Night of the long knives

And the government by the people, for the people, of the people shall not perish from this earth

So it came to pass that the blue hue the UK political landscape turned in 2019 was diluted last night with shades of yellow, green, that wishy-washy pale Reform blue, and red. So. Much. Red.

And yet. The biggest Labour landslide ever, bigger even than Tony Blair’s 1997 victory, was on a voter turnout that was lower than it might have been. Some 60% of the electorate turned out yesterday to make their democratic, hard-won, mark on the ballot paper. 60% was only just above the low point of the 2001 election.

Would Sir Kier Starmer still be our new Prime Minister had more people voted? Probably, though the majority might have been smaller.
Would the picture be different if people hadn’t become so disillusioned with politics and politicians? Probably not.

No UK government has ever managed to win 5 years on the trot, so Rishi Sunak was always going to be up against it.

The scale of the fall from grace is quite something to behold. I stayed up as late as I could, and it was clear that Starmer was in for the win as soon as the BBC announced its exit poll, and Sir John Curtice made his pronouncements. Still, turning on the radio early doors today made the extent clear. It turns out that the old adage that you could put a typewriter up with a blue ribbon on it and true-Tory Royal Tunbridge Wells would fall in line is no longer true. The Lib Dems now have their first seat in Kent, surrounded by a sea of blue, with the odd green (Brighton) and red along the edges.

The list of names that have lost their seats grew with every news bulletin: Shapps, Rees-Mogg, Harper, Mordant, Mercer, Truss, Galloway, Coffey…all with their Portillo moments. Not the former Chancellor though. Jeremy Hunt managed what many pundits thought was the unthinkable, and, by the power of the doorstep conversation and a lot of shoe leather, held to to his seat. That’s probably a good thing, mainly because a party that finds itself in opposition after 14 years in government is going to need some old hands, a steadying voice, someone who’s walked the walk on its benches. His acceptance speech was quite something.

In 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn led Labour to its biggest ever defeat, the consensus was that they would spend a decade at least in the wilderness, that it would be too high a mountain to climb to get elected in anything less than 15 years. Clearly Starmer didn’t get that memo, or the Tories messed it up more than anyone thought possible, or the Lib Dem, Reform & Green tactical campaigns split the vote more than forseen: it could be any of these or a combination. Take your pick.

The result won’t have been to everyone’s taste, but it is what it is, the will of the people has been stated, and those who disagree just have to get over it.

Where have I heard that sentiment before? Oh yes, June 24th 2016.