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He was not elected out of great love, but out of lack of options and a useful vote separation from the reformist party.
Published on 06-07-2024 • Last updated 0 minutes ago • 4 minutes reading
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British Columbia had the Hope Slide, Alberta had the Frank Slide and on Thursday night the UK had the Labour Slide. Keir Starmer and his Labour Party defeated Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, winning a massive majority of 412 seats to the Tories’ 121 seats.
In third place were the Liberal Democrats with 71 seats, and Nigel Farage’s new Reform Party now has a vote in parliament with five seats.
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But the top two are what count. While not as bad as some polls suggested, the result is nevertheless the worst defeat the Conservatives have ever suffered.
As other Western democracies reverse course after years of left-wing, woke politics that led to poor economic performance, the United Kingdom stands out as a strange anomaly, having handed the reins over to a party that still clings to many of the worst ideas of the past 25 years.
Part of the reason for this is that the British Conservative Party was no longer really conservative on many issues. It was, to borrow an American phrase, conservative in name only.
Voter fatigue after 14 years of Tory rule undoubtedly played a part, but on issue after issue the Tories showed that their current incarnation had very little to do with traditional Conservative values. Centre-right voters had had enough and voted for Farage and Reform, splitting the right-wing vote.
Of the many major shifts currently underway in Western politics, one of the most striking is that people are voting less on the basis of economic principles and more for parties that reflect or defend their values. The culture wars have accelerated this trend.
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In the UK, this shift first became apparent during Brexit, and reappeared in 2019 when the normally solid “Red Wall” of the Midlands and Northern England suddenly turned Tory blue, bringing Boris Johnson to power with a large majority.
The Red Wall turning blue has been analyzed to death, but the most persuasive and insightful arguments come from columnist Rod Liddle. He grew up in Teesside, in the north of England, and his columns reflect a person who feels in his bones what makes northerners and working-class Britons tick.
He has consistently made the point that the working class of the North voted Conservative in 2019 because the Tories were the only party that didn’t call them idiots for voting for Brexit. They also believed the Conservatives would stand up to shouting activists telling them a woman could have a penis, and would slow down illegal immigration.
While the Tories did indeed deliver Brexit, on other cultural and political issues the Conservatives often took the easiest, least controversial route. Control over immigration and the UK’s borders, one of the main supposed benefits of Brexit, never happened. In fact, immigration increased — and voters noticed.
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The Conservatives also rarely had the inclination to stick their heads above the parapet when it came to identity politics when the baying hordes on Twitter stormed the gates. Admittedly, it was a difficult time to be in the public eye on such issues.
The government’s first response, however, has always been to bow to the altar of identity politics, rather than take a hard line on the claim that the UK is a uniquely horrible and racist country, or that children should be given puberty blockers.
As statues were toppled in 2020 and Britain’s entire history was vilified by a small, whining, active minority, the Conservatives did very little to stand up for those who did not believe this was the way for British society to move forward. Although some have recently made their voices heard, it was simply too little, too late.
There are lessons in the Tory punishment for conservative politicians in many countries — particularly English-speaking countries — who have been hit by the scourge of identity politics. The lesson is simple: hold on tighter to your conservative values.
The importance of adhering to your moral and ethical principles has become even clearer since October 7. Far-left activists who see racism and hatred in everything that moves, but who could not unequivocally condemn Hamas for its murderous havoc in Israel, have lost all credibility.
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Their hypocrisy has been exposed and an accusation of racism or intolerance from that group should be given as much credibility and attention as a flagrant village idiot talking about quantum physics.
Keir Starmer now has a huge, historic majority in Westminster. Yet it is based on the smallest share of the vote of any modern prime minister. Starmer was elected with his overwhelming majority, it seems, not out of love, but out of a lack of options and a useful vote split from Farage’s Reform.
And perhaps herein lies the real question for the coming years: if Labour fails, where will the electorate go to find someone they trust? If Starmer fails, voters will not move further left, raising the real possibility that in five years’ time the door will be open to the populist right currently embodied by Nigel Farage.
With 121 seats, the Tories could stage a comeback — perhaps even with Farage’s Reform part of the equation. How they manage their reconstruction will determine whether the UK’s political future will be as divided and vicious as the US, or whether it returns to the serious business of solid, old-fashioned British conservatism.
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Adam Pankratz is a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.
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