The 6 May election bonanza, a rich stew of
by-election, English local elections, mayoralty contests, Scottish and Welsh
devolved parliamentary elections, produced feasts for some, thin gruel for
others and fragrant mouthfuls for yet others. It allowed 3 of the 4 home
countries to let off their political steam, Covid-suppressed since 2019, and it
took updated temperatures of the UK’s changing mood and sentiment.
First, let there be no doubt that 6 May was a
huge triumph for Boris Johnson and his Conservatives. His strategy of
“levelling up” in the English regions, defying the opinion of metropolitan elites,
has been vindicated.
Boris rubs elbows with the
victor of Hartlepool
The 2019 general election had seen the
Conservatives breach the Labour “red wall” in the North. These elections saw
even more local authorities in the North turn blue – Co. Durham, Teesside,
bastions of working-class England. Much of the Midlands and most of the South
is steadily blue. Boris, folksy and outgoing, seems to cast an electoral magic
attracting the most unlikely groups of voters. Astonishingly, Boris chalked up
a landslide victory in depressed Hartlepool’s by-election, once one of Labour’s
safest Westminster seats. There is precious little in Boris’ own background or
behaviour to explain this enchantment, but it is real. Boris personally has
become an immense electoral asset for the Conservative cause and, to the dismay
of his many sneering detractors, his leadership position is probably safe for
years. Well played, Boris!
Labour have had a very uncomfortable set of
results. Sir Keir Starmer sits in the hottest of hot seats. Leader of the
Opposition and of the Labour Party since April 2020, worthy lawyer Starmer has
little charisma or political touch and his Party will take a long time to bury
public memories of erstwhile Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s 5-year term and his extreme
left-wing agendas. Most voters have turned their back on Labour and Starmer is drenched
with Wokery, illiberalism and “progressive” claptrap, light-years away from the
concerns of ordinary British people. Do not suppose the electorate will forget
the shameful sight of Starmer with Angela Rayner “taking the knee” as they abase
themselves at the behest of the BLM agitators, so alien to the UK world-view.
National Embarrassment: Keir Starmer
and Angela Rayner “take the knee”
Although Labour is on the ropes, it is by no
means down and out. It held Wales quite comfortably, a reward for Mark Drakeford’s
confident management of the pandemic. It lost Council seats but its haul in the
English mayoralty contests was impressive. Sadiq Khan held on to London, Andy
Burnham won Greater Manchester and is maybe Starmer’s heir-apparent, Tracy
Brabin was the new West Yorkshire mayor and Dan Norris seized West of England
from the Tories. Conservatives Ben Houchin and Andy Street won in Teesside and
West Midlands respectively, historically Labour territory. The Conservatives
will fancy their chances of winning the by-election at Batley and Spen, vacated
by Tracy Brabin and the old Yorkshire seat of Jo Cox MP murdered by a
right-wing terrorist in 2016. If Labour loses, Starmer will surely be doomed.
Alas, in one part of the UK Boris’ magic does
not work. The SNP swept to their 4th successive Scottish Parliament
victory and are sitting pretty for another 5 years.
Cocky Nicola Sturgeon
Needing 65 of the 130 seats for an overall
majority, the SNP won 64, but there is an independence referendum majority as
the 8 Greens support that Nationalist cause. The Conservatives held their vote
with 31 seats and Labour won only 22 (down 2). The LibDems scraped 4 and
ex-First Minister Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party got nowhere (thank goodness). Solid
Douglas Ross, the new Tory leader, did not enthuse the masses and Labour’s
leader, likeable Anas Sanwar, failed to galvanise his vote.
All the crowing in Scotland was done by my bête noire,
Nicola Sturgeon. She is a very irritating person (we Scots call her “a wee
nyaff”), cocksure and fanatical. Her party’s dominance is a grave threat to the
Union and the prosperity of the UK. The SNP government has a mediocre record
and depends heavily on UK subsidies. There has not been an informed debate on
how Scotland would function if it left the Union. It is a classic clash between
the head and the heart and Boris probably hopes that sentiment will change as
he brings all the UK back to prosperity in the next few months. A solution
requires state-craft of a high order or we may experience the agony of
insurrection, suppression, East-West partition and generations of
inter-communal enmity, a dark cloud indeed.
This is a dystopian vision and all Britons of
good- will must work together to avoid it becoming a reality.
SMD
11.05.21
Text Copyright© Sidney Donald
2021
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