Waking up on Friday 5th July felt like a coronation was unfolding of a new King. Not sure King Charles III has been made aware, but there is a new sheriff in town now.
On first look the results are truly astonishing for Labour and Keir Starmer. As I write this column Labour have 412 seats to the Tories that have 121. Most commentators will all too easily run with the standard rhetoric just regurgitating commentary from social media and other media outlets. My take will be different, as usual.
Let’s get the facts right.
Chart courtesy of the BBC
The chart exposes a horrible truth about these results. Labour with ONLY 34% vote share commands 64% of the actual seats. The Conservatives with 24% of the vote share secured only 18% of the seats. Only the LDs managed to secure the number of seats that represented their vote share accurately.
Let me put this another way. If you combine the vote share of Conservatives and Reform, it totals 38% (4% more than Labour). However, when you add up the number of seats they have secured collectively, it totals only 19%. Nigel Farage and the Reform Party took away votes from the Conservatives, but in so doing they ensured the Labour Party won the general election with only 34% of the popular vote. 66% of the voters did not vote for Labour. Remember, Labour questioned the legitimacy of BREXIT which got 52% of the popular vote. I guess securing power with only 34% changes the moral compass of politicians all too easily.
All Nigel Farage has achieved was to establish Keir Starmer as the Prime Minister. Reform itself remains irrelevant when it comes to British parliamentary politics. In parliament, Reform and Farage will not be able to affect anything with their five seats.
Nigel and those on the very right need to reflect on their madness to feed their personal egos. The negligence of Nigel Farage in using his form of extreme rhetoric to fire up the deluded voters won him momentary stardom, but in so doing, he lost the battle and the war. The nose is well and truly cut to spite one’s own face.
Going back to HRH King Starmer, and I say that as a tongue in cheek remark, since his majority is such that he might as well be the king, with such strength in seat numbers comes great responsibility. This will now become a huge test for Starmer and Labour. Get this mandate wrong and in the next election, the voters will take vengeance.
I have had reservations about Labour and Starmer for a very long time, and I have expressed those with my customary shyness!
However, I do have hope for the new government and Keir Starmer. I hope Keir:
- Ensures our borders are secured. That illegals are repatriated and not allowed to stay. That he does not create special visas for conflict zones like Palestine.
- Ensures that direct or indirect taxes do not rise.
- Ensures that NHS waiting times are reduced significantly.
- Ensures that Police numbers increase significantly as per his rhetoric.
- Ensures crime is reduced significantly as per his rhetoric.
- Ensures that at least 2.5% of GDP is spent on our armed forces as per his promise.
- Ensures that affordable housing becomes available to everyone as trumpeted by Labour pre-election.
- Ensures that our energy costs are reduced significantly.
- Ensures that a Royal Commission is set up immediately to investigate every aspect of the grooming gang’s fiasco, and to hold all politicians and public bodies negligent in their duty of care to account.
- Ensures that antisemitism and anti-Hindu hatred that is on the rise is stamped out.
The list is not exhaustive. It gives a flavour of what was promised by Labour, and now it’s time to hold them to account.
I have hopes, just like you and countless millions more. In his victory speech the prime minister said he wants to make sure that his government is one for all citizens. In that spirit I will give him time to prove that he and Labour have truly changed. His campaign slogan was to bring about change. To do that, we need to see a massive change in Labour and its politicians. I have had little confidence in Labour, and that will remain until I see verifiable evidence that they are deserving of my trust. It is now for the new Prime Minister to put to power his words, so his actions show us he can be trusted.
The first 100 days are his honeymoon, let me assure you day 101 every action, or inaction, will be scrutinised and there will be no place to hide. Blaming the previous government is not a viable excuse for not delivering on promises made during the election campaign.
I have a hope, a hope that the Prime Minister will prove me wrong. I hope he does so with such assurance that I am forced to write my column in praise of the Prime Minister and the Labour government. I am ready to change my view of the Prime Minister and Labour, but I need solid reasons to do so. Give me that reason Keir. For the sake of our nation, please prove me wrong.
