Rain sodden and competing with an anti-social source blasting out something which might have been music Rishi Sunak spoke with defiance and some gravitas but looked in the still photos like a fellow pleading ‘Give me another chance. I can fix this. Honest,’ And thus the UK ‘s political classes, pundits, news teams and Facebook heroes leap forth with either desperation or undisguised glee to fill the airwaves, media streams and letter boxes for the next 6 weeks. It’s General Election Times folks! Be prepared for thrills, spills, pyrotechnics, polemics, off-the-cuff errors made in public, uninformed biased trash from both Right and Left, and for the media to find a deluded someone who is going on holiday to ‘get away from it’ . Somewhere in there there will be policies and matters of importance mentioned by the major parties, but you’ll have to listen, watch or read carefully because the sound and fury will be loud. And sorry then my good American friends your election will take a back seat for a while. This year 4th July is General Election Day in the UK!!

To start off with I have to admit, personally I find it hard to actively dislike Rishi Sunak, which says more about those in the Conservative Party who have made headlines over the past ten years and also a few in my supposed homeland of the Labour Party.  That said to matters practical or more to the point Realpolitikal. Because against the backdrop of the past ten years  this is an age of choosing the Acceptable not the Perfect.  Something to Build On other than Sold to The Lowest Tender, or worse  Gesture Politics, or Pretending That Extremist Views are the answer, or thinking that Not Voting in the UK is smart.

For folk outside of the UK here is my own summary of the current parties you will hear about. At the risk of causing apoplexy amongst some fundamentalist Little Britains, the UK political scene has gone quite Euro in the past decades, no longer Two Parties and a few minor influences who fortunes rise and fall. Small parties can make an effect, either by diluting the vote of the Big Two or snatching a few seats. So in some sort of order these are

The Conservatives– Came to government in 2010 when Labour ran out of direction and drive. Started off as business as usual, the then PM David Cameron made the mistake of calling a referendum over EU membership and its Right came bursting forth. Since then its leadership has changed several times lurching further Right. Thanks to the special incompetence of Johnson and even more so Truss along with their own version of Labour’s self-destructive in-fighting it has lost much confidence of the public. Sunak tried to play the Sensible Card, but the rabid  side of the Right won’t let things be. The Polls suggest disaster. That’s an old song. The Conservative Party can be Stalinesque when determined to survive. An 80+ majority has to be quite a turnaround. File them under ‘We Shall See,’

Labour – Specialises in visceral in-fighting between what might be taken for in the USA as pragmatic Democrats with liberal leanings and a Left Wing who has a MAGA like fixation with giving Moscow a free pass, conspiracies and vitriolic social media assaults and threats on anyone who upsets them. Their tenure under Corbyn was a long term disaster at a time when the Conservatives own disarray would have been a gift to old Labour hands of the 1960s. Currently under Stammer, a pragmatist on policy and an authoritarian on internal party discipline. Not a favourite of mine but the alternatives are worse, Democracy is often about voting against as voting for. Worst worry- currently an large lead in the polls, lots of words being written about WHEN and not IF Stammer will be PM and a deluded group who might appear thinking not voting for Labour will help Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.  

Pause: The increase in smaller parties votes and disillusionment with the Big Two can lead to a ‘Hung Parliament’, which means neither have a clear cut majority of seats. This happened in 2010 and 2017. The following parties will all benefit in some way from such an event as seats in Parliament could make them king makers. 

Liberal Democrats (generally known as The Lib-Dems)- Formed out of the ashes of the old Liberal Party and a brief Social Democrats. Basically the third party, whose fortunes rise and fall. Under Nick Clegg in 2010 made a disastrous coalition with the Conservatives and lost public credibility, since then have been trying to build back. Currently profiting from those voters who have abandoned the Conservatives but won’t vote Labour. Looking to do well on that traditional theme. Aside from public recognition and trust its big problem is the internal split between the Financial / Economic wing and the Fair Deal for The Public wing (my terms). Also very few folk know any important or high ranking Lib-Dems. Current leader Ed Davey steering a basically steady course between every other party.

Scottish National Party (SNP) – Once the dominant force in Scotland but as suffered internal disputes over whether to go for full independence or stay with the ‘Federated’ stance. They are a force in UK politics in that they are the government in Scotland with a strong presence of 43 seats in the central UK parliament. However personal problems and scandals have dogged the party along with leadership tussles and blunders. There may also be a feeling in Scotland that for too long the SNP have taken the Scottish public for granted.  Both Labour and Conservatives smell SNP blood in the water and are circling like benevolent sharks to ‘save Scotland’  

Plaid Cymru -The Welsh Nationalist party has a long history, with mixed fortunes. Currently the third party in the Welsh Assembly (Senedd) and holding 3 seats in the UK Parliament. At one stage considered the main foe to Labour who traditionally held most of Wales in recent years they have lost ground to the Conservatives whose base in Wales is strongly anti-independence. They could however benefit from the perception of poor showing of the new Conservative MPs who came in during 2019 when said party made inroads in NE Wales. There again could lose out to a Labour revival. A generally Left of Centre party, they battle on. 

‘The Greens’  – The environmental party in the UK. They have doggedly held onto 1 seat in the UK Parliament since 2010. and have a tendency to be looked on ‘fondly’ by a noticeable portion of the UK population, managing to have 2 members on the non elected House of Lords, and 800+ local authority councillors. There has been a split within the party which saw the Scottish Greens go their own way. This reflected the ongoing dispute between some in the Trans-Rights movement and opposite numbers within Women’s Rights groups. Most other parties managed to bury this but in a small party which espouses tolerance and rights in all directions this stands out as an issue. They carry on though, hoping maybe that the success of the Scottish Greens in having a brief power sharing agreement with the SNP might be duplicated in the House of Commons.   

And then we have these two. Although they both have a seat in the current House of Commons, personally I hope that is redressed in the General Election. Their danger being both could dilute the votes of both of the Big Two and even remain the House of Commons. I should warn you I have no time for either, so my comments are not even slightly objective.

Reform (UK) – After UKIP fell apart Farage re-invented it as this one. Basically right-wing, anti-immigration, populist and constantly embarrassed by possible candidates for elections or elected councillors making inflammatory remarks. That said it is making inroads into the right-wing sentiments of sections of the population and could damage the Conservative vote.  Their 1 MP being a Conservative who switched sides. Personally I worry about that as it could influence some Conservative sections to move even further right to hold onto their voters. Although lead by one Tim Rice, Farage lurks ready to ‘do his bit for them’. The final word of the subject involves Farage who is apparently giving most of his attention this year to getting his friend Trump re-elected. Do you need to know any more about Reform UK?

The Workers Party of Britain – A party created by George Galloway, once a left wing Labour MP who now espouses the ‘Arab cause’ and Palestine in particular to the extent of a revolutionary fervour. It is difficult to separate the party from the man. Someone who conducts his political career with a Lawrence of Arabia / Sanders of the River / Paternalistic zeal over his adopted constituency. Won a seat in a recent bi-election through an outpouring of local Muslim anger at the Israeli action in Palestine. You might think, some in the UK do, that this is a revolutionary left-wing party (with a traditional section of the UK far-left anti- semitic ideology masking as concerns about Palestine writ even larger). Then you have to look at the record that he is anti-abortion, anti-LBGT+ and ‘socially conservative’. So forget a radical liberal stance there. A threat to Labour Vote and if the Conservatives do get back in, folk should examine where this apparent party’s vote affected the result. I now cease my comments.  

I have left out the parties of Northern Ireland who have representation in the UK Parliament because of Norther Ireland’s unique approach to elections long and deep in the sectarian question, and its own rules. The republican Party Sinn Fenn might win seats but as a matter of principal will not take them up whereas the Unionist parties can be as much of a problem to Conservative governments as any Labour Party efforts. Even so as in 2017 the latter can be power-brokers, if only for a short time. 

Then there are the usual hodge-podge of fringe parties, some of whom spring up now.

Overview 

Nothing should ever be taken for granted  in an election, those within Labour will look back ruefully to 1992, when only the efforts of John Major and the complacency of Neil Kinnock caused the result to go Conservative against the polls. Those of us with longer memories can hark back to 1970 when Labour was eased out of government against all the odds. A great deal can happen in six weeks.

As you can see from the above parties in the mix there are variables and also possibilities which could knock any party’s focus off course. Aside from the economy and the myriad of social issues, for once there are outside issues. Again, some think that by not voting or voting for extremists they will help the folk in Palestine, the logic of that escapes me, I can only assume they are very innocent of how politics works in the UK, and also know little of what is going on in the outside world in general; they leave themselves open to my eternal question…‘Where were you when the ….. (fill in the blank)Muslim populations were being slaughtered, persecuted in…..(fill in the blank)?’ . Then there is the issue of a full scale conventional war taking place not so far away in global terms from the UK. If Putin does something even more so than he is doing now, that may have some bearing, particularly if some other nation in say the Baltic is drawn in.

Overall this one is about dissatisfaction with a government. It cannot fight very well on its record, as its record is the problem. It might play a fear factor of the unknown to a great degree, and that sometimes works. There are those within who feeling this is a lost cause will settle down for a Long Game, lose this one, purge out the Right and go back to the middle ground; the danger being the party might split, something the Conservatives are usually able to avoid but we live in uncertain times.

Labour might be on track to win outright. but that will be something of a chalice with a dubious mix of beverages. The current government has been borrowing at rates which might be giving some economists and financiers nightmares. What Labour might inherit and what policies they might decide to forgo is a nightmare all of its own. You can only blame the previous government for so long, and in this unsettled unhappy realm ‘long’ will be short indeed.

I would normally say, simply Vote. It is vital for your future and those after you. However since there has been a revision of the voting system with the need to produce identity there and then, and the rules are not the clearest a number of potential votes might go by default….Why even an ex-Prime Minister got caught by that and could not vote…Boris Johnson…Who else?

I would not recommend betting on this outcome, much less the aftermath.