{"id":2290903,"date":"2024-07-09T03:28:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T07:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labour-hands-tories-worst-defeat-in-nearly-200-years\/"},"modified":"2024-07-09T03:34:15","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T07:34:15","slug":"labour-hands-tories-worst-defeat-in-nearly-200-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labour-hands-tories-worst-defeat-in-nearly-200-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour Hands Tories Worst Defeat In Nearly 200 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flabour-hands-tories-worst-defeat-in-nearly-200-years%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2290903&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The recent \u200dgeneral election in Britain saw the Labour Party\u200d win a \u2062large victory, with Keir Starmer becoming the new\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/progressive-house-lawmaker-apologizes-for-racist-state-comment-targeting-israel\/\" title=\"Progressive lawmaker apologizes for offensive remark about Israel\">prime\u200c minister<\/a>. While the Tories suffered their\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/incoming-leftist-coalition-government-in-germany-to-open-doors-to-mass-chain-migration\/\" title=\"Incoming Leftist Coalition Government in Germany to Open Doors to Mass Chain Migration\">worst election result<\/a> ever, \u2062they still have a few MPs who can work\u200b towards regaining \u2063the majority. The election\u200d outcome brings challenges for \u2062both parties, \u2062with Labour potentially lurching leftward and the Conservatives \u2064needing to find a new leader. The election also saw the rise of the Reform U.K. party, which could potentially align with the Conservatives in \u2062the future. the \u2062political\u200d landscape in\u2062 Britain is facing \u2063significant changes following the election.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>While most Americans were watching fireworks last Thursday evening, Britain was undergoing some political fireworks of its own. As <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/02\/britains-tories-are-about-to-get-slaughtered-because-theyre-not-actually-conservative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">predicted<\/a>, the Labour Party won a large victory in the July 4 general election, with party leader Keir Starmer becoming prime minister on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>For both of Britain\u2019s major political parties \u2014 the victorious Labour and the defeated Tories \u2014 the election outcome brings challenges. In a fragmented political environment, maintaining (or, in the Tories\u2019 case, regaining) party unity will remain a constant struggle.<\/p>\n<h2>Labour Lurching Leftward Again?<\/h2>\n<p>Paradoxically, Labour\u2019s thumping victory could give Starmer headaches. With 412 members of parliament (MP) in the House of Commons, which only requires 326 for a majority, the new prime minister will face demands from his backbenchers to move further leftward.<\/p>\n<p>Knowing full well that previous leader Jeremy Corbyn had made the party unelectable with his fiscally irresponsible promises and appeasement of antisemitism, Starmer worked hard over the past four-plus years to restore Labour to the center ground. Starmer kicked Corbyn out of the Labour Party \u2014 though he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/04\/world\/europe\/corbyn-london-labour-election.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reelected<\/a> anyway last Thursday as an independent MP \u2014 and pledged no new tax rises during the coming Parliament. The new prime minister even went so far as to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cndd65k06x8o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">agree<\/a> with his Labour predecessor, Tony Blair, that \u201cbiologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis,\u201d after saying last year that \u201c99.9% of women\u201d do not have a penis. (By Labour standards, acknowledging basic biology is little short of revolutionary.)<\/p>\n<p>But Starmer will face pressure from both his MPs and activists. On spending, with the National Health Service and other public bodies facing frequent strikes the last several years over wage demands from workers, the unions that constitute the backbone of the Labour Party will demand more spending for their members. In foreign policy, Muslim supporters will increase calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and other concessions to Hamas.<\/p>\n<p>The Tories had already put taxes up over the last five years, and Britain is running deficits as in the United States. But don\u2019t think those two facts will bring to an end the calls from Labour\u2019s left wing to play the tax-and-spend card yet again.<\/p>\n<p>Starmer will have to remind his MPs that, while the party has a historically high majority in the House of Commons, it achieved that majority while only winning a third (33.7 percent) of the national vote. Ironically, because of low turnout, a left-winger like Corbyn won more votes in 2019 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/election\/2019\/results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">10.3 million<\/a>) than did Starmer on Thursday (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election\/2024\/uk\/results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">9.7 million<\/a>) \u2014 even though Starmer more than doubled the number of Labour MPs. Whether Starmer can remind Labour of their precarious political position, and fend off the far left, will be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-whole-noisy-identity-left-former-democratic-strategist-james-carville-dissects-his-own-party\/\" title=\"\u2018This Whole Noisy Identity Left\u2019: Former Democratic Strategist James Carville Dissects His Own Party\">main issue facing<\/a> the United Kingdom in the coming years.<\/p>\n<h2>Tory Wipeout Not As Bad<\/h2>\n<p>On one hand, the Conservative Party suffered its worst election result ever \u2014 the fewest number of MPs returned to Parliament in its two-century history and the greatest number of seats lost by any British political party in any general election. On the other, the result could have been worse, with many preelection polls predicting the Tories to end up with fewer than 100 seats.<\/p>\n<p>The party does (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/world\/tories-almost-unable-to-form-viable-opposition-with-so-few-seats\/ar-BB1ptzXa?ocid=msedgntp&#038;pc=DCTS&#038;cvid=d069267bdb28411d9f84f12cab3bffe0&#038;ei=14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">barely<\/a>) have a rump of MPs who can work to scrutinize the new government and form the backbone of the fight to regain the majority. They will eventually have a new leader, as outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the self-evident decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/uk\/uk-pm-sunak-resign-prime-minister-conservative-leader-2024-07-05\/#:~:text=LONDON%2C%20July%205%20(Reuters),kindness%2C%20decency%20and%20tolerance%22.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stand down<\/a> following Thursday\u2019s bloodbath.<\/p>\n<p>The Conservatives also have a roadmap to regain relevance, in the math surrounding the defeat of Liz Truss, the short-term prime minister whom party members elected in 2022, only to see party MPs depose her weeks later. Truss <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/former-prime-minister-liz-truss-lose-seat-tory-wipeout-uk-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lost reelection<\/a> to a Labour candidate in her South West Norfolk constituency by 630 votes, while the Reform U.K. candidate took nearly 10,000 votes \u2014 virtually all of them away from her.<\/p>\n<p>Similar scenes happened around the country, particularly in areas of the industrial North that voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Disgruntled citizens who voted Conservative in 2019 marked a ballot for Reform U.K. this year, and so eroded the Tories\u2019 tallies that Labour reclaimed the seats. In some seats, the Reform candidate drew more votes than the Labour margin of victory, meaning that if all those votes had gone to the Conservatives, the Tories could have denied Labour a majority in Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>That math favors some type of alignment \u2014 an alliance, merger, hostile takeover, call it what you will \u2014 between the Conservatives and Reform. Five years ago, Nigel Farage, who then led the Brexit Party, later renamed Reform, declined to put up candidates in many seats, because he wanted to ensure that a Conservative majority would deliver Brexit. This time around, Reform won five seats outright (including Farage\u2019s) and came <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/article\/2024\/jul\/07\/key-takeaways-voting-patterns-uk-general-election-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">second<\/a> in 98 more.<\/p>\n<p>Some Conservatives object to a political alliance, due in part to the media dubbing Reform a \u201cfar-right\u201d party. A few of Reform\u2019s candidates in the current election made antisemitic and offensive statements (they were removed), and Farage himself, who finally won a seat in Parliament on his eighth try, seems better at attracting splashy headlines than the basic blocking and tackling of government.<\/p>\n<p>But the vast majority of the 4.1 million Britons who voted Reform aren\u2019t racist but disillusioned. They haven\u2019t seen the economic benefits of Brexit, just more paperwork for those moving goods to Northern Ireland (the part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with the EU). They despair at the masses of boats landing on their shores and a Conservative government that, despite its get-tough rhetoric, seems powerless to stop them. And they get angered when the focus on \u201cnet zero,\u201d an obsession of Conservative elites since David Cameron <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2006\/apr\/16\/uk.conservatives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">visited <\/a>the Arctic nearly two decades ago, leads to soaring energy bills at a time of high inflation and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-real-reasons-the-economy-has-gotten-so-bad\/\" title=\"The Real Reasons the Economy Has Gotten So Bad\">rampant government spending<\/a> for temporary subsidies that don\u2019t solve the underlying problem.<\/p>\n<h2>Will the Leaders Listen?<\/h2>\n<p>In both cases, voters gave party leaders clear messages: Labour must keep the extreme socialism of the Corbyn era behind it, and the Conservatives must come up with better plans on immigration and Brexit and reestablish their reputation for responsible stewardship of the economy. As one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/world\/liz-truss-s-greatest-gift-to-the-tory-party-was-losing-her-seat\/ar-BB1pvCiI?ocid=msedgntp&#038;pc=DCTS&#038;cvid=90c43238bc9a4564bf5695c4f5fa4614&#038;ei=17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">columnist noted<\/a>, Truss\u2019s departure from the House of Commons could help immensely on the latter front by removing a political bludgeon Labour used to beat the Conservatives over the head since her aborted premiership.<\/p>\n<p>Numerically speaking, the Tories have a tough road to regain the majority, but given that the combined Reform and Conservative votes (10.9 million) outnumbered Labour\u2019s (9.7 million), there exists a viable path to power. Whoever listens closer to the voters\u2019 messages could well find themselves the favorites in the next general election.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While most Americans were enjoying fireworks on the Fourth of July, Britain experienced its own political fireworks. The Labour Party won a significant victory in the general election, with Keir Starmer becoming the new prime minister. Both Labour and the Tories face challenges in maintaining party unity in a fragmented political landscape. Despite Labour&#8217;s success, Starmer may face pressure to move further leftward from his MPs and activists. The Conservatives, while suffering their worst election result ever, still have a chance to regain relevance by aligning with Reform U.K. Voters have sent clear messages to both parties: Labour must move away from extreme socialism, and the Conservatives must improve their plans on immigration and Brexit. Listening to these messages could determine the outcome of the next general election<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2290904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/UK-Parliament.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5505,3728,19512,5894,33611],"class_list":["post-2290903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-defeat","tag-election","tag-labour","tag-politics","tag-tories"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/UK-Parliament.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2290903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2290904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2290903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2290903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2290903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}