By Andrea Widburg
The main headline out of the UK is that the Conservative party was stunningly defeated. Not only was Prime Minister Sunak given the boot, but Labour swept the board. What also happened is that Reform UK, which is the MAGA party of the United Kingdom, won a large share of the popular vote (although that didn’t move the Parliamentary needle much). Still, I suspect that the UK is on the glide path to what we’ve already seen in Italy, France, and the Netherlands—namely, unhappy people of all races but shared values giving the boot to open borders and Islamism.
The situation in the UK yesterday was very similar to the situation in America in 2016 and, sadly, still in 2024: The two major parties have shared values that are antithetical to the people. Thus, whether Labour or Democrat, Conservative or Republican, they all want big government, mass immigration, climate change policies (which speed the “embiggening” of government), and endless wars, and they’re either advocates for or willing to live with sexual identity madness. The only difference is that the Conservatives and the Republicans are less honest about their goals than are the Labourites and the Democrats.
However, after decades of having these values forced upon them, normal people, both in America and abroad, look at what’s become of their worlds, and they hate what they see.
Yesterday, England had its election, and the results were as predicted: Labour won in a landslide, the Conservatives were decimated, and Reform UK got a foot on the ladder. I thought I’d share emails from a friend as she watched the news hour by hour. Right before the news started coming in, my friend wrote:
We both voted (postal votes) a couple of weeks ago. Reform, of course. I estimate that they might win between 3 and 30 seats but am hoping to be pleasurably surprised. Or perhaps (not pleasurably) disappointed.
The election will not be won by Labour, but lost by the faux Conservatives. The level of anger against them is truly astounding. Today we drove up to Stratford and on the way saw a couple of posters for the North Cotswolds MP. Each had a huge black X scored across it, and another big black X over the MP’s face.
So Labour will end up with a huge number of seats, and the rest will go to the faux Cons and the ‘Liberal’ ‘Democrats’. In other words, the entire House of Commons will be packed with left-wing, pro-immigration, net zero enthusiasts. Nigel & Co will, I hope, be a small but irritating thorn in the side of them all.
By the way, there has been a huge problem with postal votes at this election. Thousands not printed, delivered or returned in time. Councils blame the Royal Mail; the Royal Mail blames the councils … That’s the way it is here these days.
Then, as the vote counts started arriving, she shared with me both the good news and the frustrating news:
3.30 a.m. A toast drunk to Nigel Farage who just won his seat. Eighth time lucky!
Labour have now won 130 seats. Conservative 18 seats (some won by real conservatives) but with losses of 60. They have been knocked into third place by Reform in many constituencies.
A sizeable vote for Liberal Democrats as a protest vote in traditional Conservative-voting areas.
3.40 a.m. Reform win their third seat. Worryingly, a prominent Labour MP loses his seat in Leicester to a pro-Palestine independent candidate.
Suella Braverman, a likeable true Conservative (and friend of GB News), has held her seat on the south coast.
Richard Tice has just won the fourth Reform seat. 400 seats still to declare.
4.05 a.m. Bury St Edmunds, a beautiful Suffolk market town, has just been taken by Labour. It’s been Conservative since 1820!
Labour has taken Portsmouth from the Conservative Penny Mordaunt who carried the sword at the King’s coronation and was tipped as a future Conservative leader.
4.40 a.m. Just waiting for the result in the Prime Minister’s constituency … And that of Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor … Both held their seats, though Hunt (very unlikeable man – eyes alternately shifty and manic) only just did so. Sunak has conceded the election at the point where Labour has now won 300 seats and the Conservatives have won 60 (and lost 149).
It has been a bad night in Scotland for the English-hating Scottish Nationalists. 28 seats lost so far. They have run Scotland into the ground on so many fronts, particularly health and education.
Jacob Rees Mogg, a rather likeable very old-fashioned Conservative from Somerset (the “Minister for the 18th Century”) has just lost his seat to Labour. Astonishing!
5.15 a.m. A very grey dawn has broken. The Conservatives continue to haemorrhage seats. 189 lost so far. Labour now on 359 with 136 seats to declare. The turnout for this election has been very low with many voters staying at home; apathy has clearly played a part.
Disappointed that Reform is still only on four seats. Even the Scottish Nationalists have done better on six seats.
At this point, my friend went to bed. When she woke up, there were still only four reform seats. However, on a vote-by-vote basis, the Reform party did incredibly well, coming in third place, with almost as many votes as the Conservatives. That rise, combined with the Conservative fall, should be the death knell for Britain’s RINOs.
The new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, a hard leftist, may think he’s in the catbird seat. Still, I think he’ll discover that the rising discontent that led to Reform UK’s numeric success will redouble as the Labour government goes from the Conservatives’ soft leftism to their planned hard leftism.
Because Starmer will have even more power than Biden, the British people will quickly feel double or triple the pain that the last few years brought them, whether in decreased government services (especially health care), rising costs of living, the further degradation of their education system, and increasing violence, especially from the Islamists among them. My bet is that there’ll be another swing vote soon, with Reform UK surprising everyone.