Two big winners have emerged from the British elections. First and foremost, Labour leader Keir Starmer who has been beaming broadly from the moment the results started pouring in.
The second is the populist flamethrower Nigel Farage who has finally made his way into the House of Commons after eight tries – the joke about him was he was always standing for election and never sitting in parliament. His far-right Reform Party won only four seats and not the predicted 13. But Farage, a Donald Trump fan, is a one-man band only worried about himself.
There’s a third winner too -- the perennially also-ran Liberal Democratic Party which watched in frank amazement as its seat tally shot to 71 from 11 in the last parliament.
But there’s a red light over these results. The Liberal Democrats collected only 12 per cent of the vote. Farage’s Reform Party picked up just four seats but got a 14-per-cent vote share. And the Labour Party was able to rake in 412 seats or 65 per cent of the seats after winning only 34 per cent of the vote. That’s one of the vagaries of the first-past-the-post system that exists both in Britain and also India.
What about the losers in the 2024 general election? After the Conservatives who lost more than 200 seats amid voter anger over 14 years of economic stagnation, growing poverty, corruption and Covid scandals, it was probably the Scottish Nationalist Party. The SNP had 48 seats in the last parliament and now finds itself left with only 10. Labour snapped up most of the seats lost by the SNP. Scottish independence may not now be buried totally but it certainly has been pushed to the back-burner. Scotland also produced a new Asian face who will play a more prominent role in the coming years – Anas Sarwar, Labour’s Scottish leader who can claim credit for the party’s success north of the border.
The great mystery that will unfold in the coming days is what Starmer intends to do with the giant mandate his party has won. He’s an unusual leader – more the lawyer that he was till quite recently, rather than a glad-handing politician – and he has played his cards extremely close to his chest. Political analysts who know him say he’s a doer and hated his time in Opposition. But, as Opposition leader, he was able to ruthlessly ‘turn the party inside out’, ridding it of radical left elements, with relatively little fuss.
Starmer declared that the change will begin immediately but added that it would take time. “Our country needs a bigger reset,” he warned. Nevertheless, he pointed out that nobody should expect instant results. “Changing a country is not like flicking a switch. It can’t be delivered soon,” was the clear message he sent out. But he hasn’t really revealed more than that.
Writing before the results came in, analyst Adrian Wooldridge of Bloomberg warned: “On July 4, the British people are likely to do something remarkable: hand the Labour Party almost absolute power without subjecting it to even rudimentary scrutiny.” Labour is determined to improve public services but to do that they will almost certainly be forced to raise taxes. That’s also bound to anger the public.
Sunak, who has been universally derided in recent weeks, received a considerable amount of praise for his graciousness on his last day as prime minister. Speaking his last words from Downing Street, he declared penitently: “To the country, I would like to say first and foremost I am sorry. I take responsibility for this loss.”
Even Starmer went out of his way to praise Sunak, saying that as the first British Asian prime minister he had to put in extra effort and that would be recognised. He added: “We recognise the hard work he put in.” Sunak insisted that he would be returning to his Yorkshire constituency after handing in his resignation. This was an indirect way of answering the charge that he would soon spend a large chunk of his time in his California home.
Several Conservative ‘Big Beasts’ were felled by the voters. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss lost her constituency by a narrow margin. Another top Conservative Penny Mordaunt, who was hoping to stand for party leader, was also turfed out by voters. About 40 ministers have been sent to the exit. Sunak says he will stand down as the Conservative Party boss when the party is ready to select a new leader.
British voters are extremely tribal and there are many Conservatives who cannot abide the thought of voting for the Labour Party. Instead, the more moderate amongst them tossed in their lot with the Liberal Democrats. The more right-wing marked their voting cards for Farage’s Reform Party.
The man – after Starmer – who will need to be watched in the coming months and years is undoubtedly Farage. The staunchly right-wing, anti-immigration politician has picked up the votes of disgruntled Conservatives. Today, Farage declared he would be aiming at Labour voters, “Half the vote is an anti-Conservative vote. Now we are going after the Labour vote.” He has an ability to grab headlines and it’s almost certain he will be one of the loudest voices in the new parliament.
The election pundits were hurriedly scanning the history books to check if the Conservatives had ever suffered such a crushing defeat -- it seems it's their worst. In 1997, Tony Blair managed to grab more seats. In 1945, after leading his nation to an enormous war victory, Sir Winston Churchill was tossed out of power and Labour won a huge victory. Astonishingly, London has been carved up between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives couldn’t even pick up one seat in the giant capital.
Was it a promising omen? It had been a miserable, drizzly morning but the sun popped out just before Starmer arrived at Buckingham Palace.
Larry the Cat has seen seven prime ministers since the time he moved into 10, Downing Street. The 16-year-old mouser was snoozing in front of the battery of cameras and press people from around the world. Larry’s seen it all and maybe he has the right attitude.
