Last week’s General Election result has fundamentally changed the political landscape. The record-breaking statistics tell all. The biggest Conservative majority since 1987 and the worst Labour result since 1935.
Rock solid Labour seats in its northern heartlands fell to the Conservatives like a pack of cards. Seats that have never voted Conservative turned blue. That includes Tony Blair’s former Sedgefield constituency, while Dennis Skinner, the Beast of Bolsover and a Labour MP since 1970, also lost to the Conservatives. It’s remarkable. Even unbelievable.
Caution required after General Election
But while Conservatives can rejoice in the warm afterglow of a stunning victory, I would urge caution.
First, this result was clearly, inevitably, heavily shaped by Brexit. Traditional Labour Leave supporters who voted Conservative – quite possibly for the first time in their lives – have surely only ‘lent’ their support to the party to “get Brexit done”. And when it is done, I suspect they will return to their traditional loyalties.
That is the challenge for Boris Johnson. How does he turn his “one nation” rhetoric into reality and deliver positive domestic policies for the less well off, and for the towns and cities that feel left behind?
How does he turn a soft and cosy slogan into something meaningful and real and that genuinely makes the Conservatives a party that represents the whole nation? How does he persuade these new voters that the Conservative Party really does represent them?
Then, of course, there is Scotland. The SNP has repeated its success from the 2015 General Election and is again the dominant force in Scotland by a country mile. It has reduced Labour, which dominated the political landscape in Scotland for decades, to a rump of just one MP.
The calls for a second referendum on Scottish independence will grow ever louder. It will be fascinating to see how Boris Johnson deals with that. He has the power to refuse a second referendum. But given what has happened in Scotland, how does he do so without looking as if he’s ignoring the will of the Scottish electorate?
What of the other parties?
Then there is Labour. These are dark days indeed for Labour. I predict the mother of all battles for the soul of the party after this humiliating defeat.
The moderate wing can now legitimately say that the Corbyn experiment has failed. But can the moderate wing of the party regain control? It won’t be easy. Momentum currently holds all the levers of power and won’t surrender them without a major fight. It could be bloody.
As for the poor Lib Dems, once again they found that breaking through is so very difficult. The ‘first past the post’ system does not serve the party well. But in truth, Jo Swinson had a poor campaign and I’m not surprised at the outcome.
For now, Boris Johnson is master of all he surveys. I hope he uses his newfound power wisely.
