British general election is now over, with the most corrupt governing party of my life-time booted out. It was a heavy but well-deserved defeat although it was still towards the better end of expectations. Nevertheless I cannot think of anything they did right.
The Conservatives remain the second-largest party and they did not fall below double-figures, but to pass these two milestones would be into &dquo;existential” territory. However the milestones they did pass include some pretty devastating ones going back almost two centuries. Rishi Sunak did not have the indignity of losing his seat like Arthuf Balfour did in 1906 but his predecessor Liz Truzz did, and the seats of the two prior leaders Theresa May and Boris Johnson were also lost. Watching her declaration live it looked like Liz Truss was going to be absent, and the way she turned up and then left showed a complete lack of dignity.
Overall Labour got close to a 1997-style landslide but it was only on 34% of the vote which is a shockingly narrow support base, and they lost several MPs to Gaza-related independents. This is a function of the voting system rather than a roaring endorsement of the Labour party, which could mean trouble down the line when the going gets tough.
Greens getting four seats is way above anything anyone expected. The LibDems got what the most optimistic of MRP polls predicted but it is clear they did ruthless targeting of mainly southern seats.
At time of writing Inverness, Skye and West Rossshire has yet to declare which is a close call between the LibDems and SNP, but the SNP being down to single-figures is Scottish Independence dead in the water. The SNP were in no fit state to campaign properly but this result is far worse than anything I dared to predict. The huge loss of seats also means a lot less Short Money which means they might now be in a finance doom-loop.
Reform managed to get four seats and the big story is how they tore huge chunks out of the Conservative party voter base, but had Farage not screwed up by praising Vladimir Putin the 2-3 percentage points they lost in the last week or so could have done a lot more damage. Nigel Farage in Westminster is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable.
So it is Labour for the next 5 years. It is time for them to prove themselves.