The story of British municipal elections is that of Boris and Dorian. Boris, because the former prime minister forgot to go to vote with an ID (a rule that he had imposed), just as he had forgotten that parties were prohibited during the pandemic (something that he had decided). And Dorian because, like Oscar Wilde’s character to stay eternally beautiful and young, the conservatives made a pact with the devil (Brexit) in order to remain in power. But in both cases things have not ended well.
The count will end today, but it is already clear that the Tories are going to lose almost half of the councilors they had, in addition to the seat for Blackpool South in the House of Commons (Brexite territory par excellence), in another fateful night for their cause , and in another installment of the novel by installments of his decline, decline and eventual fall after fourteen consecutive years in power.
In the midst of the shipwreck, the only lifeline was the re-election of the Conservative mayor Ben Houchen for the Tees Valley region (northeast England), a popular character locally, but whose majority still suffered a bite. That pyrrhic victory could be enough (especially if the fellow Tory Andy Street is re-elected in the West Midlands) for Rishi Sunak not to be subjected to a confidence motion, save his skin until the general election and the world to avoid the embarrassing spectacle of a new change of British leader not coming from the polls.
Conservatives are aging poorly, like the portrait that Dorian Gray hid in a room of his house in Victorian London, and on which the years inexorably passed while he, young and beautiful, dedicated himself to partying and committing all kinds of excesses. , cause the downfall of friends, break hearts and even commit murder. In the case of the current British Government, the list of charges is summarized in the general decline of the country at all levels, the decline of the economy (Poles will be richer in five years), the increase in poverty and crime , the deterioration of healthcare, education and public services, the destruction of the welfare state, austerity, debt, immigration chaos, the loss of prestige and international influence… And quite a bit of it – although not all – It is attributable to Brexit, the Faustian pact of the conservatives to remain in power for a few more years, at whatever price. Which is being very high.
Most voters realize that Brexit is not the promised manna, that they have been manipulated, that immigration has gone up instead of down, and that, when asked if they live better or worse now than in 2010 (when Cameron arrived in Downing Street) or even on February 1, 2020 (when Brexit came into effect), the answer is a loud no. That is why the electorate has decided to torture the conservatives before giving them the finishing touch, executing them by hanging, shooting them, taking them to the electric chair or giving them lethal injection. That will come.
Every election, whether to fill a vacant seat in the Commons, appoint mayors or councillors, is one more mockery on the way to the scaffold. One day it means pulling out their nails, another day slamming their faces, gouging out their eyes, burning them with cigarettes or putting a funnel on them and forcing water into their mouths. His instinct is to survive (Sunak wants to exhaust the legislature and avoid elections before the fall if he can), but the application of the death penalty will even be a relief.
Yesterday’s results were faithful to some polls that give Labor around twenty points ahead, and confirm the trend towards a clear victory for them in the general elections, with an absolute majority. The only negative note for the center-left opposition was the loss of control of city councils in university cities and communities with a large percentage of Muslim population, due to support for Israel. But that black point was more than offset by the massive recovery of votes in their former bastions of the post-industrial north (the red wall) that Johnson took from them by cajoling voters with Brexit.
The electorate no longer listens to the Tories, it doesn’t matter if they sing a Michael Jackson hit, a bolero with the voice of Julio Iglesias, a Beatles song or a Eurovision song by Abba. His slogans (“Stop the boats”, “Take back control”, “Save the NHS”, “Lower taxes”, “Reduce immigration” …) are interpreted as merely figurative. They sing alone in karaoke, without an audience, whether when Sunak announces an increase in the defense budget to 2.5% of GDP, or the arrest of immigrants to send them to Rwanda, or the decrease in inflation, or the reform of the Welfare state to make it more difficult to unsubscribe (one in ten Britons are) and collect disability benefits (with an annual cost of €85 billion). Alea jacta est, as Julius Caesar said. The die is cast, or so it seems.
From the conservative point of view, the movie is A Nightmare on Elm Street (or in this case, Downing Street), the book Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and the adjectives for yesterday’s results range from dismal to catastrophic. As for Labour, it almost touches power, but without offering hardly anything, for fear that anything it says could be taken by voters against it.
In the end Dorian Gray destroyed his portrait, and in doing so killed himself, while the face of a beautiful young man reappeared in the painting. The British Tories are on their way to opposition hell, where they hope to regain beauty. Cruelty comes from weakness, Seneca said, and the electorate feels weak and cruel.
