Early reflections on the election.
1. It's been a really crap night for Lynton Crosby.
2. Theresa May now lacks authority. At the time of writing the word is that May will stay on (an announcement is due in an hour's time, at 10 a.m.). On the face of it this looks absurd. She increased her party's vote share, but she called an election thinking it would increase her majority. It didn't.
1. It's been a really crap night for Lynton Crosby.
2. Theresa May now lacks authority. At the time of writing the word is that May will stay on (an announcement is due in an hour's time, at 10 a.m.). On the face of it this looks absurd. She increased her party's vote share, but she called an election thinking it would increase her majority. It didn't.
I would prefer her to go. For one thing, she would be widely hated otherwise, and have to run again in a few years in a general election when the public would no doubt relish booting her out. In the intervening period she would be unlikely to have become any more persuasive a campaigner. A successor would come to the job with a clean pair of hands.
My preferred choice, having thought about it for 30 seconds, would be David Davis. But whoever (please not Andrea Leadsom), he would struggle for a working parliamentary majority, and would have no electoral mandate. He might have even less authority than May. Neither option looks great.
2. Pro-Remain Twitter is agog this morning with the thought that this might be the end of Brexit. I would invite them to look at the results. Parties running on a pro-Brexit manifesto will take up the overwhelming majority of seats in Westminster.
3. It's been a bad night for the SNP, but quite a good one for Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP has seen its seat count almost halved, but they're still the largest party in Scotland. That's good for Ms Sturgeon because it makes no practical difference to her at Holyrood but she will now be able to resist pressure from her supporters for a 2nd Independence referendum which she knows she cannot presently win. Those of us hoping peak-SNP has passed will be cheered by the ousting of Wee Eck himself, Alex Salmond. So will La Sturgeon. Her back-seat driver has just been booted onto the verge.
4. The Labour leader's acceptance speech was revealing. He said, "[P]eople have said they have had quite enough of austerity politics, they have had quite enough of cuts in public expenditure, underfunding our health service, underfunding our schools and our education service and not giving our young people the chance they deserve in our society. People are voting for hope in the future and turning their backs on austerity".
He's right in his analysis, but the Labour voters he is referring are not. Labour supporters are wishing for something without first making sure it is practicable. The intractable economic reality is that even current spending is not affordable at current rates of tax, let alone the vast sums that Corbyn wants to splash out. Corbyn thinks all this can be fixed by borrowing and taxing the rich more. It can't. His supporters are voting for pie in the sky. They're voting for jam today. For La La Land. Indications are that the surge in Labour support could be accounted for by a surge in turnout by the young. God protect them from their own ignorance and inexperience.
5. I enjoy politics far too much to have been depressed by the result. Besides, Labour's better than expected showing has cheered my wife up no end. She woke up at 6 a.m. and shagged me before breakfast.
He's right in his analysis, but the Labour voters he is referring are not. Labour supporters are wishing for something without first making sure it is practicable. The intractable economic reality is that even current spending is not affordable at current rates of tax, let alone the vast sums that Corbyn wants to splash out. Corbyn thinks all this can be fixed by borrowing and taxing the rich more. It can't. His supporters are voting for pie in the sky. They're voting for jam today. For La La Land. Indications are that the surge in Labour support could be accounted for by a surge in turnout by the young. God protect them from their own ignorance and inexperience.
5. I enjoy politics far too much to have been depressed by the result. Besides, Labour's better than expected showing has cheered my wife up no end. She woke up at 6 a.m. and shagged me before breakfast.
