to get the Tory party out of government. The Tories lost the election mainly due to Boris Johnson’s poor premiership, levels of corruption, the kind of which has never been seen in the UK Government & Brexit.
I voted labour even though I mainly lean towards the conservative party for the above reasons & the fact that the Tories & the Tory supporting Newspapers fuelled the disinformation against Meghan & Harry as a distraction from being called to account by the public .
Rishi Sunak was put in place so as to take the blame for the defeat of the Tory party as a risk management tactics as they had seen the hand writing on the wall that they were going to lose the election. I am glad he got to keep his seat along with the other decent tory MPs.
Had they worn, he would have still been pushed out & some one more to the right would have taken over.
I am not a great fan of Starmer ( I think he is racist but maybe wrong) but I hope given his legal background he would be able to bring in the much needed balance in UK Politics.
A 64% turnout is hardly people turning out in droves. In fact it’s a pretty poor turnout to be honest.
Certainly for a General election, certainly the Tories made it more difficult for the poor and the young to vote, the poor don’t have driving licences or passports and the young had to use different ID to the ones that elderly Tory voters were allowed to use. Gerrymandering.
Well, it was same Brits who elected the previous Tory governments, no one forced the governments on them. They also voted for Brexit. Just give it time. Labour will follow as before. The swing voting just to get tid of some party never works.
I agree with all the comments here pointing out this wasn’t a landslide FOR Labour so much as a rejection of the Tories.
The numbers?
In 2017, Corby’s Labour party got
12.9 million votes
In this (2024) election, Starmer’s Labour got
9.6 million votes
🤔
3/4 as much? Not a landslide…
It’s also important to note that voter turnout was extremely low this election.
Yes. I think this speaks to voter apathy and disillusionment with the political system in general. I also am interested to see how the introduction of required voter ID affected turnout/ability to vote. The forms of ID required were also potentially disproportionately impacting younger voters who may not have a driving license or passport but only a travel card, which was not accepted whereas an older person’s (post pension age) bus pass was accepted.
Question. Do you think the new voter ID laws will be modified now that there is a new government?
That’s some crazy BS voter id law, where travel cards (presumably issued by gov) are not acceptable, yet bus passes are. The only reason I showed ID in Seattle, WA was to get a half-price metro card as a senior citizen. Every where else I got a transit pass, DC Metro, NYC, Atlanta, I just buy it.
@Midnight, I am not sure. Hopefully they expand it to include all useful/widespread forms of ID. It won’t be a priority yet, maybe closer to the end of their 5 year term when an election is imminent. Another useful thing that I believe all the centre/centre-left parties were supportive of is introducing the vote for 16 & 17 year olds, which is definitely something they should do if only because they are likely to vote more progressively (and hopefully see through the dog whistle BS of the right wing).
Congratulations UK celebitchy peeps. I am glad you got out from the Tory party and can begin to move forward.
It still feels surreal!
But are the Royals going to work more because elections are done?!?
Nope. Probably not.
I just watched his acceptance speech and it was maddening.
He claims Rishi Sunak must have had a hard time as the first Asian British PM?
The same Rishi who claimed Britain had no racism problem as he dismissed Jeremy Clarkson’s racist and misogynist screed against Meghan?
The same Starmer who abused Diane Abbott?
I am so angry at this nonsense.
insert Oprah I told you so GIF.
Starmer is a horrible grifting opportunist.
Acknowledging the racism that Sunak experienced was the right thing to do and doesn’t lessen the racism Meghan experienced.
Starmer and Sunak speaking graciously about each other makes me feel very lucky to live in a country that can rely on a peaceful and orderly transfer of power. I also appreciated that Hunt, Mordant and Schapps also made fairly classy concession speeches on what was the worst night of their careers.
@Kelly it’s a shame that Starmer cannot stand up for the black and brown people in his party that face unprecedented levels of racism on a daily basis.
@JENNIFER – exactly!! I think he is racist . However having said that perhaps his beef with Diane could be as a result of Diane’s connection with & to Jeremy Corbyn.
The same Jeremy that he served under as a Shadow minister when he was the leader of the opposition.
Although I voted labour, he was the lesser of the 2 evils as I really wanted the Tory party ( not Rishi) out of Government.
Rishi IMO was just a figure head with the real Tory biwigs pulling the strings behind the scene.
Liz Truss lost her seat! Wonderful news all around except for the bit about Nigel Farage. Better keep an eye on him. I’m feeling a bit envious this morning considering what is going on here in the States. Nevertheless, congratulations to all the British people this morning. Well done! 👏 🥂
Same. Happy and jealous af
Yes, would have loved to be a fly on the wall chez Reese-Mogg, yesterday. Good riddance.
I’m at work having pulled an all nighter, festooned with tinsel from party poppers, wearing a giant hat & badge & slightly drunk on “no-alcohol” prosecco (actually 0.5% which after necking a bottle takes its toll). Today it feels a tiny bit hopeful, like decent people are once again in charge. Let’s hope so as they have a giant mountain to climb.
& where was this gracious Sunak over the past couple of years – if he’d displayed a bit more of that the country might not be such a dumpster fire now. So much hate & division. & Jeremy Hunt was extremely gracious too – democracy is SO important which is why I’ve lectured some many people about the importance of voting. Don’t care for whom (although obvs not Reform. Or Tories!) but just vote. VOTE. We are so lucky to be able to do it.
Go Labour. I for one am deliriously happy & a little bit hopeful.
Now go France – do the right thing (not the Right thing) on Sunday.
Starmer made anti trans statements during the election cycle.
He’s not here to help. He will take the money, like all politicians do, & do nothing.
Sorry. I’m glad you’re deliriously happy but the reality is… nothing will change.
“He will take the money, like all politicians do, & do nothing.”
& this cynical apathy is exactly what’s so destructive & corrosive. Let us idealists have at least one day of feeling vaguely optimistic. We KNOW it’s a vast mountain to climb, we’re aware that Labour are as centrist as they come – personally I would’ve preferred to vote LibDem but tactically couldn’t – but humanity has to have dreams otherwise what …. meh … shrugs … nihilism …
I hope the US manages to summon up a bit more enthusiasm in November otherwise the whole world is screwed.
ETA: Forgot to fill in my name & don’t want to look as if I don’t stand by my posts. Pip.
I’m with Anonymous. This kind of cynicism makes things worse, not better. If people have this attitude and don’t vote in November here in the US, claiming “Biden is old, he is just the same?” We will end up with a wanna be dictator in office, a literal threat to democracy, who will make SCOTUS worse than it is.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the better. If you disengage civically, stay home on Election Day and let the real Bad Guys win, don’t go complaining to anyone when the s**t hits the fan because you will be culpable.
If Starmer does nothing more than remove the loophole on carried interest so that private equity wankers are taxed appropriately, I’ll be happy. People don’t understand how much those vultures have sucked out of all of our economies and public life. He’s got a big mountain to climb but there are steps that can, and will, be taken.
I’m sure you would never vote Reform but this view that politicians are all the same is one of the main drivers of the populist right of Trump, Farage and Lepen.
Anybody who thinks that the Conservatives and Labour are the same hasn’t been paying attention because they turn off the moment they hear something they don’t 100% agree with.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good
I’m Canadian. We’re facing an election next year with all the same trappings.
But ok, have your day. It’s true I’m 52 now & completely disaffected.
Too many tears & years of believing. So don’t @me like I’m the problem or causing trouble.
Congratulations UK! I hope trans people survive.
@Kelly – “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” – yes, such a simple statement but I think its so relevant in these times, in the UK and the US. I know over here so many dems are demanding perfection from their candidates or before they support someone and that ends up backfiring and benefiting the Rs, not the Dems.
@Kokiri, you are part of the problem.
This kind of demoralizing on the left has hurt many countries because too many people didn’t vote as they wanted to seem too cool or too perfect to vote. This is huge part because people on the left lower morale online.
It leads to nowhere except to scary backwards tyrants.
If you want to call out flaws don’t be surprised when you get called out as well.
@Kokiri, Starmer has just made Annelise Dodds Women & Equalities’ Secretary. Just look her views up. I don’t think you need to worry about trans people.
100% with Sunak’s newfound graciousness. It definitely wasn’t on display when he announced ending the high speed rail project supposed to restore Northern England…. while in Manchester. Or while he raised taxes for people while his rich wife used a weird loophole to avoid paying her fair share.
Good!
It is a great thing to celebrate saying bye to the Tories.
Guess the British people realized they were just there for the rich
Congratulations from the US. I hope we can have the same party in November. I’m holding onto hope. I saw someone online say we can fix a broken democracy but can’t go back from racism. God I hope the world is turning back to sanity.
The reemergence of Labour in Scotland has more to do with the mess in the SNP rather than hatred for the Conservatives. The Conservatives didn’t have many seats in Scotland to begin with. Labour may have won by a landslide but people have left the party in droves as seen by the success of the Greens and Independents and a lot of people just stayed home. Starmer lost half of his support in his constituency that he had the last election and Labour’s vote share is almost the same as it was in 2019. Plus he failed to defeat Corbyn. So he’s the PM but it’s a hollow victory imo.
This. People in Scotland wanted to give SNP (the ruling party in Scotland) a black eye as much as people in England and Wales wanted to do the same for the Tories. In my opinion, voting Labour was a way to do this rather than the voters positively choosing them.
Independence hasn’t gone away and this election doesn’t affect the Scottish Parliament anyway.
Exactly, Amy Bee. I was just “discussing” this below. Labour historically did well in Scotland in past decades, so there was a natural and expected drift back to the party after the dismal SNP of recent years. Does that mean Labour is a beloved and healthy party in Scotland? No. As in other parts of the UK, Labour’s success reflects an anti-Tory or anti-SNP mindset for many. This is a shallow victory and, if we had proportional representation, Starmer would’ve been less confident. I haven’t woken up this morning thinking, wow, this is positive, let the new style Britain begin. I’ve woken up thinking, the Tories got what they deserved. But that’s not positive. Starmer is on notice now – he has an electorate who don’t particularly love him and are hugely wary of where he’s taking the country. He’s got the Tories out, but what next. I suspect he’s going to hit some rocks.
This. And Labour is more centre than left. It won’t be long before all those who didn’t vote or not for them start being loud. And there it’ll go again.
No fan of the Tories or Rishi. But with the word “Sir” before the new PM’s name, I really don’t expect much different folks. I just can’t muster the enthusiasm.
On a different note, I expect Rishi Rich to dust off his green card and head back to sunny cal. Haha!
@Proud Mary Starmer was a senior Barrister (‘Silk’ or QC/KC) and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) so he had to be Knighted as part of that process hence why he is a ‘Sir’.
Yes exactly. There’s a big difference between aristocrats and a lawyer for whom the knighthood was part of the job.
As DPP he let Jimmy Saville get away… remember that. And he gets a knighthood for doing his job? That is as problematic as inheriting a title. Just hoping he changes the honours system so the people who do MORE than the job they are paid for are the ones being applauded.
Something to give us normal people hope. According to the Sutton trust the shadow government, and now the new labour government, is made up of 84% people who went to a state school, 10% private and 6% state grammer schools. This is the closest to representing the population ever!
Since 2010, 60% of the of the sitting government came from Private school (Except Teresa May)
Exactly & small things like this are what should be giving us all hope today. Let’s set aside our cynicism & applaud tiny wins like this. I know it’s not perfect but surely it’s better than the previous 14 years.
& just think about Angela Rayner for one second – bloody awesome that she’s now our deputy PM. She’s fire. I for one am going to feel marginally more cheerful & optimistic today.
Angela Rayner is amazing! I’m so excited about her being deputy AND in charge of housing and levelling up. This is fantastic. She is going to kick arse.
& not just Ange but lots of really impressive, tough capable women all of whom can kick Farage’s arse. I hate him with the burning heat of a thousand suns 🙁 I wish the press would stop giving him so much airtime. Treat him like every other new MP.
Kudos to the protestors who stood up one after another to call him racist today – seven in total 🙂
Exactly PIP.
If people are not happy with current leadership, start supporting people on smaller positions that you like.
Even a follow on social media is already helpful, but we can also talk about them to others, support their causes etc
I often hear about good politicians and when I check their followers on Instagram they have a few thousand or even less than a thousand.
If you want other younger politicians, support them even if just in the most simple of ways by following and engaging with their content.
I don’t even think this is a tiny win.
This is a huge win.
They halted the party that blatantly favor the rich and have done an unbelievable amount of crap the last many years.
It’s like you can’t be positive and have to be cynical, because then you seem ‘smart’ enough to ‘see through things’. It is actually smart to be positive and have confidence in better things, because that inspires others too.
There are a lot of good things happening in the world. You only have to follow good news type of sites or instagram accounts and you can see it.
Mainstream media loves to focus on the bad, as it gets angry clicks and it will keep people focused on irrelevant things and fight amongst each other, instead of work together to tackle projects and be energized against those who love to keep us deflated and in a sort of passive angry state.
Hi Proud Mary it’s not a family/historic title, it’s a knighthood for his legal career. Starmer in fact makes a great deal of his humble background and his toolmaker father, in part to make sure the “Sir” doesn’t put off traditional Labour. Look to the late Tony Benn for peerage status. He renounced his title. Whatever your politics, Benn was a man of substance.
Thanks for the schooling folks. But I guess my politics are a bit farther to the left than you all. To the extent i’ve followed Kier, I honestly don’t see him behaving much better than the Tories. That’s why at times he’s assumed the moniker of “Tory Plant?”
Hi Proud Mary. I doubt my politics are the same as yours but, like you, I think Starmer won’t be the huge turnaround people hope for.
I am so happy despite not being a traditional Labour supporter.
I am disheartened that ‘Deform’ or ReFUKIP (they used to go by UKIP for anyone not too familiar with UK politics) got so many votes. 4million voted for a far-right party. Ok, it ‘only’ translated to four seats, but they already are getting so much more press than the Greens who did the impossible and also got four seats.
I fear that Nigel Farage is looking to take over the Conservative Party by stealth, he set his sights on Labour now.
He is a vile individual and an anarchist – he does not believe in government. He wants to stir sh*t up and will be our very own Tr*mp on the sidelines waiting to take over. He already has a huge following on TikTok. He’s coming for the younger generation. He claims to be a man of the people but is a
Former hedge fund manager and banks at Coutts (same private bank the Royals bank at, you need a certain amount of liquid funds before you can even bank there). His ‘party’ is actually registered as a company so there are different rules that apply to it, like declaration of funds/funding 🤔🧐🤨 How he got away with that I’ll never know.
Also, Cruella Braverman is still around and probably looking to become the next Con leader. She is already flirting with RefUKIP. How a British Asian married to a Jewish man can entertain the thought of siding with a bunch of racists is beyond me!
So, there is lots of work to do once the celebratory Prosecco wears off!
I agree with Mei that for a lot of UK voters it wasn’t about loving Labour, it was about wanting rid of the Tories. Labour happened to be the most sure fire way of securing that.
Please don’t feel any sympathy for that weasel Sunak. He doesn’t give a fig about the UK or taking responsibility for the Tory defeat. It’s just meaningless platitudes. He and his billionaire tax-dodging wife will happily hop on their private jet and swan over to live the life they truly want in the US. They were in the process of getting their green cards when he became PM. He’s now managed to secure himself even more access to influence and life-long tax funded security as the former UK PM. He can eff forever.
Very much so – this was a historic landslide defeat, not a win for Labour. Their proportion of votes actually stayed largely level to previous elections – the Tories have simply lost their majority, mainly to Reform, which is concerning, but to have the Tories out, I will celebrate as an immediate win. Ironically, Nigel Farage has just provided some of the biggest support in getting Labour in by splitting the vote.
The Labour Party need to take heed – they still have a lot of work to do, and it isn’t the victory they’re making it out to be.
Rishi and his wife already had their green cards. Rishi used to live in California. He had to give it up when he became PM.
Congrats on the new government! Hopefully, Labour will be able to stabilize the effects of Brexit; I understand that this was mostly a protest vote, but it’s also a chance for change. A pity about Farage, but a real chance for Labour to right the course (pun intended).
A historic defeat!! Congrats indeed UK CBs!
The SNP in Scotland has been torn apart by scandals ever since Nicola Sturgeon resigned. Her husband, who was the party’s treasurer IIRC, was arrested twice for shady dealings. Her successor as First Minister, Humza Yousaf, resigned after he lost his majority earlier this year because he no longer wanted to co-operate with the Scottish Greens. So maybe the voters simply got fed up with the SNP.
That the Tories were wiped out although Labour only gained ~ 1.7% of the votes from the last election has a lot to do with the “First past the Post” voting system, where the winner takes all, even if it’s only a majority of a few dozen votes.
What scares me though is the far-right/fascist Reform party getting ~ 4 million votes, ~ half a million more than the Lib Dems, but right now only 4 seats. Lib Dems got 71 seats. The Greens also have 4 seats on not even 2 million votes.
Fingers crossed for things to get better, but I highly doubt we’re going to see Leveson II soon, or an improved NHS. There’s no money for anything.
Fingers crossed for Invictus going to DC next. Johnny Mercer, the Veterans Minister, lost his seat too — to a former Marine from Labou—, and apparently he wasn’t well-liked *at all*.
On a completely shallow and unrelated note, I love this white, sparkly caped dress on Victoria in the above photo.
Was just coming on to say the same thing! She looks so regal in it. She’s a beauty. I am going to love her fashion I can tell!
I’ll be intrigued to see if the Home Office under new leadership might view Prince Harry’s security case differently.
I wouldn’t bet on it. Sir Keir is fine with the monarchy.
Keir’s going to tow the line because the call is coming from inside BP.
So something that might make thing interesting. Simon Case, yes that one that used as Prince Williams Private Secretary, is currently the head of the civil service who got the job whilst Boris was in power. He got caught partying whilst lots of people were dying of Covid so he was removed from the investigation into the parties and they got in a lady called Sue Grey. She attempted to do a decent investigation but was stopped and it was taken over by the police. Anyway Simon Case pulled strings which resulted in Sue Grey not getting a job she was expected to get.
After this disappointment Sue Grey was contact by Kier Starmer to ask her to work for the Labour party behind the scenes. She is now a very high position of power and does not believe Simon Case is the right person to lead the civil service.
Things might get interesting.
Case recently announced his resignation effective next January. (Don’t ask me how they give anyone that long for resignation). That said I suspect Gray will turf him out soon but since he has declared a resignation he will keep the severance pay until his proposed January date.
Thanks for the on the ground update! As you say, things might get interesting…..
After the tories running that department for 14 yrs that case will be at the bottom of a large intray
Congratulations to you all! My fondest dream is to see America’s conservatives similarly dismissed. While wishing you much better days going forward, I wonder if the new Parliament can rescind Chuck’s upcoming raise? The idea that he needs more of anything, besides a conscience, is appalling!
I guarantee you that anything royal family related is about the least important thing on Labours agenda
That was what I was hoping, the money would be better spent on reforms. I wasn’t sure if the new Parliament was able to retract what the Tories had promised to the. Crown.
Cheers to all the UK celebitchies!!! The Orange Fascist is next.
France is actually next – second round of voting on Sunday & a chance for the left wing/centrist coalition to keep the National Front out of power again. Sadly even if it works this time, it’s bound to happen one day – the genie is out of the bottle. Allez France et bonne chance.
And it’s all Macron’s fault for being absolutely tone deaf and making some pretty stupid decisions, including calling an election. What was he thinking? No matter who wins, he has basically neutered himself as President and he’ll either have a far rightist or far leftist as PM. Dolt.
Please, please, please let Der Cheeto suffer a crushing loss in a similar landslide!
I hope it brings change but from everything I’ve read and seen this government won’t be much different. He will be owned by the tabloids.🗞️
Well the tabloids have been attacking him every day for years and today he won a landslide.
British tabloids don’t have nearly the power they used to. They are mostly just a bunch of hot air at this point and sensible people ignore them.
I despise the Tories and I also despise Labour.
Starmer used divisive rhetoric against black, brown, lgbtq and minority groups to shift to the right this election cycle so that he would get the backing of the UK’s right wing press.
He is widely hated by the left of his own party and thousands of local Councillors up and down the country, many of whom resigned in protest.
As a former Human Rights Lawyer his track record on criminalising young black men, child poverty, homelessness and Gaza are all appalling.
I give him 2 years before he is ousted by the left of the party. There are rumours swirling already that he has been cheating on his wife, which is why she was a no show to a number of his events.
Sucks to be him right now because he is in for a wild ride and sadly because he is such a weak PM in waiting, that leaves an open goal for Nigel Farage and his Reform Party to consolidate his advance into Parliament.
We are at a critical point in UK politics and what we really need now is Electoral Reform to move to a more Proportional Representation based system with wards more clearly and evenly divided, because the current system and the b*stardization of our media means that we may never see a true left leaning government again.
I do not see the sense in electing a compromised pretend labour leader at a point when the UK is in chaos, Brexit, free falling economy, crumbling NHS and public services, record number of food banks, child poverty and hunger at an all time high. We need a Govt that works for the people not against them.
& how precisely do you propose to achieve any of that? At least this is a tiny step back from the Tories & one can but dream.
What Pip said. He has a huge majority, which means he can get a lot done and isn’t bound to the fringes of his party. We can either listen to sensible centrists like Obama (and, yes, Tony Blair) and get things done where we can, or we can moan and never get anything done.
“Sensible” centrists LOL.
And this right here is why the left eats itself.
@Innie he does not have a huge majority – the labour vote has increased by less than 2% overall and he was even under threat of losing his own seat – votes in his constituency dropped from 38k to just 18k for labour. He just about made it as an MP himself.
The figures paint a very different picture.
You’re entitled to your views but at the end of the day he’s more than just Tory Lite. Labour in its current inception is old ‘One Nation Tory’ and the Tories shifted further right to challenge Reform which is the only reason Labour won because the vote was split.
The left of labour also splintered with traditional labour voters seeking alternate representation and then there is the HUGE issue of turnout vis voter apathy.
When you break down the stats, labour won because of;
1. record low turnout / voter apathy on both sides of the political spectrum
2. the Tory/ Reform vote split the right vote
3. default
Sorry to say it but he has his work cut out and he does not have an effective mandate. His mandate comes from Murdoch and Farage will savage him from the right and the disenfranchised left of the party are coming for him.
He will be out within 2 years and that is when Reform will capitalise. You cannot compare Tony Blair to this mess. This sort of centrism just paves the way for the far right.
@ bisynaptic – yep
sensible centrists indeed = we’re ok with racism, bigotry, poverty and transphobia because we’re white enough and economically advantaged enough not to be affected by those things.
@Flower, he doesn’t have to hold another election for 5 years and has a massive parliamentary majority. He has purged Labour of a lot of the far left already and the size of his majority protects him from the fringes amongst MPs.
I don’t disagree that he has his work cut out for him (largely because there is no money at all) but he played it exactly right to achieve tactical voting and this massive majority.
Farage is only as effective as the media permits him to be. We need to be screaming at them that the Greens have four seats, just like Reform. And in terms of vote share, cons 24 + reform 14 is less than labour 34 + Lib Dem 12 + green 7.
The majority of the voters in the country supported progressive parties.
And I care about making people’s lives better. You do that by winning, not moaning.
Having been up since yesterday at 5am, no energy left but to applaud @Innie
As Jeremy Hunt said (yes, I know, quoting a Tory – world’s gone mad): “This may seem like a tough day for our family as we move out of Downing Street, but it isn’t. We are incredibly lucky to live in a country where decisions like this are made not by bombs or bullets, but by thousands of ordinary citizens peacefully placing crosses in boxes on bits of paper.
“Brave Ukrainians are dying every day to defend their right to do what we did yesterday. And we must never take that for granted. Don’t be sad, this is the magic of democracy.”
& THAT is why we must all engage, not become eaten up with cynicism & apathy. We know Labour aren’t perfect – nowhere near – but christ on a bike they’re better than the last lot.
Good points.
@Flower: Exactly. I don’t have much hope in Starmer being forced out of leadership because he has surrounded himself with people who support him. The left has been rendered powerless.
Flower, no offense but people like you are why people like Farage or Trump win seats or elections.
@Flower Who are your top 3 preferred candidates for PM?
As a leftie, makes me sad that we always eat ourselves. Yes, Corbyn got more votes, but sadly not in the places that matter. To govern you need to win elections – parliamentary majority is all that matters in the Uk system. I actually think the majority it too big, the leader’s office won’t be able to ‘bribe’ MPs with their whipping operation. I give it a year until we start eating ourselves!
It’s partly Sunak’s fault in the sense that he sunk what remained of his party and led a disastrous campaign. For the Scottish matter i think people just got fed up with their main party (SNP). Starmer is far from the best choice (he purged the Labour party let’s be honest) but the important thing was to get rid of the tories.
I’m French and I was enjoying that mess of a campaign until our president set fire to our own political landscape. Now I won’t even have the distraction of this UK campaign and we’re probably getting the fascists in power from monday … great !
“…..and we’re probably getting the fascists in power from monday”
^^ Just before the next Olympics.
What famous Olympics does that remind you of ?
I truly hate the fact that history is a circle, especially at that moment.
The Labour win is very nuanced and as others have said voter turn out was low – voter apathy is a BIG problem. Labour was the lesser of the 2 evils – neither party has the leadership or manifesto to make things better for the people.
As for the drubbing the SNP got – that was a reflection on just how fed up the Scottish electorate are of the SNP’s mess and fixation on independence which came at the expense of the things that matter to the people, such as the NHS, education, schools, local services that are constantly being cut etc.. Scotland has one of the highest drug related deaths in Europe (the highest in the UK). I fail to see how the SNP can now govern effectively on their minority government – its 2 years until the next Holyrood election cycle and am not sure the SNP will last long enough. The party themselves have just lost a ton of money and they are already in a financially precarious position plus I now expect all the SNP MP’s who lost their seats to jump ship to the Alba party.
As for Labour, they have a lot to prove.
Good take, Digital Unicorn. Labour has indeed a lot to prove and I hope Starmer has the nouse to see it. My concern is actually his majority: there’s not enough balancing opposition to ensure policy doesn’t get grabbed by the neck and taken to the extreme.
Yes- the SNP have to get back to their pre 2014 referendum thinking, where competence at the things within your control was the path to independence.
This is an incredibly depressing thread.
We are barely two years post pandemic, with two major geopolitically impt wars still in progress and western democracies feeling the effects of those shifts.
Creeping fascism is inevitable.
So do we just sit back & accept the inevitable? No point voting, no point protesting, no point writing to representatives – why bother with any of it. Why did we even fight to get the right to vote – pointless. Yawn. Welcome back Pres Trump & Madame le Pen.
@Pip not really understanding your post – my post was a commentary of why fascism has crept into politics.
What are your suggestions ?
Fascism never went anywhere from WWII, to say otherwise would be historically incorrect.
The term fascism gets thrown about so much and is weakened for it. Fascism isn’t going to sweep over the UK. What is sweeping over the UK is populism, ripping right from left and destroying common ground. Fascism in its correct understanding wouldn’t have allowed yesterday’s election. We Brits woke up this morning to the effects of democracy, which permitted voting patterns some of us find upsetting but have to accept. I hate “fascism” because it simplifies politics in a way that populism attempts to; creates an umbrella term lacking in historical accuracy; as well as misunderstanding that fascism is so far right on the spectrum that it joins at the back with the far left. So, my family was ripped apart by fascism, in its far left manifestation of C20 communism and its national socialist manifestation of Nazism.
There is nothing fascist about the Labour Party under Starmer. Le Pen, Meloni, Trump, yes. There’s plenty of creeping fascism about in the West. And if Reform gets anywhere near power in the UK it will be here too. But the majority of voters in the UK voted for progressive parties (Labour, Lib Dems and Greens’ share of the vote was 53%, as compared to 38% for the Conservatives and Reform). It’s important to pay attention to creeping fascism, but the democratic election of a centre-left party in a FPTP democracy is not that.
I’m across the ocean but 🎉🎉🎉🎉 for defeating Tories and 🍸 to Boris Johnson being even farther from being PM again.
Really hope we can continue the trend across the pond this November!
I’m just so relieved the Tories are out. I didn’t realise how wearing it all was until it was over.
Labour will have one hell of a job rebuilding the country. It’ll be a long time until we’re anywhere near back on our feet. The Tories should hang their heads in shame, for a long, long time.
SO the right wing tabloids feeding the public Harry/Meghan hate 24/7 to distract the public from real issues (privatizing health care, Brexit being a disaster) didn’t work out. Congratulations to Labour.
The Sun endorsed Labour. The press is still going to go after Harry and Meghan.
Yeah, Starmer attended Murdoch’s birthday party, right? So, he kissed the ring to get here.
The Times and Mail still endorsed the Tories for this election. I think that the RW tabloids (Mail and Sun) and broadsheets (Times and Telegraph) will actually do less on the Sussexes now since they will have mysteriously rediscovered their interest in holding government to account?
I remember when I was young during Blair’s time, it wasn’t difficult for me to ignore the royal stuff in the Mail and I would look at their articles moaning about every single thing the government did and wonder “what will they even write about if the Conservatives come back into power???”
I found out.
EU/Merkel 2010-2017, Meghan Markle 2017- to present.
‘Fury’ is their stock in trade, a Labour government will be good for their business, I expect.
I think the English bullies are finally going to turn away somewhat from Harry and Meghan.
They’ll have new targets now.
Don’t like Starmer much but happy for him to have won especially in the shallow and unenthusiastic way he did. I hope it helps dispel a lot of illusions his supporters have, principally about taking votes from the left and minorities for granted, and also about Labour’s having lost in 2019 because of Corbyn’s beliefs, being a racist or insufficiently anti-Brexit! Starmer would also have lost had he taken the advice he gave Corbyn and campaigned on having a second referendum.
I have my reasons to suspect that deep down he’s no fan of the British Royal Family. He will rightly have his priorities but I really hope he does find away to reverse their current funding formula…
If I recall correctly, the Brexit vote came right before Trump was elected and both incidents were indicative of broad swings to the right for each country. I hope that this swing back to at least the center left for Britain is followed by the same in the US.
I now live in a country where Reform were polling 2 in many constituencies and that is not something that makes me very nervous as a Black woman.
All the party leaders politicking lead to this moment so I hold them all culpable in turning UK politics into a hot bed of racist politics.
To the posters talking about civility I am going to guess you are white or have not been paying attention.
Hi Flower. I suspect some on here, and I haven’t read upwards too much because I’m in a rush and apologies, don’t understand that a landslide victory in the UK is of seats not numbers. The proportional take of votes by Reform is massive. Yes, it’s a concern. And Reform didn’t really try that hard. They’ve managed to split the right wing vote, which was always Sunak’s fear, and we’ve ended up without a healthy opposition and Reform in parliament with the vow to grow stronger. A Labour landslide masks the reality of politics here. And whether you’re right leaning or left, Reform has wedged itself into the democratic fabric and destroyed a healthy balance in our parliament, which should be a cause for alarm across the land. Starmer should be worried that his victory is on paper only, and that support for him is hugely varied and hugely critical. Reform has very few seats but mass appeal. As a centre left and sometimes centre right, at times just pure centre, I’m worried too.
ps Flower. I read upwards briefly and saw your comments on Starmer. I hate him, too. Last night was a negative vote of ABCs. There wasn’t a positive or optimistic turn to Labour. It’s understandable, of course: people just wanted the Tories out. But what I don’t like about Starmer is his pretence that everyone is suddenly in love with him and Labour. This will not help him in the coming term. And like you I feel he is in for a very rocky ride. Those who’ve been around the block a bit can see that politics in this nation have just taken a possible turn for not much better than before. One issue is Labour’s loss of working class credibility; once the go-to for the working class they’ve lost that to Reform, who’ve made themselves the face and voice of the people who feel disenfranchised. I can see the Labour party getting pulled apart by members who construe their victory very differently from one another.
ITA that Reform is a serious concern esp that Farage finally got his wish – a seat in parliament. The man is a chaos merchant pure and simple and he WILL undermine Starmer and Labour in every way – he basically said this today. He is not interested in helping build a better future for this country but destroying it. Regardless of the facts that his party was exposed as racists and bigots MULTIPLE times during this campaign it didn’t dent support – in fact it seemed to encourage it. His extreme nationalist rhetoric appeals, as you say, to the disenfranchised as well as the Brexiters.
Labour and Starmer are in for a VERY rough ride even thou there is no real opposition but again that depends on who the new Tory leader is. I know Starmer has surrounded himself with people who support him but will he be able to control the whole party – unlikely as there are still factions of the far left who want revenge for his ‘purge’ of their colleagues from positions of power.
Flower, ReformUK only collected the racist votes coming from the Conservatives.
They were always there, they just found another outlet to vent their hate at minorities.
@AlpineWitch not really interested in what you had to say after what you had to say above, but riddle me this – why are so many ‘Conservatives’ or ‘centrists’ so readily happy to vote for an openly racist and fascist party ?
Might it be because they won’t face the harshest consequences of that decision.
A Conservative Candidate was suspended after being caught on a hot mike saying that he saw no issue with people owning slaves.
These are the people you are defending ?
@Flower thanks for the hard facts. This isn’t a true Labour win. I’m Canadian, I know all about false majority governments in constitutional monarchies.
There hasn’t been a true majority win in Canada since the 90s. It’s the mix of first past the post and lower voter turnout. Will FPTP change? Doubt it. Because both the liberals and conservatives benefit from it.
Thank you for saying “a historic,” as that is correct.
Many of you may not remember this, but during this exact time in the summer of 2016, Boris Johnson was elected PM.
I was on a Florida beach at a family reunion, when this news flashed around the world.
I was devastated.
I had no one to discuss it with.
It was at this point that I recognized I had done a very poor job of paying attention to the Fascism/propogada that had taken root and was choking Democracy.
It was also at this point that I knew Trump would be elected president in the US.
This began my heartbreak for the suffocation of Democracy and The Rule of Law, that I still suffer from, today.
This is a damn good sign, though.
I’m hearing rumors of Gavin Newsom entering into the fray.
Bring it the f**k on 👀💥
Sorry to be that person but 2016 was actually the summer of the referendum – Boris Johnson didn’t become PM until summer 2019. So much has happened in the last eight years though it’s bloody hard to keep track of everything. & yes, as you say, bring it on.
Totally, Pip. Johnson felt like forever. Johnsonite Conservatism, hugely populist hugely false, was creeping along, and then accelerating in pace, digging deeper into the party, ready to explode with Johnson in 2019.
You are right. I realized it when I hit publish.
It was Brexit I meant to refer too! 🙂
My partner, old style Tory through and through, kept shouting “**** you, Johnson!” when the votes were coming in last night. This shows how much Johnson wallowed in the political gutter, taking his party down with him in the process, and creating hatred in supporters, such as my partner, who were ashamed of Johnsonite Conservatism during those years. I don’t like Starmer, for reasons posted above, but heavens did I loathe Johnson. Johnson lost the Tories this election and I hope his responsibility for it in large part, which he must know, has wiped the stupid grin off his face.
Yup, exactly this Sparrow. & think they still don’t realise this – wheeling Johnson out a couple of days ago did them no favours at all. I was at an event with lots of very decent one-nation Tories recently & all of them, without exception, had made it quite plain that they would never vote for the Tories again. One of the relevant constituencies had one of the biggest swings last nights & is now LibDem. One Nation Tories have felt completely disenfranchised since Johnson got rid of over 20 decent Tories during Brexit (Gauke, Grieve etc) & going with Badenoch/Braverman etc won’t win anyone back.
So for whatever reason – whether we hate Johnson, Truss, all the Tories, Cameron, austerity – today is a very good day. & I understand all the nuances as a complete political nerd & am not thrilled as I’m fundamentally on the left. But today is still a very good day. Tomorrow can wait.
Just read your last sentence: I doubt Johnson is feeling any shame – he’s completely venal & amoral. He’s planning his triumphant comeback at the next election,
Yes. Decent Tories do exist. The one nation Tory can be a person of integrity and, at this point, a representation of nostalgia for better politics. And actually it shouldn’t be a shock to say that. The rise in populism, which rips apart left from right and determines to sink common ground between the two, wants to destroy the commonalities across some areas of the left and right, where politicians actually pride themselves on working as public servants, with respect for the common good. Regarding Johnson. You’re right! He doesn’t care. I hoped he would. The man enjoys controlling the joke. It’s look at me aren’t I silly, but actually hugely and knowingly manipulative. My partner’s background is very similar to Johnson’s, but Mr Sparrow has political decency. I attach a link to a Guardian article re Johnson. One look at the photo and you get all you need to know about him. A calculating attempt at innocent jestering has obviously been his MO for years. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/aug/08/public-schoolboys-boris-johnson-sad-little-boys-richard-beard
If you enjoy politics, you may well have seen the article before. I gave up on daily politics during Brexit, switching from Radio 4 to 3. I couldn’t take it any longer. I still read politics across the board but can’t listen to it.
Currently reading Charles Spencer’s A Very Private School and he says exactly the same things stated in The Guardian article mentioned @sparrow1. Both government and the media are run by products of Britain’s public schools which keeps everything humming along a certain mindset and explains the general nature of the tories and the BM. However, some must manage to not be completely a product of these schools. After all, Harry is also a product of British prep schools, and through years of therapy, and some intrinsic qualities of character, he lives and acts like a good human being.
61% of Rishi Sunak’s first cabinet went to private school (using that term for avoidance of doubt). The Guardian has estimated today that over 90% of Starmer’s cabinet went to state school, by far the most since 1945.
This sort of thing matters. (And Johnson is a nasty piece of work, always has been, that fake bonhomie is a well honed act).
The boarding school issue is a worry across the board (!). In regard to emotional development – Boarding School Syndrome suggests that the younger a kid starts to board the higher the prospect of emotional attachment issues in later life, a fact borne out by higher than usual divorce rates amongst former boarders. Mr Sparrow went to boarding prep at eight. He has difficulties in emotional attachment and it has caused us problems, which we continue to talk through to this day. There is also the possible stunting of emotional maturity, which is aligned to the age a kid is left by his/her parents to fend for themselves. I can see this lack of emotional maturity in politicians, who behave like juveniles. There is also a facet of Boarding School Syndrome which suggests former pupils feel more affection for their school and classmates than they do for their families, by virtue of the length of time they’re not at home and the school clan mentality. I can see this in the club like mentality of some politicians. Not all former boarders have problems but the fact that there is now an understood syndrome suggests that a lot suffer in later life, seeking psychiatric help at times, and we suffer for it in the round, be it with politicians or partners. Life with Mr Sparrow has direct parallels.
Does that mean the Leveson Inquiry will move forward to Part 2?
Not if he wants to keep Murdoch on his side.
Love that all the MP candidates have to stand on stage together as the votes are revealed. Liz Truss took her sweet time getting up there. It was a great night, a Labour landslide, a Starmer tsunami, a conservative catastrophe, absolute Tory bloodbath! Truss, Mordaunt, Moog-Rees. Happy that Starmer was able to overcome his weirdness so now the British public is able to be like, it’s fine.
I know I’ve read that Starmer is a bit of a Tory ass-kisser, but hopefully he won’t be now that he’s Prime Minister.
For all the doubters, he’s just appointed James Timpson (runs a company that hires a lot of ex-prisoners, not a politician) as Prisons Minister. Our prisons are in a dire state and this is a bold, decisive move that could work out very well.
This is a fascinating appointment: Timpson is a really interesting bloke & seems very much like one of the good guys. Hopefully the “we’ve had enough of experts” posturing has now been booted out too. Let’s hope for a few years of expertise & uncharismatic capable decent politics.
Yes, exactly. This, plus Hermer as Attorney General and Vallance as Science Minister are appointments of actual experts and not cronies. This is already honestly revolutionary (which is a sad statement in and of itself).
Just watching the press conference & honestly I’m so happy. Not excited but I guess reassured, hopeful, optimistic – all feelings I haven’t had in the last 14 years. Non tribal politics, service, delivery, honesty. &, yes, these appointments are MASSIVE & apparently Nick Boles (Tory) is working with Starmer on planning reforms so these cross party efforts seem to be proliferating – bloody obvious & something that should have always happened. Grown-up politics & I for one am truly thankful.
Also, having worked in the NHS for many years. it IS broken – it’s terrible & perhaps beyond repair. Inefficient, wasteful, no thought for patients, people working there who are unemployable anywhere else. So good luck to Wes Streeting – it’s a hell of a task – but at least they’re ackowledging that.
I think the SNP’s performance is going to delay any Scottish exit for a while. The votes were a combo, I think, of strategic voting (vote Labour to get the Tories out) and feeling very MEH about the SNP after its recent round of scandal. I expect it to swing back eventually if the SNP gets its house in order, but there won’t be a general for a while.
Now in Northern Ireland (which does have a complex political environment with a lot of “splitter” parties), the fact that the DUP (main unionist party) lost seats and Sinn Fein performed well means that some form of Irish unification is definitely on the table.
Thanks to all the contributers to this post, after reading through the comments I have a much better understanding of Britain’s current political scene and how this election played out as well as the challenges ahead. And I say that as someone who reads a lot of political journalism. Escapism can indeed be smart.
The new PM is also very pro-Biden and has been infatuated with the US growth (in most part because of Biden and his administration’s leadership) . Esp since the UK has become stagnant all these years and has entered a recession in the early part of this year.
DM and all those right wing tabs should have been worried about their party’s demolition instead of focusing on HM .
I’m hopeful for the US this year. 4th of July this year had no Trump parades and car rallies (we are in San Diego for the 4th of July long weekend ) compared to when we were in SD in 2020. That tells you what the media doesn’t tell you- as many of these voters are not as enthusiastic to support him as they were in 2020. So everyone vote Blue in a couple mths!