Well that’s settled then. Presented with a choice between a slow, lingering death and a lingering, slow death, the country chose. Instead of ‘Magic Grandad’ Jeremy Corbyn the country opted for the blond buffoon and serial liar Boris Johnson – and gave him a working majority. The tactical voting many of us hoped for failed to change anything. The only ‘Portillo moment’ was when Lib-Dem leader Jo Swinson lost her seat in Scotland by 149 votes. The SNP now hold 48 of the 59 Scottish seats.
Now we know where we stand and Johnson is expected to deliver on his promises, which is where where the trouble starts. Get Brexit ‘done’? How? This is going to drag on for years. The only thing that’s getting done is the poor saps who fell for it.
Meanwhile, the hard-left in charge in Labour are already forming their wagons into a circle and defending Corbyn in their usual fashion. It’s everybody’s fault but theirs. They’ve been ‘betrayed’ by the voters – again. Don’t expect any humility or introspection here, it’s not what they do. Labour are looking increasingly irrelevent in a post-industrial UK. Like the Tories, they hark back to the past rather than have an eye on the future. Can they change with the hard-left in control, or will they wither on the vine?
What now for the Lib-Dems and the centerist voters made homeless by the Tories and Labour moving to the political extremes?
At least the stock markets have bounced back (the FTSE is currently up 1.84%) and sterling has strengthened, it’s up 1.9% against the US Dollar, so some of us have made some money for now. The poor? You’re on your own now. Many of you fell for the idea that a bunch of entitled old Etonians, ‘Spivs’ with Belizean Diplomatic passports and multi-billionaire media moguls had your best interests at heart, Good luck with that…
As we now know where we stand for the next few years, many people will be making plans, including international companies with operations in the UK but markets abroad. EU citizens will be too.
I wonder how long the euphoria in Tory ranks will last before the magnitude of the situation begins to sink in? Will Johnson dial down the rhetoric now he’s not held hostage by the likes of the ERG, or will he hold fast to the anti EU sentiments and keep up the lies and claims he can do the impossible and get Brexit ‘done’? We’re about to find out. He has a lie to make reality and it’s only going to end one way.
One other observation. Our electoral system is broken. First Past The Post has led us to this. Look at the numbers of people voting for particular parties, then look at the number of MPs they have. Until that changes democracy in the UK’s a joke.
This election has settled everything, and nothing. But it has got rid of a lot of uncertainty and set parameters for the next few years, and many people will be planning accordingly. Expect the United Kingdom to look a very different country (or countries) in a few years time…
I don’t believe I will ever see a non-Tory government in my lifetime. Labour will now indulge (and I mean that word) in 10 years of bitching and in-fighting because it’s more fun that trying to do anything practical. Why bother with trying to do something to help people when you can run around the subsidised tea rooms and bars in the House of Commons slagging each other off like some sort of school playground?
BoJo is now going to have to deliver on Brexit. He still doesn’t really know how to fix the unfixable, but there aren’t any candidates for blame now. Perhaps he can explain why it’s good for NI to be in the customs union, but not the rest of the country?
However, the good news is that we are shot of the DUP. That, plus the rise in Unionist votes means GB could see the back of NI – and good riddance. All my life they have wanted to kill us or worse, we’ve had to deal with our “friends” suchg as Ian Paisley and Arlene Phillips. With friends like these, who needs enemies? As it is, when Ireland re-unifies, the main Brexit stumbling block goes away.
I’d also expect to see Scotland leave. Can we really say that we can opt-out of a union we don’t like (the EU) but they can’t? Obviously, Bojo and chums can, but will they make it stick? Sturgeon is smarter than the lot of them.
For the rest of us, well it’s time for a big glass of schadenfreude. Do farmers moaning that the Government can’t operate the current eco subsidy scheme really be able to do something to replace the CAP? Well, they campaigned hard for just that so if it goes wrong and the supermarket’s source food from somewhere cheaper, that’s fine. All that land can go to housing meaning the prices will come down.
Fishermen, do you think our tiny number of fisheries support vessels will be able to keep the French and Spanish out of our waters? Of course not. And they won’t fire on anyone from a nuclear-armed state either. Now if we had treaties, we’d have leverage, but you didn’t want that. And I don’t care where my fish comes from and neither do Tesco.
Liars and bullies have taken over this country. There is very little hope. Any chance of a branch of Dignitas opening up? After all, if the population decreased a lot, it would solve many problems. Trouble is, those with least hope are economically active. Those sitting on paid for houses and fat pensions might find it hard to go back to work when we’re all gone, but that’s what they voted for.
Ha very good analysis. Apart from the Northern Ireland killing people bit, which was over the top.