Britain has just come out of yet another election and there is a lot to be learnt from the result. It would be easy to say the main focus of the election was Brexit, but it's one of many variables to be considered. Many times the argument was put forward the people had voted, they had decided we should get out of the EU. Other arguments were against Corbyn the MP who historically had made some controversial remarks and supported causes which were vilified. The election was nasty, Johnson used emotive terms which grabbed easy headlines, his was a populist tabloid retort to anything he could. Whereas Corbyn did not simplify arguments against the individual known as ad hominem and tried to position facts. Public image wise Corbyn came across as a rather stiff, teacher like figure who occasionally got uptight and spoke through clenched teeth. Whilst Johnson did his best to be calm, show humorous outrage, was bumbling, likeable and reasoned. Johnson's message was clear, it was a single message, whereas Corbyn's was difficult to understand because it prevaricated, it was neither yes nor no, and the public wanted a dramatic finish to the debate.
However, true in itself, the referendum should of never taken place, it was put into action by a self-centred Tory PM who cared more for washing out the in-fighting with his own party than the reality of a vote which went against his own arrogance. Voters went against Cameron not just for Brexit, they were fed up with austerity, fed up with the political elites not getting it, they thought this country is capable it can pick itself up, be great, have full employment and be doing something. Brexit was a scapegoating event, put the blame on the foreigners not on our own politicians, nor blame the voters for putting the Tories in power in the first place. Further to this those who voted Brexit and those who voted Remain had become two divided camps both dug into their opinion and even if one side of debate was more logical and valid than the other, neither could turn back, there was too much commitment. Then between the 2016 and 2019 a war waged, online, in parliament and on the streets.
The issue of Brexit gets blown up, in reality it is highly complex. Yet the country was given just a dichotomy to consider "in" or "out" nothing else. How could anyone abandon 50 years of trade agreements, laws and treaties with just a simplified binary vote? For this is exactly what happened when Brexit took place, it was way too complex an issue to be put on the table for fair-weather friends to decide on a whim what impacted on them. The highest level of hubris brought Cameron down, the best ever thing he did was resign, but out of the ashes of resignation came forth a new phoenix, his name brushed off the incompetence of May to become PM Johnson. A man who no matter how much he'd been proven to lie during his career somehow adapted himself yet again to another lie, changed his stance from originally advocating Remain to leaving. This man had no scruples about making money in his career as a pop political journalist, being an MP and also being Mayor of London. His record of cuts and austerity to London has scared it. What he played was a figure head, a focal point for the Brexit voter, something to look towards, someone with just a single message. The election became about Brexit and nothing else, because of those stuck in the ground views by both sides, a binary decision had become one of who is to win which was more important than being right. When an election should be fought on policies not just a single issue.
Corbyn has history, he has too much political history, but more than this some of his views have been considered extremist, to the extent the average voter could not tolerate voting for him, even though he was the man leading the Labour party. The pictures of him with Gerry Adams and other IRA members are enough to make anyone who remembers the troubles from that time to cuss Corbyn and never let his name be spoken before. No wonder at one point his face was put on dummy training targets for fresh army recruit firing practice. Speaking up for terrorists is always a bad thing when at war with them. He'd been a back bencher for most of his political life and this is probably a place he should stay for a little longer. He believed in nuclear disarmament, nationalisation, getting the rich to pay more in taxes. Yet, it was Corbyn the man who lost it for Labour, his public image his views and the plethora of material tabloid newspapers were able to find and regurgitate to the public. In the active pursuit of votes, every nasty vile thing was going to be said about Corbyn and they were going to swing the Labour heartlands over, forced them to face up to it, their man was not up to scratch. He was a London luvie and didn't represent the northern worker. Corbyn became toxic easily.
At some point Johnson will push the UK out of Europe, yet when this happens how do his voters think Britain will be become better than it is? Some are locked in the belief the Great British spirit will soldier on, will take us through this bad time, that we can make things, we can do things and become Great, it is as though they have been imprisoned in a time capsule from the 1800s when Britain ruled the world and let out again. Britain is not Great, and it never will be, this dangerous word should be removed from all literature because it gives a false notion to the general population we as in Britain were great together. A look at history will tell you, we were not. Britain was good for the wealthy but it has never tugged up the living standards of the poorest. Until that is the welfare state came about and the national health service. Both of which are now going to be pushed to the brink of non-existence. As foreign nationals who work in it begin to leave, all those thousands of nurses from other countries and doctors will now consider their position. Waiting lists will increase and the common British population are doomed to die, little by little. Hospitals will become places of death, the elderly who have no social care will block beds, the frail will die, those who may be of working age but needing an operation to get back into society again and earning a wage will not. They will wait for years on end, they will then receive little to no benefits because the Universal Credit system has been made to only be available to those who are working on the lowest incomes and does it's best to prevent the disabled from applying for benefits, rejecting them and making them jump through a thousand hoops, even the critically ill don't get benefits until they have died. And what is the use then? The system has done it's deed.
The Tory camp went on an offensive, with Johnson pushing for an election as soon as he got into power as a PM. However, he also lowered the tone of debate and played to the silent racist who is always afraid to open their mouth in fear of being found out
Those voters who indeed lent their vote to the Tories just on the single issue of Brexit have been disillusioned with politics and politicians. But what they don't understand is they have also been used by them, used and now they will be abused for a further 5 years until the penny drops. Then perhaps after a friend or relative has been buried six feet under, or some kind of self realisation kicks in and a light bulb moment comes into awareness. Whereas those who did vote Labour now feel betrayed by what their family, friends and colleagues have done, there will be bitterness and divide to such a deep level many of us will no longer associate or be family to those we once loved. This discord is the very thing the Tories will feed on and enjoy, because it will break up the working classes and as the old saying goes, divide and conquer. They certainly have done that today.
