03/07/2024
A Question For Those Not In The UK
In the last 100 years in the United Kingdom, the Conservatives have been in power for 63 years including a coalition government and national government periods.
We’ve had national governments in times of war when it was considered too important for the country to be run along party lines because of the threat of invasion or the effects of a world-wide financial crisis.
If I use Hungary as an example, I can say that having visited Hungary and once not too long ago, I feel the country more than, for example, Romania, which I haven’t visited. When my wife and I were in Hungary, in the capital in Budapest, we asked people about their thoughts on Victor Orban, the government that he led and the situation of the country in general. And we heard from several people that the country was more or less split between the more liberal attitude in the capital and the more conservative attitude in the countryside. That’s the same story that I heard many years ago about the split between Amsterdam and the major cities, but particularly Amsterdam on the one hand and the rural areas in the north on the other hand, split between liberal and conservative.
I’m making this point and drawing this distinction between countries I have visited and countries I haven’t visited because when I visited a country, I feel closer to it. It means something. I care about it in a way that I simply don’t care about countries that I haven’t visited. This is not something that I can control. It’s just something that affects me.
So looking at it in reverse, I wonder to what extent other countries are interested at all in the outcome of the impending general election on July the 4th here in the UK.
It may be that some countries that were formerly more associated with the UK, such as those countries that were in the Commonwealth and no longer are, have a greater feeling of investment in the UK.
And it may be that those countries which have more of a myth about English life inculcated in their own imaginations also have a stronger feeling about the UK. I’m thinking about the USA where I know from my personal interactions that some people have a rose-colored picture of the truth of British society.
So with all this said, the reality is that for the last 100 years, for two thirds of the time, we’ve had a Conservative government and we are now a day away from an election in which it is predicted that the Conservatives will not only lose power but for the first time in their entire history will possibly not be the minority party but will be wiped out to such an extent that the party will practically not exist anymore.
Then the question is what the opposition parties will be, whether it will be the Liberal Democrats and the Greens in an alliance or whether it potentially could be the far right Reform party.
If it is the reform party, then this will be a huge embarrassment for everyone with any Liberal tendencies in the UK to know that there is this what they would see as a viper’s nest of far right ultra-nationalist practically fascist N***s in their midst.
Of course the rule in politics is ‘know your electorate’. As an example of this, we had five years of a coalition government between the Conservatives with a tag-on addition of the Liberal Democrats and that coalition managed to hang on until the next general election.
During its time in power, everyone was complaining about the austerity measures, the measures that were making life extraordinarily difficult for ordinary working people. And then the election came and what happened?
The Conservatives got in with an absolute majority.
So the first rule in politics and perhaps in understanding societies is know your electorate. And perhaps from all the years I’ve lived here, I can say something about that, which is that Britain is an extraordinarily stratified society. People know exactly what rung of the ladder they are on. And in order to maintain their position, they have to, psychologically they have to, believe that they are among the saved and that anybody below them is either a laggard or a scrounger or an immigrant or useless in some way.
And so the rungs of a ladder go up higher until there are some people who take off in a helicopter and they represent the party that governs almost by divine right.
They are a descendant of the rule of kings by divine right. And that’s perhaps why the Conservatives have been in power for so much longer over the last hundred years than have Labour.
But now we have this extraordinary situation. Extraordinary. I say that because so many commentators, and news outlets are saying it’s extraordinary – where the Conservative Party after 14 years in government may be wiped out.
The reason for that is that the Conservatives are deemed to have mismanaged everything. And of course, nobody wants to talk about the elephant in the room, except for those who do want to talk about the elephant in the room. But the elephant is Brexit, which has crippled this country and even the most ardent admirers are finding it difficult to see any good thing that came out of dissociating ourselves from Europe.
And the upset it has caused to the smooth running of the ship of state is there to see – in the eight years since Brexit we have had five Conservative Prime Ministers. Surely, people say, fourteen years of Conservative Governments and five attempts to get it right in the past eight years – enough is enough.
Of course, the one thing that nobody wants to admit is the attitude to immigrants. And when I say nobody wants to admit it, I mean, of course, those who are anti-immigration want to admit it, but nobody else does.
It seems to me that if in continental Europe there is a swing to the far right in France, there already is in Hungary, then it will be convenient for ALL UK politicians who can be grateful that those far right countries have stopped the immigrants at their borders so that no more immigrants are getting on boats and crossing the channel and embarrassing everybody, because of course, inequality is an embarrassment.
You can say that some inequality will always be with us, but that does not mean that the distance in wealth between the poor and the rich has to be as great as it is at the moment.
In 1973, Britain had the smallest gap between the rich and poor of any country in Europe.
Now we are the country with the greatest gap. Not only the greatest gap, but a destruction of the environment, the worst in Europe, perhaps beyond Europe. And the whole thing is seen as such a mess that we have to get Labour in because we can’t have the Conservatives.
Look, people say, the Conservatives are supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility who allow the people to secure their own futures. And look at how badly they ‘the gifted golden ones’ have done.
That’s an argument the Conservatives themselves have used to try and bolster their own numbers by saying – Look, beware of Labour. You can’t vote for them just because you’re not happy with us, because look what a horrible, intent Labour has. They’re going to take away all the money from the rich people and turn us into a regimented army of national serfs.
To which anybody will say, ‘Come on, that that’s not a valid argument because you, the Conservatives, have tried to turn Britain into a country of 21st century serfdom.
There’s talk of Labour getting in with a super-majority – a number of seats in the House Of Commons so great in number that the Labour Government will not even have to worry about some of its own MPs dissenting on a particular plan – there will still be enough MPs loyal to the Government to carry through any and all plans.
And that is the ‘big change’ – the political changes could change Britain for a generation.
What might these changes be. It really depends on Kier Starmer’s vision of a better society. And about that we know very little. He has played his cards very close to his chest, careful to avoid too many statements of intent by which he might find himself a target.
But let’s say a tax on banks that will have a knock-on effect of lowering the price on the market – the value – of every residential property in Britain. For many people it would be a tough pill to swallow, but the current situation means many more people than formerly have no hope of buying their own property. And the desire to own is huge in the UK.
So my question to anyone who is not in the UK is, how interested are you, how much do you know, and how much does it hit home in your feelings and your psychology as to what’s happening in Britain?
I’m asking because I’d like to get an idea of whether in the eyers of others we are a little island swimming in its own little puddle and that other countries simply couldn’t care less. Or whether that’s not true and other countries do take an interest and want to know what the outcome of this election will mean.
