There have been several notable elections in England over these past few months.
Most recently, Sadiq Khan got re-elected as Lord Mayor of London, comfortably defeating the outspoken Conservative candidate Susan Hall.
Others on the ballot included the right-wing Britain First Party who stood on a populist anti-immigration platform. Pumped up by the political right’s unhealthy obsession with Rwanda, they had hoped for a big show of support.
Their hopes were bolstered too by the withdrawal of another right-wing candidate, Laurence Fox who failed to fill in his registration form correctly.
Mister Fox is a character of the times we live in, a populist who wants to reclaim Britain for the natives. And to send the rest back on the ships they came in.
Had he become Mayor, perhaps at this very minute he’d be heading for Dover, loading up the longboats with Normans and Anglo-Saxons. Luckily, the Irish, Scots and Welsh would be okay for now, because the Celts were in Britain first.
Then there are the Neanderthals but thankfully not too many of them voted. At the end of the day, even Count Binface defeated the political right. He’s the comedy candidate who dresses up like a monster raving looney space-age Dusty Bin.
Thankfully, unlike most of Britain’s parties, Count Binface does at least have clear policies on the constitutional question in Ireland. He’s on record as saying that “any Czechs on the Irish border are to be allowed to stay there".
That really places him poles apart from so many contenders, even if his jokes are a bit rubbish at times. Mind you, at the end of the day’s count, Binface found himself in the headlines thanks to congratulations from Sadiq Khan, the day’s winner.
At the end of the day, London’s humour outweighed its anger. Because, in actuality, ordinary people in Greenwich or Whitechapel or Camden aren’t that bothered about boats crossing the Channel. Every time Sunak comes on TV promising nothing but flights to Rwanda, it’s a comedy even Binface couldn’t match.
Even Tommy Tiernan, Lisa McGee, Peter Kay, Geraldine McQueen, Blackadder and Baldrick put together couldn’t compete with Rishi’s yarn about Rwanda. Sure he could spin a tale that’d put Uncle Colm out of 'Derry Girls' to shame.
And the best of it all, the punchline isn’t a million miles from the one that the ever-apoplectic Sammy Wilson pulled on Leo Varadkar at the DUP’s 2017 Conference. Something about cowboys and Indians we’d best not repeat here!
Anyway, the Conservatives weren’t laughing when the complete results of the English Council elections were released. They’d lost so many seats that if counted in years we’d be back to the days when the Romans still ruled Britain.
At the same time, Labour gained 545 seats. However, the big winners were undoubtedly the Greens with a gain of 480 seats and the Liberal Democrats increasing by 768 seats. Notably, there was also a rise in Independents.
Most of those Independents are single-issue candidates, with some building their campaigns around opposition to what they see as a genocide in Gaza. Notably too, The Guardian reported that Labour’s vote dropped by a huge 18 per cent in areas of England where more than a fifth of the electorate are Muslim.
Naturally, many such people are turning their backs on an officially pro-Israel, pro-war Labour Party. The reason the same didn’t happen in London is that Sadiq Khan broke with protocol early on to back peace in Palestine.
Many Muslims and others who empathise with Palestine could therefore vote Sadiq with a clear conscience. Besides, if we didn’t vote the existing Lord Mayor back in, we risked Susan Hall’s wrath against those who protest in the name of peace.
To many Londoners, Sadiq isn’t perfect and has a lot of contradictions when it comes to issues such as protecting the environment, but he gets the job done. Even if people don’t always agree with him, they sort of know what he stands for.
Sadiq has stood up for Palestine while many have cowered, scared of being labelled racist for saying that racism and apartheid are wrong. That got him my vote and my willingness to encourage others in London to vote for him.
I’m not sure the same level of support will be shown towards all of London’s Labour MPs in the next General Election. I think we might see a levelling up of opposition to pro-Israeli policies right across the country, north to south.
Of course, outside of London, it won’t hit so hard in the south. But up north, there might be a few repeats of the Rochdale by-election result of Thursday, February 29. There, on a leap year day and a date that only happens every 28th year, George Galloway derailed Labour’s expectations with a surprise victory.
But just how much of a hurdle will that by-election result prove in the long run?
Presumably, if there’s a ceasefire in Gaza, this will be nothing more than a protest vote, with the seat possibly changing hands again at the next General Election.
Right now, there is a rising tide of anger at what’s happening in Gaza. Such anger is not simply limited to Muslim communities either, as evidenced by the demographics of protest. There’s a serious disconnect between the Labour Party and parts of what should be or used to be its natural constituency.
That constituency is one that cares about the situation in Gaza. It was that which fuelled Galloway’s gallop towards victory in Rochdale and impacted the result of Council elections in such places as Oldham, Bolton and Blackpool.
Keir Starmer’s dreams of outright victory in the next General Election might well come crashing down in those towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire famous for third and fourth division football teams.
Possibly, he could face the play-off situation of a hung parliament, sharing power with the Liberal Democrats.
But at least, on a less serious note, the recent elections have shaped events closer to home too. Last week in my neighbour’s back garden, we discovered three new residents – three lovely wee baby foxes just about a month old.
For the craic, we decided to give them memorable names suitable for the times. So we decided upon Sadiq and Susie for the first couple that appeared. And yes you don’t have to be as much of a stand-up as Sunak to see the punchline that’s coming.
We now have Sadiq, Susie and Larry Fox living in the next-door garden.
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