Defying polls that showed a tightening between Tory and Labor Parties, flamboyant 55-year-old British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave 70-year-old Jeremy Corbyn’s Labor Party the worst shellacking in recent British history. Johnson won a decisive majority in the U.K. parliament, by 162 seats, leaving Tory Party with 365 seats to Labor’s 203. Corbyn was so humiliated he announced his resignation as Labor Party leader, effective sometime in early 2020. Corbyn blamed his loss on Brexit where he miscalculated British voters, thinking that polls had flipped, that U.K. voters wanted to stay in the European Union [EU]. Corbyn couldn’t have been more wrong, with U.K. voters giving Johnson a decisive mandate to complete Brexit by Jan. 31, 2020. Johnson now holds a 78-seat outright majority in the House of Commons, making Brexit all-but-certain on the new Jan. 31, 2020 timetable.
Former British Prime Minister, 53-year-old Theresa May, resigned May 24, unable to win enough Brexit support in Westminster. May learned a bitter lesson about British politics, unable to command enough charisma to pull of the controversial Brexit move. Leaving the EU hasn’t been easy since British citizens voted March 23, 2016 to leave the EU [52% to 48%]. While Britain never joined the Eurozone, retaining Bank of England and pound sterling, it was a faithful member of the EU from its inception Nov. 1, 1993 in Maastricht, Netherlands. U.K. paid in its heyday in 2018 about $16 billion in annual dues to the Brussels-based EU. When liberal members of the EU like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macro pressured the U.K. to take more Syrian refugees in 2015, British citizens voted for Brexit. Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage tapped into British fears.
Farage hyped the July 7, 2015 London Tube attack, where 55 British citizens lost their lives in a horrific terrorist bombing, with 784 also injured. When a more deadly terror attack happened at the Bataclan Theatre Nov. 13, 2015 killing 131 Parisians, injuring 413, British voters had enough by the time they voted March 23, 2016 for Brexit. While Johnson didn’t emphasize Mideast terrorism on British soil, Corbyn continued his attacks on Israel, showing one-sided backing of Palestinian. Corbyn wants to blame his stunning defeat on Brexit but it had a lot to do with his controversial backing of Mideast groups. Saying he had a “powerful new mandate to get Brexit done,” Johnson promised “that work will begin tomorrow . . . or rather I should say not tomorrow, today!” Corbyn leaves the Labor Party in shambles, losing a whopping 59 seats in Britain’s House of Commons.
Johnson’s landslide victory had repercussions in Edinburgh, where anti-Brexit Scottish First Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said he accepted the results but would move ahead with a new Scottish referendum to leave the U.K. “He must accept that I heave a mandate to offer Scotland the choice of an alternative future,” Sturgeon told the BBC. Both Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson and Democratic Unionist Party leader Nigel Dodds lost their seats in Parliament, adding one seat to Irish Nationalists Sinn Fein. Johnson spoke last night Dec. 12 to Scottish First Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, reassuring him that he would do everything possible to keep Scotland in the U.K. “The Prime Minister made clear how he remained opposed to a second independence referendum, standing with the majority of people in Scotland who do not want to return to division and uncertainty.”
Johnson said in his victory speech, “Let the healing begin,” signaling to Scotland and Wales he intends to do what’s needed to include them in his government. Johnson promised that his top priority, apart from Brexit, was bolstering the National Health Service [NHS], something most British voters wanted. Enlisting support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Irish Prime Minsiter Leo Varadkar and Welsh first Minister Mark Drakford,, Johnson showed he wanted a smooth Brexit transition. Johnson needs Merkel and Varadkar to help fashion an easy transition on the Northern Ireland border with the Republic. EU and British leaders still haven’t figured out how to keep the border a passport free zone, as it’s been since 1993. Dealing with the North Ireland-Republic border has been one of the sticking points with Brexit, where the EU insisted on the U.K. jointing the EU Customs Union.
Johnson winds up with the largest Tory majority since former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 2001. “We must understand now what an earthquake we have created. The way in which we have changed the political map of this country,” asking for patience and support from opposing parties, especially labor. Corbyn couldn’t accept responsibility for Labor’s resounding defeat. Corbyn blamed Brexit for “dominating” the campaign, even though he could have nuanced his position to attract left-leaning independent voters. Insisting that any Labor leader would have the same results, Corbyn didn’t get his pro-immigrant stands turned off British voters. President Donald Trump congratulated Johnson, offering help when it comes to a new U.S. trade agreement. Johnson’s focused now on an EU trade agreement that preserves the open border in Northern Ireland.
