Election Surprise in Britain
[Guest post by DRJ]
Britain’s Conservative Party picked up 256 council seats in Parliament and Labor lost 331 seats, putting it in 3rd place among the nation’s parties. In addition, Conservative candidate Boris Johnson won an upset victory in the Mayoral race beating incumbent Ken Livingstone, a powerful politician who has been vilified “as a ‘loony left’ pariah within his own party.”
Except for the mayoral race, the Conservative victories are viewed as largely symbolic and a resounding public rebuke to the Labor government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The voters are displeased “with the economy, with 11 years of Labor rule, and with Mr. Brown himself.” Brown and his cabinet promptly acknowledged it was a disastrous election for Labor and pledged to listen to the voters and improve.
New Mayor Boris Johnson has been described as “funny, engaging and untested.” Educated at Eton and Oxford but born in the United States, Johnson has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, editor of the Spectator magazine, and served as an M.P. He often appears unkempt and is known for his politically incorrect statements:
“In his colorful career, the new London mayor has survived public airing of an extramarital affair whose existence he originally denied as an “inverted pyramid of piffle”; has apologized to whole cities, like Liverpool, that he offended in one way or another; and has been prone to saying things like: “Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.”
He has developed a reputation for having a fearsome but un-serious intellect and for wading into and out of embarrassing scrapes. But a man who has previously poked fun at the political process, saying: “I can’t remember what my line on drugs is. What’s my line on drugs?” and “I’m backing David Cameron’s campaign out of pure, cynical self-interest,” has been kept under a tight rein this time around, sticking to issues like crime and transportation.”
The Labor government has to stand for election by 2010 and this election is not necessarily a harbinger of future results. The thing to watch is whether PM Gordon Brown makes any policy shifts as a result of these election results.
– DRJ
Council seats, not seats in Parliament, I think.
Comment by Paul — 5/3/2008 @ 12:34 pm
Right you are, Paul. Thanks.
Comment by DRJ — 5/3/2008 @ 12:41 pm
Yes, this was an election for local council seats, an election in which Labour finished third!
That, plus the loss by Red Ken in London, does not look good for Labour in any upcoming Parlimentary election. Another facet, is that with Scottish Independence and the push to exclude Scottish representatives from Parliment, limiting representation to England and Wales, Labour would decline further since they have gotten big majorities in Scotland, but are a minority in England and Wales (re-enforced further by their losses in this latest election).
Comment by Another Drew — 5/3/2008 @ 12:43 pm
“Parliament” - Sorry!
Comment by Another Drew — 5/3/2008 @ 12:44 pm
But where do the Tories stand on the War on Terror (including Iraq and Afghanistan)?
Where do they stand on the issue of the Islamicization of Britain? It’s one thing not to be best friends with Qaradawi, it’s another to tackle the problem head on (which is to say, to aggressively promote assimilation, British values, and opposing any racism that makes assimilation less likely to take place).
Comment by Daryl Herbert — 5/3/2008 @ 1:23 pm
We here in the States call our conservative party (the GOP) the “Stupid Party”; the Tories have kept pace recently being absolutely feckless on serious issues.
Comment by Another Drew — 5/3/2008 @ 1:32 pm
One other clarification: While Labour did come in third wrt %age of the overall council vote, they still won (and hold - not all councils had elections) the second largest number of council seats. Similarly, they also still control more councils than the 3d place LDs. For now.
And while the Conservatives aren’t the GOP, much less small-c conservatives, it’s a brilliant result given the options that were on offer.
Comment by Jason in TX07 — 5/3/2008 @ 2:20 pm
So the vitamin-deficient Brits are becoming more conservative and we have Barack The-Squirrel’s-Granary-Is-Full-And-The-Harvest’s-Done Obama as a serious Presidential candidate. Maybe we are provincial. Or is that better “colonial”?
Comment by nk — 5/3/2008 @ 2:59 pm
nk, maybe London would trade with us. Johnson sounds like a kick. Obama has zero sense of humor, besides all his other drawbacks.
Comment by Peg C. — 5/3/2008 @ 3:38 pm
Wonder what Mrs. Boris is like - I fail to see how we could do worse on that kind of trade?
Comment by Another Drew — 5/3/2008 @ 3:56 pm
PM Gordon Brown ponies up some troops for Afghanistan - or he doesn’t - what else is there to watch for?
Comment by Philip — 5/3/2008 @ 6:13 pm
Look like the Brown Matrix is heading down the pan then!
Comment by Curly — 5/4/2008 @ 6:19 am