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Published on The Brussels Journal (
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Britain: Going Right Again?
By A. Millar
Created 2008-05-06 09:31
A few days ago Britain?s ?democratic socialist? Labour government suffered a crushing defeat in council elections in England and Wales. Losing well over 300 seats, it was the party?s worst election performance for 40 years, under our unelected representative, prime minister Gordon Brown. The Liberal Democrats made gains, as did the British National Party (BNP), though the Conservatives easily came out on top, with an enormous win of 256 additional councilors. Equally important, Conservative MP Boris Johnson was elected to the much-coveted position of London mayor.
Johnson has an unusual background for a British politician, and is consequently something of a maverick. He was born in New York (and was a U.S. citizen until recently); his early education was at Brussels, and later education at Oxford. The platinum blond politician has various nationalities in his background, including Turkish (his great-grandfather was briefly interior minister under Ahmed Tevfik Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire) and English.
Upbeat yet modest, politely noting Livingstone?s achievements while talking of the improvements that he would make to London as mayor, the tone of Johnson?s acceptance speech expressed the optimistic mood that such dramatic election results had created. Plenty of references to drinking also let us know that he is an old-fashioned, true-blooded conservative.
Curiously, both Johnson and leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron claimed that their success was due to changes the party had made. Johnson said in his acceptance speech:
I don?t for one minute believe that this election shows that London has been transformed into a conservative city, but I do hope it does show that the Conservatives have changed into a party that can again be trusted ? after 30 years ? with the greatest, most cosmopolitan, multiracial, generous-hearted cities on earth, in which there are huge and growing divisions between rich and poor.
And, David Cameron:
I think it?s a tremendous result: if I had said to you three years ago that we would have a Conservative mayor in London ? a big win in London ? a twenty point lead across the country in terms of a vote share ? and winning seats across the country ? you would have said that?s not possible. And I think something has changed. I think the tide is moving in our direction and that?s because of the changes we?ve made.
The Daily Mail has already criticized this, suggesting, that the Conservatives may misunderstand that they were elected not because they adopted the positions of the Left, but because they started sounding like Tories again. But, appearing modest in triumph emphasizes that triumph, and deflects criticism of lauding it over people, and I suspect this was the reason for such self-effacing talk. It seems unlikely that Conservative Party or its leader is so ill informed or ill-thinking that they would now attempt to mold themselves into Labour-light. Only a few months ago Cameron acknowledged that the Conservatives would have lost a general election if Brown had called one. Cameron had, at that point, attempted to portray himself as the real heir to Blair, and was widely criticized for it. Although he has generally been regarded as a weak leader, too nice to be firm when it counts, Cameron has toughened up a little in the last few months, criticizing ?state multiculturalism,? for example. Moreover, when Cameron has talked of ?change,? he has meant changing society from one that discriminates against the family (that has consequently created a generation of broken youths ? angry, violent, and addicted to drink and drugs) to one that supports the family, and from one that is ?top-down? to ?bottom-up.? In other words, he has talked of changing Britain from one strained by Labour?s radical ?democratic socialist? ideology, to one that most would regard as broadly in line with traditional conservative thought.
Already, Johnson has pledged to get tough on crime, and, among other measures, will make a police presence more visible, ban drinking alcohol on the Tube (subway trains), and will strip anti-social youths of the right to free travel. At the end of his first week in office Johnson will also invite mayor of New York City Mike Bloomberg for talks, in order to help him establish policies and practices for London. (Bloomberg had declined to visit London when Livingstone was mayor, allegedly because of the latter?s support of suicide apologist Al-Qaradawi.) As London ? and Britain as a whole ? has been increasingly plagued by the kind and scale of gang violence that once ravaged New York City, and annulled by previous mayor Rudy Giuliani, New York would seem the perfect example for London. This move by Johnson, would also seem to be a part of the Conservative?s thinking, for, notably, Cameron said in March:
I've been to New York and seen how you can have zero tolerance, beat-based policing that defeats crime and restores trust in the police. And with a Home Secretary like David Davis we can do that here.
If the Conservative Party made history with its sweeping success and wining of the election for London mayor, they were not the only party making headlines for electoral gains. Richard Barnbrook of the BNP won a seat on the London Assembly, after years of aiming for such a high profile. The party needed 5% of the London votes to secure one of the twenty-five Assembly seats, and managed to achieve just over that at 5.3% of the votes. This was, however, a modest win by the scale of some predictions. Tim Hames in The Times announced a few weeks before the election, ?Prepare for a shock BNP victory,? and seemed to imply that two or three seats were quite possible for the party.
BNP leadership would undoubtedly point out that they now have a hundred seats country-wide, and would suggest, no doubt, that if their win in London was less than expected it was due to adverse publicity. Both The Times and the BBC lessened their criticism of the party in the weeks leading up to the election, though some others probably increased it. The Daily Mail not only compared Barnbrook?s style of dress with Hitler?s ? on the rather flimsy basis that both at one point or another have worn brown ? but let much of his past slip a few days prior to the day of voting. The most surprising of the paper?s revelations was, perhaps, that Barnbrook is currently getting a divorce from a woman he married a decade or so ago, and that the one-time art student had directed an artistic movie (some have called it ?gay porn?), described by the newspaper as, ?naked young men [?] flagellating each other and simulating gay sex acts while homo-erotic poetry is intoned.?
Attacks on the BNP are nothing new, of course, and party head Nick Griffin has clearly developed a talent for nullifying tricky questions on the party?s stance on race and immigration, and for portraying it as the most moderate party imaginable (though, one with principles, you understand). Being interviewed on television, Griffin is affable. Barnbrook, in contrast, would benefit from a few lessons in public speaking.
He seems to have been caught off guard by a swath of audience exiting as he was about to deliver his acceptance speech. ?Like rats leaving sinking ships,? he barked, launching into a fiery, yet monotone tirade that could only have pleased a hardcore of BNP voters ? except for a lengthy aside about girlfriend Simone Clarke, which probably pleased only her. As they had with Livingstone, Paddick, and Johnson, the ?gutter press? had gossiped about him, the only difference being, he asserted, that everything they had written about him was ?lies.? Really?
Next, Barnbrook bewailed ?positive discrimination,? multiculturalism, and political correctness which, he stated, has meant the minority getting the majority of the benefit; and he promised to scrutinize the mayor?s budget, ?second by second,? to expose any such bias. ?[?] It is not for people to enter this land dictating what will and will not happen to the people who created and built it over generations,? he asserted forcefully.
His words were more conciliatory at times, though with his tone remaining aggressive, they sounded strange, if not outright frightening. He promised to treat people on an equal footing, stating, for example:
all Londoners, every single one that was, if you need aid from a voice I?ll speak for you, representing you clearly across this capital city, without prejudice, without concern of color or identity, my hands will be open[ed] up as wide as that of the indigenous population and the first generation that came here, to every single Londoner as long as you play part within the identity of this great city.
In this, Barnbrook appears to be a realist. He, like all of the other elected representatives on the London Assembly, will be required to represent everyone living in London, not just the 5.3% who voted for the BNP. But, can the party transform itself into one for whom principles trump ethnicity and race? Would a party that currently has voluntary repatriation as one of its policies, consider ?British? to include the foreign born, law abiding British citizen? Barnbrook, at one point, spoke of ?Londoners [?] regardless of creed, color, or identity,? but, since then, he has stated that he will try to ban the wearing of the burka in public. His other stated aims are making St. George?s Day a national holiday, and flying the Union Jack (British) flag over City Hall.
A more sensible approach would probably be to concentrate on the mundane stuff of politics, such as public transport, the cleanliness of London streets, etc., or, perhaps, planting some of the fruit trees the BNP promised. The British people, after all, have had a government that has imposed a radical ideology on them for the last decade, and they are unlikely to embrace a party that is so ideological, even if it?s ideology is an opposing one. Moreover, while Barnbrook?s words betray someone who is able to think as a moderate, his style of delivery suggests someone who is anything but, and his speech must surely have confirmed the worst suspicions of those who were previously unsure of, or antagonistic to, the BNP.
The election results have thrown up a lot of interesting possibilities ? and perhaps especially so for a country headed into recession. The BNP may have reached a point where it either moderates further, or remains a party on the margins. Certainly, it will be more visible and accountable. Labour is now the third most popular party, and the Liberal Democrats are, for once, the second most popular ? a position to which they have long aspired. With this added legitimacy, they may soak up more of Labour?s traditional voters in the next couple of years. Presumably Brown will be replaced as leader of his party at some point before the next general election, and Labour will try to blame the Conservatives for every failure form now on ? they will probably also try to blame it for the recession. If Cameron fails to show his stronger side, or if Johnson fails to make a mark, Labour may well claw its way back to the top. Though, Johnson, I think, will be a success.
A few months ago, politics seemed repetitive, grinding, and rather dull, with contemporary politicians having suppressed every hint of a personality so masterfully, so that we, the voting public, might imagine them doing no wrong. But everyone believes that politicians are liars, and the goody-two-shoes approach to politics only confirms it. It is difficult to have faith in a man who gives the impression of making sure that he eats a balanced diet with plenty of spring water. Great leaders and great politicians have always been ?warts an? all.? Why? Because these are a part of the true character of the man, and we want to see it. We admire Churchill for his cigar smoking, hard drinking, and quick-witted insults, as much as anything else. Johnson will undoubtedly inject the right kind of life and vibrancy into politics. He gives the impression of being an intelligent man without an ideology, a hard worker, a joker and a drinker ? not a bad combination.
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