UK ELECTIONS – FROM “COR-BIN” TO “DISMAY” AND “MAYHEM”

It was fascinating to learn about the results of the British elections, as they gradually came in from different parts of the UK, on Thursday night until about 6 am on Friday 9 June.

Theresa May took a big gamble and lost. Over-confident and arrogant, in April she surprised everybody when she decided to call a snap election hoping to win an absolute majority (326 seats) in the House of Commons. However, that decision proved to be ill-advised and it backfired. At 6 am on Friday (UK time), the election results confirmed the extraordinary accuracy of the BBC’s exit poll for a hung parliament. The Conservatives won 318 seats (13 less than in 2015) out of a total of 650 seats and 42.4% of the vote share while Labour won 262 seats (30 more than in 2015) and a historic 40% of the votes. 

David Cameron, the former British Prime Minister, immediately took the honourable decision to resign last year after the “Remainers” lost to the Leave camp or “Brexiters” in the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU. But Theresa May is quite a different political animal. Though it was clear that her presidential style of leadership was bruised and battered in this snap election, and she appeared almost broken personally as she faced a chorus of recriminations and calls for her to step down, she clung to power – and thus prevented Jeremy Corbyn from taking over and leading a minority coalition government.

After seeing the Queen yesterday as British tradition requires, she has indeed formed a new government based, as she put it, “on the largest number of seats and votes” and a loose agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a socially conservative party in Northern Ireland and one which is even more right-wing in many respects than the Tory Party.  

PRESSURES FROM BRUSSELS…?

But I suspect that she may have been persuaded to stay on in order to lead and preside over, as planned, crucial discussions on Brexit. Judging by their swift reactions on Friday – it would not be an exaggeration to speak of a coordinated response – Juncker, Tusk and Barnier probably feel happier now to start Brexit talks on 19 June with a significantly weakened Theresa May than say to have to discuss with an erstwhile critic of Europe like Jeremy Corbyn.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission President, made it clear at a news conference yesterday (Friday 9 June) that he hoped there were no further delays to the start of negotiations. “As far the Commission is concerned”, he said, “we can open [Brexit] negotiations tomorrow morning at half past nine, so we are waiting for visitors coming from London.” 

In a letter of congratulations to Theresa May dated 9 June, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, wrote: “Our shared responsibility and urgent task now is to conduct the negotiations on the UK's withdrawal from the European Union… The timeframe set by Article 50 of the Treaty leaves us with no time to lose.” Earlier, Donald Tusk had warned: “Do your best to avoid a ‘no deal’ as a result of ‘no negotiations’.”

As for Michel Barnier, the EU’s Chief Negotiator, he tweeted yesterday: “Negotiations should start when UK is ready; timetable and EU positions are clear. Let's put our minds together on striking a deal.” 

MAY’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED 

In any scenario, Theresa May’s survival chances look grim and her days are numbered. How long will she stay on as PM, and whether she’ll be able to last until Brexit talks are over (these might take up to two years), is anybody’s guess. Several senior Tory Party members and veteran Conservatives have publicly called upon her to “consider her position” after blaming her for conducting a “dreadful campaign” in an unnecessary election which resulted in 6 Tory ministers losing their seats. To add insult to injury, the gutter press – in the UK, they can make or break governments – have turned against her after they’ve been relentlessly demonising the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The terms “Cor-bin”, “Mayhem” and Dismay” come from The Sun. 

It is important not to lose sight of the fact that UKIP (the petty nationalist, anti-Europe, anti-immigrants party) failed to get a single member elected. The British electorate have rejected their advocacy for a “hard Brexit”, which was also favoured by Theresa May. Young people played a key role last Thursday. It is estimated that one million of the 18-24 year-olds voted in the election, out of which two-thirds voted Labour. They warmed up to Jeremy Corbyn, a man who, for 40 years, has been a tireless and seasoned public campaigner of endless noble causes, from opposition to British arms sales to the Gulf States and military intervention in Iraq to nuclear disarmament and the Chagossians’ fight to return to their home islands...

As we might say in French, Jeremy Corbyn is ‘à la fois un homme de dossiers et un homme de terrain’. He easily connects with people, speaks their language and echoes their concerns about austerity measures. He very much conforms to the Gramscian idea of an ‘organic intellectual’. That is why people like Bernie Sanders and Noam Chomsky see him as “authentic” and genuine.

But on election day, The Sun, a populist Murdoch newspaper, portrayed him as follows on its front page: Terrorists’ Friend; Useless on Brexit; Destroyer of Jobs; Enemy of Business; Massive Tax Hikes; Puppet of Unions; Nuclear Surrender; Ruinous Spending; Open Immigration; Marxist and Extremist. Don’t Chuck Britain in the… Cor-bin. 

For many years to come, the spectre of Jeremy Corbyn will haunt Theresa May.       

Her snap election has turned out to be an electoral and societal earthquake. She repeatedly talked about “strong and stable” leadership. But instead of strength, there is now weakness, and in lieu of stability, she’s come up with another buzzword: “certainty”. But the British electorate has long ceased to believe in her worn-out and antiquated rhetoric.