‘A Complete Reshaping of British Politics’

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s vow that he would “not sugarcoat” the results of Britain’s local elections on Thursday speaks volumes about the success enjoyed by Blighty’s man on the move and the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage. The Brexiteer calls it “a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics.” Not since the 1920s has the hold of the Labour and Tory parties been so threadbare. Ascendant are not only Mr. Farage’s Reform but also a hard left faction, the Greens, led by Zachary Polanski. The Telegraph puts it pithily: “Reform are surging, the Greens and Lib Dems are gaining, the Conservatives are falling and Labour are plummeting.” Early returns suggest that Labour could lose more than 1,000 council seats and even forfeit its dominance at Wales, where it has won every general election for the Senedd since 1922.No wonder Mr. Farage is “thrilled and delighted.” He declares that Reform is now the “most national of all parties” and that “there is no more left-right.” He reasons that “if we cleared Becher’s Brook and landed well, we go on to win the Grand National.” That’s a fence jumped during a National Hunt horse race. Jockeys liken it to “jumping off the edge of the world.” Mr. Farage promises to stick the landing, though — meaning win a general election. To move into 10 Downing Street Mr. Farage would likely have to give consideration to what some call the imperative to “unite the right” — find an accord with the Tories and their leader, the magnificent Kemi Badenoch. In December the Financial Times reported that Mr. Farage was telling donors that he expects such an alignment. Such a maneuver, though, would hardly be a panacea — Disraeli himself reckoned that “England does not love coalitions.”The Labour-Conservative duopoly is far from ordained in Magna Carta. We have written about how the rise of Labour and the fall of the Liberals offers “a cautionary lesson for any ‘major’ party — that political winds tend to shift unexpectedly.” Britain’s electorate is hankering for a change. The New York Times reckons that Thursday’s results, still being tabulated, are “consolidating Reform’s status as the dominant party of Britain’s political right.”Sir Keir is vowing to stay the course, declaring that “Voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved. I was elected to meet those challenges, and I’m not going to walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos.” The prime minister, wounded as he may be, can note that Reform’s vote share, which was at some 32 percent in elections last year, seems to be around 27 percent this time around.Still, that share of the vote puts Mr. Farage’s Reform ahead of the Conservatives at 20 percent, Labour at 16 percent, the Liberal Democrats at 14 percent, and the Greens with 13 percent. Taken together, the results limn a discontented and searching nation. If Mr. Farage can make the case for an optimistic, pro-growth agenda that fulfills the promise of Brexit, these results could come to be seen as the tremors before a British earthquake.

‘A Complete Reshaping of British Politics’

‘A Complete Reshaping of British Politics’

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