4th July 2024 23:45

John Curtice hardly ever gets things wrong. I’ve seen it in the last few elections, and whilst I desperately hoped that the old guy was wrong and made a public fool, he never was. Let this hang in the air as I nod off on the early morning of 5th July. Labour is about to pull off a landslide election victory, and it looked even better with pissed-off Laura Kuenssberg in the background. It’s hard to express the feeling I will have in the morning, and whilst there is a revelation and redemption, there is also a fear, teething, nagging thought about how things will unfold in the near future.

I came to the UK 15 years back, under the Labour government, to deal with the tumultuous crash of the economy. The following year, I was fully engrossed in my studies, and after starting my job, I decided to sort my priorities and became a Labour Party member at Erith constituency. Many years have passed since 2010, and many general elections later, the feelings have finally turned into jubilation rather than anger, despair and dejection. It was awful during the defeat of Ed Miliband, then came Jeremy Corbyn and three GEs after, following the crushing defeat in 2019, I gave up believing in people’s judgement. Many changes have happened throughout this period, and I have been on and off with the party movements. Then came COVID, and the incapacities of the Conservative parties were laid bare. During the same time, the Brexit cessation was finally complete, and people got a flavour of the toxic ‘Get Brexit done’ that brought the Tories a majority in the 2019 elections. The last nails in the coffin were the Partygate scandal and the stint of Liz Truss as PM.

On a local level, we had the Christopher Pincher, by name and nature, for Tamworth. When Pincher was finally gone, and the by-election was called, it brought promises for a fresh start, a new lease of life, a new hope to bring about a change to a constituency which was historically loyal to Tory safe seat. I signed up to work as a volunteer to support the election campaign. On the eve of 20th October, when the results were announced with an incredible swing towards Labour, I felt the winds of change that might and as evident tonight will spread across the country and bring that much-awaited transfer of power at Westminster.

Yet, not everything is as rosy as it seems. That little irksome feeling clouded my mind before, and with the exit poll and election results, it has become a cause for fear.

5th July and onwards

John Curtice was right again. A Labour landslide, as predicted, was the worst mandate for the Conservative Party for ages, although some tried to claim it has done better than they thought the worst-case scenario would be. Heads have rolled, emotional farewell speeches delivered, and there are now five buffoons for entertainment values. So what’s the niggling feeling?

Oh, Jeremy Corbyn!

Jeremy Corbyn transformed British politics, as did Nigel Farage, although the two belong to polar opposite sides on their agenda. In Corbyn, I found the old-school firebrand politician always standing up for the oppressed and working class and against austerity. After the defeat of the GE in 2019, when Keir Starmer took the helm of the Labour Party, he vowed to clear the allegations of antisemitism within the party. We won’t go into the definition of antisemitism, but Jeremy’s stand on the state of Israel was always frowned upon, and it gradually alienated the Jewish labour voters. Labour has bowed down to the pressure, and when it was evident that another general election was due, they expelled Jeremy from his Islington North seat, a constituency he held for the last 20 years. Not only did they remove the whip from Jeremy, but they also fielded a candidate for the seat as well. Needless to say, Jeremy won by a healthy margin, but it brought to the fore the cessation within the Labour grassroots as we witnessed labour volunteers resign en masse to work for Corbyn and volunteers all a Rios the country helping him in the campaign. The cloud of antisemitism was cleared, but the shadow of Jeremy Corbyn will haunt Labour for a long time. It is evident that Keir Starmer is a taskmaster, but when choosing an empathetic leader, he is nowhere near as close as Jeremy Corbyn. If the differences are not settled soon, Labour will implode one day, with more progressive and socialist factions withdrawing their support at the grassroots level, as will the unions.

A tale of two states

The bigotry of British politics was no more explicit than the position taken by the government on two raging conflicts — war in Ukraine and Israeli oppression of Palestine. While support, aid and sanctions galore for Ukraine and against its invader Russia, we hear an utterly opposite tune when it comes to Israel’s genocidal campaign in Palestine since last October. The motives are clear for Ukraine; the West has chosen not to engage with Russia directly but to aid Ukraine by supplying arms and combat training. Effectively, they see Ukraine becoming a NATO member as the ghosts of the Cold War still lurk in the minds of the Russians and the powers of the West. Refugees were accepted without prejudice, and just after coming to power, the Labour defence secretary announced a fast-tracked aid package to Ukraine. All grandiose gestures, no doubt, but it’s yet to be found how much of it was to stay in the good books of Joe Biden.

The situation in the east Mediterranean, however, is a stark contrast. After the 7th October attacks by Hamas on Israel, Keir Starmer unequivocally criticised the act of terrorism and lent support and solidarity to the state of Israel. Again, a grand gesture, but the motive was clear – keep the Jewish voters interested in Labour. Not many world leaders talked about restraint, although they all knew what was coming next. For the last nine months, we have seen systemic ethnic cleansing by Israel, yet Starmer never uttered a single word about the peace process. On 5th July, when a labour MP was asked about this, the reply seemed to have been parroted from a hymn sheet – heinous acts of terrorism by Hamas and the response by the Israeli armed forces. There was no mention of the destruction caused by Israel, nor were the thousands of children killed. They will be brushed aside for political gain and party funds.

It seems most of this ‘new’ Labour is signed up for the bigotry and hypocritical stance on two oppressed states enraging armed conflicts and costing thousands of lives. It is yet another area that can tear the party apart. We have already seen the evidence in the election results. Pro-Palestinian candidates have done exceedingly well, including Jeremy Corbyn, who has been campaigning for a free Palestine for decades. A handful of Labour MPs are vocal about Palestine, like Zara Sultana of Coventry South, but such voices of dissent are rare and soon will be sent to the backbenches. Yet, at the local level, I have seen many members withdraw from volunteering during the October by-election due to Starmer’s deafening silence on Israeli atrocities. I helped until the by-election ended, as I wanted the change in Tamworth, but the Gaza conflict is also close to my heart, and on the day after the by-election results came out, I cancelled my membership. It’s a pity as I’d have loved to be a part of the rebuilding process from how the Tories have left the country in ruins, but keeping a membership would mean endorsing their hypocrisy, and a line had to be drawn. I probably still would participate at the local level, especially seeing the alarming rise in Reform votes, but not in the capacity of a member.

Mile wide and inch deep

A phrase often used during the evening of the election is that Labour’s lead is Mike wide and inch deep. If we are in the euphoric state for a Labour avalanche, we may say that we can’t have it both ways. In the last election, more people voted for Labour, yet it was one of their worst seat hauls, so if they win lots of seats with 35% of the vote, what’s the problem? The problem may not be apparent now, but depending on how they deal with their manifesto for the next five years, a thin margin means even the most minor swings cause the loss of many constituencies. It will also reflect on council elections, etc., where the turnout is already meagre, and soon, the council seats could change hands to Conservatives or worse. Many are already calling out that Labour win is a reflected glory of the massive pro-Reform swings. Again, if some of the racist, xenophobic pigs chose to shift camp from Tories into Reform, there’s no harm done. It is doubtful that after the snubbing in this election, the Conservative Party would try unproven strategies like forming a coalition with Reform. However, there could be collusion, as we have observed during the 2019 elections, where Reform did not put candidates on many seats to let conservatives have the mandate to ‘Get Brexit done’. Such a possibility cannot be ruled out, and needless to say, this country will be in deep waters if Labour does not get enough time to undo the damage done in the last 14 years.

Rise of Reform

So far, this is my biggest worry, and it’s bad enough to sour the jubilant feeling of a Labour parliament. We have seen how Brexit divided the country, and we know how the politics of hate is gathering firm ground in the UK. So far, the rise of the far-right was a phenomenon to be mindful of, yet it was happening elsewhere in Europe — in Italy, Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands. UK have had their fair share of brownshirts like EDL Britain First, but the rise of Reform to gain the third highest vote share, above Lib Dem and have a presence in parliament in more numbers than the Green Party is a genuinely alarming sign of how the undercurrents of racism and xenophobia are becoming widespread in our societies. During the Labour campaign, any visits to social media posts were flooded with Reform enthusiasts. Perhaps the swing for Reform is partly because of people losing faith in mainstream politics and parties that they are so detached from the day-to-day realities and struggles of the working class that they cast their vote for a party that has efficiently portrayed itself as the party of ordinary people. It is hoped that with Labour in Westminster, the austerity measures will be slackened, and they will be able to swing some of the begrudged voters back to give Labour another five years to mend the affairs. For the rest, who voted Reform for what they are, it might be easy to say that this proves that half of the Conservative voters are racially biased, but what can’t be won back must be tackled head-on before it’s too late. This means better policing, harsher penalties for hate speech and crimes, and investing in awareness of diversities — all these must be on the agenda for Labour in preparation for the next GE.

Role of Media

After 10 pm on 4th July, when predictions started to come in, Laura Kuenssberg’s face looked thunderous, and that feeling of annoyance has not left her ever since. There were no words of praise from the media that is meant to be unbiased, and all we heard were sob stories about the brutality of British politics, where the PM has to vacate their residence for the new PM to move in, how Jeremy Hunt funded his own election campaign, how the commentators were concerned that most Labour MPs don’t have ministerial experience. It goes without saying that if another party ruled over a gullible public by peddling lies and misinformation, how on earth would the opposition have their experience in being part of a cabinet? I gave the example of the BBC, as I see them as neutral since they seem to draw criticism from the left and right alike. Other outfits were not as reticent as BBC. Whilst on the eve of election campaigns, news outlets like The Telegraph posted scaremongering publications like taxpayers must get ready to pay tax on everything one does. The trash media like Sun, Mail, and Express went well beyond that, but it’s not worth mentioning their headlines. The bottom line is that even with a Labour avalanche, the media reaction was not positive, even amongst the deemed neutral outlets. I’m curious how the media will play their part in the next five years, and people must remain vigilant for every misinformation and every lie they force through our necks, ensuring that a libel claim is waiting for them. The fourth estate has specific power bestowed upon them, but if they don’t responsibly fulfil that role, they don’t deserve the honour.

Labour, not red Tory

The rise of Keir Starmer’s Labour surprised many, and a significant part is attributed to the comedy of errors and ghastly lies by the conservatives. As a Labour supporter, it brought in a feel-good factor, although on the policy side, Labour was becoming ruthless in crushing the dissidence within the party and its support base. A large part of Labour supporters are various union members, and on the issues of pay rise, better working conditions, and pensions where unions decided to strike, Labour and NEC went into direct confrontation. After all, although the name suggested who the party represented, Labour did not want to be associated with the disruptive bunch and branded to be rubbing shoulders with communist unionists. It also veered away from Labour’s previous election pledge about nationalising public services. Before the elections, this earned Labour a lot of bad press amongst the progressive, socialist outfits who wanted a bolder Labour, a clear transition to the left. To them, Labour became a shadow party for the conservatives and, quite aptly, was called the ‘Red Tories’. Even during the by-elections, Labour put the agenda of immigration to the very top, just to lip-sync with the conservatives, especially the heinous, poisonous rhetoric spouted by Suella Braverman and her cronies. The Labour Manifesto spoke about the fast processing of asylum applications but never tried to debunk the present public opinion that immigrants are a significant drain on social funding. Their decision to terminate the Rwanda plan is commendable; a lot more is expected from this government to see how they deal with the immigration issue with empathy and uproot the seeds of hatred planted in the minds of the electorate by the Reform and other nationalist fascist parties.

In 2019, the red wall fell due to misinformation related to Brexit spreading. It goes without saying that that swing was mainly from Labour to Conservatives with a tacit Reform alliance. In this election, as Reform portrayed itself as an alternative to a two-party system and depicted both Labour and Conservatives as the enemies of common people, it is difficult to guess how many of the seats won back by Labour were because disgruntled Labour voters in the previous general election saw their errors and voted in favour of Labour, compared to the percentage of the non-floating Tory voters switching to the Reform. It is paramount that Labour looks after their safe seats and addresses the concerns of their voters. Most of these seats and voters are working-class people, and Labour must understand that the work profiles are changing; a large part of their voters may not belong to a union and, therefore, look up to Labour leadership to represent the working class. Suppose they fail to do so and end the conflict with the unions. In that case, we will be looking at not only a Labour Party that is more neo-Thatcherite and out of touch with the public but also an enormous swing towards alternative politics, which unfortunately breeds hate towards other victims of this explorative society, shielding away the real enemies of people. We want to see a progressive Labour, that the previous leaders paved the way for — from Nye Bevan to Tony Benn, to Tony Blair and to Jeremy Corbyn — one of the best PMs the UK never had.

The election results on 7th July in France showed that wealth redistribution is still possible, and people trust them more than divisive nationalist policies. Labour must draw a leaf from the leftist movement in France and emulate the public policies adopted in other parts of the world.

To conclude

The initial turmoil is over; although it is pretty enjoyable to see Conservatives continue to fall apart, we can see the dust settling on the UK political scene. Labour has formed a cabinet with aplomb, and the real work starts now to build a government of trust amid the rubbles and ruins left over by the Conservatives after fourteen years of misuse of power, nepotism and blatant disregard towards the people’s sufferings. We will help Labour build that trust, yet we will be vigilant that it doesn’t become a conservative outfit by proxy, and they do support a future worth working for and douse the hateful rhetoric with the message of hope.