'We shouldn’t pretend that this is a famous victory. It is good, as far as it’s gone, but it’s not going to be good enough. Five years of Conservative government: I just can’t, I’m afraid, be a cheerleader for that particular outcome because this was an open goal for all of us. We should have been getting in there.'
Prime Minister Teresa May's campaign was poor but her voting turn out for the Tory Party of 13.6 million votes, some 42.45% of the voting population, was higher than two of the three Thatcher victories in the 1980s. May's Tories did not offer an 'open goal'. She thought that would do much better because she thought she would roll up UKIP's votes, she believed Corbyn was failing, and that most of Corbyn's MPs were against him. But even though May was wrong on one of those three points she did still not crash the Tory vote. May picked up the bulk of UKIP voters. She scored much higher than Cameron, the previous Tory Prime Minister in both of his elections.
Meanwhile Corbyn's parliamentary opponents in Labour managed to fall silent for a few weeks (only because they thought Corbyn would more easily removed if they did.) But Corbyn's Labour still did much better than expected. In other words, starting from a 20 point gap, Labour leader Corbyn's 12.8 million votes, with some 40% of the voting population, a 9.5% higher proportion than previous Labour leader - Ed Milliband's - efforts, was an astonishing triumph in its own right.
This is the reason why Labour's parliamentary right wing now stands defeated on both fronts. They hoped that Corbyn would crash and burn. But Corbyn's leadership and his left Manifesto won over millions, not because of May's undoubted weaknesses as her own vote showed, but because Corbyn's Labour Party with a new left policy is on the ascendant in new sectors of the population despite all the obstacles that have been placed in its path. Labour's right wing can no longer claim that Corbyn is a 'looser' or that Blair's liberal capitalism is the only way that Labour might succeed.
Some other significant pointers show a remarkable trend - particularly in Southern England and London most especially. Kensington is an affluent London Borough and not all of Labour's success can be put down to the majority of EU 'retainers' there. There were other much more direct options for such a voting intention. Labour's manifesto was popular on many Kensington doorsteps. Less well publicised is the astonishing success of Louise Irvine, the convener of the successful 'Defend Lewisham Hospital' in her campaign in Surrey South West Constituency, the 'seat' of Tory Health Minister James Hunt and a Tory certainty. Irvine came second with 20% of the votes (12,093) and an increase since the 2015 election of 11.5% against Hunt, who lost 4.1% of his vote compared with 2015. Events like these begin to give a shape about the real meaning of the election.
The June 8 UK General Election should not go down as Prime Minister May's mistake, or the result of 'open goals'. The substance of the matter is that a new political force has now moved centre stage. The results of the election in Scotland and in Norther Ireland are sufficiently different to require separate consideration, but in England and to a lesser extent Wales, millions of young people have started to move leftward.
It was already the case that following the student rebellion of 2010 - 12 and the major, youth-dominated march of at least 100 000, which took place, days after the Tory success against Ed Milliband's Labour in 2015, that tens of thousands had become active in the anti-austerity movement led by the Peoples Assembly. With Corbyn's challenge for the leadership inside the Labour Party came a movement led by young people into Labour to support Corbyn. What the June 8 election shows that now millions simultaneously believe that a left policy is necessary for the country, that austerity is wrong and that Corbyn best expresses their outlook on the economy, on austerity and social services and on war.
The reason why Britain (including establishment pillars like the 'Economist') feel that Corbyn's Labour has won and May has lost is not just because May will obviously fall, but because the initiative, the direction of the country has changed. The 'Economist' wanted the election to open out the prospects of a new party, one which can draw together 'liberal capitalism', defend globalisation, that can produce a British Macron in a 'radical centre' party, from the dispossessed Labour Blairites and the disappointed Tories. Instead they have witnessed the birth of quite a different 'new party'; a genuinely new Corbyn led Labour Party, that is both radical and which potentially holds the political leadership of society - not based on disaffected MPs - but led by millions of young people.
And that is the core of the coming weeks and months. This new force in all its facets must go into action. Out on the streets, in the workplaces, schools, colleges and universities, the job now is to bring down the rotten remnants of May's dying Tories. A huge social movement can now topple the Tories - with a real alternative to win. Bring down the government is the watchword. Take action on the streets, in the parks, across the cities and through the country is the means. Taking the leadership of society is the goal.
No comments:
Post a Comment