{"id":5130,"date":"2019-12-13T12:33:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T12:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/?p=5130"},"modified":"2021-06-15T16:41:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T15:41:13","slug":"the-battle-over-britains-future-has-just-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/the-battle-over-britains-future-has-just-started\/","title":{"rendered":"The battle over Britain\u2019s future has just started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr Demetris <\/em><\/strong>Tillyris looks ahead to how the two main parties will react to the 2019 general election results.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As\nthe bricks which comprised the \u2018red wall\u2019 started to crumble \u2013 as traditional\nLabour heartlands, working-class and mining communities stretching from North\nWales to Grimsby and further to the North swung to the Conservatives \u2013 it was\nbecoming increasingly apparent that the results of the exit poll which, quite dramatically\nperhaps, pointed towards a Conservative landslide and, correspondingly, towards\na devastating defeat for the Labour party would, indeed, materialise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though\nastonishing, the result of the general election is remarkably clear: Boris\nJohnson\u2019s Conservative Party has gained 66 seats, securing its biggest majority\nsince Margaret Thatcher\u2019s 1987 victory, whereas the Labour party suffered its\nbiggest defeat, in terms of seats gained, since the 1930s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\ntoo, are some<\/em> of the reasons for such\nan outcome: the simplicity of the Conservative message \u2013 the endeavour to \u2018get\nBrexit done\u2019 \u2013 combined with lacklustre leadership from, and the public\u2019s deep-seated\ndistrust of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party\u2019s ambiguous stance on Brexit and\nits rather convoluted policies, led to a seismic shift in the political\nlandscape of England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nis, nonetheless, less than clear is what might follow from all this. To be\nsure, the collapse of the red wall, juxtaposed with the Labour Party\u2019s\nperformance in London, will (and should) prompt considerable soul-searching in the\nparty. Yet, the question which will lurk in the background of the ensuing\nLabour recriminations, is in which direction the next leader of the party\nshould steer the wheel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nsimilarly momentous challenge also confronts Boris Johnson and the Conservative\nParty. In his victory speech Johnson suggested that the outcome of the election\nprovides the Conservative Party with an \u2018irrefutable, unarguable\u2019 mandate to\n\u2018Get Brexit Done\u2019, to \u2018unite the country and to take it forward\u2019. One might\nwell excuse Johnson for failing to note that his lofty mandate has been\nprovided by less than 45 percent of the voters. But, the trouble with his\nassertion lies primarily elsewhere: the rather familiar idea of a democratic\nmandate is an innocent fairy-tale. As A. Lawrence put it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe devotee of democracy is much\nin the same position as the Greeks with their oracles. All agreed that the\nvoice of an oracle was the voice of god, but everybody allowed that when he\nspoke he was not as intelligible as might be desired.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nslogan \u2018Get Brexit Done\u2019 has been (and is) intentionally ambiguous. It is neither\nclear what that slogan entails, nor should we expect agreement on what it might\nentail. Indeed, \u2018Getting Brexit Done\u2019 seems to enjoy the support of proponents\nof two radically different and incompatible visions of Britain\u2019s future each of\nwhich is espoused by a rather specific sect of Conservative party voters: an inward\nlooking vision which entails a rejection of globalisation, and of the\nneoliberal policies which have displaced and corroded local communities,\neconomies, and traditional values on the one hand, and a more outward looking\nvision which entails the very aspirations and principles which the inward\nlooking vision rails against on the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nchallenge for Johnson, then, would be to reconcile that which is\nirreconcilable, without disappointing the aspirations of the supporters of the\ntwo aforementioned visions, whilst, at the same time, fending off pressure from\nthe bolstered SNP to call for a second independence referendum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbattle over Britain\u2019s future is not over. It has just begun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Demetris\nTillyris is <\/em><\/strong>Senior Lecturer and Programme Director for Politics and\nInternational Relations.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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