Tom Rachman is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail, and the author of The Imposters.
At last, Britain coughed out the gobbet in its windpipe, sending the long-governing, long-bungling Tories hurtling across the floor of Parliament into Opposition.
Yet the Labour Party triumph is peculiar: a landslide without public passion behind it, achieved with just one-third of British votes, the lowest share of any majority government in history.
The result is less an enthused swig of the future than a glum expulsion of the past. Indeed, Britain’s future remains vague because the new prime minister, Keir Starmer, has scarcely explained what he plans to do with power. When campaigning, the earnest barrister figured that the Tories would convict themselves by stupid words and worse deeds. So he just waffled his way to glory, leading the Labour Party to 412 seats versus the Conservatives’ 121 in the general election Thursday.
Tory support fell by 20 percentage points, with the Conservatives winning one in four votes, their lowest share ever. However, Labour’s vote-share increased by only 1.6 percentage points, and the unenthused turnout was 60 per cent, the second-lowest in over a century.
Mr. Starmer won the election, not the affection.
During a victory speech at the Tate Modern art museum in London, he promised that “change begins now,” before sheepishly reciting the kind of drivel that speech writers confect for such occasions: “And now we can look forward, walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back.”
The truest line was when Mr. Starmer spoke of “a burden finally removed.”
Some have welcomed the Labour victory as a repudiation of populism, suggesting that the global trend toward creeps-in-charge may have waned. That is optimistic, with the strong performance of Marine Le Pen’s party in French legislative elections; the rise of far-right politician Geert Wilders in the Netherlands; Hungary still led by Viktor Orban; and the star-spangled sociopath Donald Trump ready to resume where he left off in the Oval Office.
The British result is a repudiation of the failure that populism guarantees. But has the country understood what went wrong, and why?
The answer will come from the losers. Briefly, the Tories will whimper in defeat, then rebuild. They have two choices: reverse their right-wing-populist descent of the Brexit years, and return to moderation; or lurch further into the politics of ire and bullying.
A decisive figure will be Nigel Farage, arguably the man most responsible for Brexit, who has somehow survived its utter failure. The false narrative behind Brexit – that conniving outsiders were wrecking Britain – has morphed into a false narrative of post-Brexit outrage – that insiders are now wrecking Britain because they fail to take advantage of Brexit, which is like failing to take advantage of a pitchfork in your thigh.
But others’ pain is the demagogue’s opportunity. Mr. Farage – a cigarette-throated nationalist who has spoken with admiration of Vladimir Putin – emerges emboldened from this election, his Reform Party winning 14 per cent of this vote, earning four seats in Parliament, including his own. That is a modest contingent but meaningful, as Mr. Farage has tried eight times to become an MP, and only now succeeded.
In one version of the future, he pecks at the Conservatives so effectively that they admit him to their party, where he rises to become leader. In another version of the future, his Reform Party flubs its way to irrelevance, and Mr. Farage harrumphs back to a dingy pub, railing against all those he bloody loathes, who have ruined Britain.
But enough of those who didn’t win power. It is Mr. Starmer who matters now. He directs a vast majority, and has the chance to act boldly. In power, you cannot remain vague; you must do something. His problem is the economic mess he inherits, from which he must summon hope, and persuade an embittered population to trust him.
Regrettably, he has avoided confronting the central predicament dragging down the British future, its costly and worthless split from the immense trading bloc next door. Mr. Starmer even said on the eve of the voting that the country would not rejoin the EU in his lifetime.
Britain may have coughed out the ghastly gang stuck its gullet. But Mr. Starmer must clear his throat too. He must speak clearly. He must say what comes next.