Every morning, I take my cup of breakfast tea outside. The weather has been miserable for the past few weeks, with constant grey skies. But this morning, there are blue skies and sunshine in Belfast. It is a suitable metaphor for the end of 14 years of Tory rule. They gave us Brexit, they and their mates looted public finances and gorged themselves on pandemic money, they ran down public services and sold chunks of the state to the highest bidder.
Kier Starmer may have all the warmth and charisma of an IKEA Lack side table, but there is no denying he has pulled off an astonishing victory. He becomes only the fourth Labour leader to win an election. His ‘ming vase ‘ policy of saying practically nothing that would scare off middle England seems to have been vindicated.
There are concerns that his Labour Government will be ‘Tory Light’, but let’s hope they will be a bit more dynamic once they get into power.
So far, high-profile Conservative casualties include former Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Penny Mordaunt. Steve Baker has also lost his seat.
The Tories have lost the seats of all the prime ministers since 2010, apart from Rishi Sunak.
They have now lost:
- David Cameron‘s seat of Witney to the Lib Dems
- Theresa May‘s seat of Maidenhead to the Lib Dems
- Boris Johnson‘s seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip to Labour
- Liz Truss‘s seat of South West Norfolk to Labour
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage becomes an MP for the first time, as the party nets four MPs.
Altogether, ‘Things can only get better’…
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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