Given preliminary results from today’s general election, it behooves Britons to beware what they voted for. Because the election of Boris Johnson as prime minister might prove a pyrrhic outcome at best.
Boris Johnson appears on course to secure a crushing majority of 86, and take Britain out of the EU in January [a.k.a. Brexit], after a shock exit poll showed his party would win 368 seats in Thursday’s general election.
That would be the biggest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher’s third election victory in 1987; and mark a dramatic repudiation of Jeremy Corbyn’s offer of ‘real change’ for Britain.
(The Guardian, December 12, 2019)
Johnson insisted that, no matter his margin of victory, he will never, never give Scottish voters a referendum to leave the UK. No doubt he fears losing the gamble David Cameron took when he gave British voters a referendum to leave the EU.
But Johnson could not have imagined the Scottish National Party would win a mandate for independence that rivals his Conservative Party’s mandate for Brexit.
An exit poll suggesting the Scottish National party has won a landslide general election victory in Scotland raised the prospect of a heightened constitutional stand-off with Westminster that could strain the already frayed unity of the UK. …
Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister, reacted cautiously to the forecast of what would be a landslide victory almost as complete as the general election of 2015, when her party took 56 seats. ‘Exit poll suggests good night for the SNP. … What it indicates UK-wide though is grim.’
(The Financial Times, December 12, 2019)
Grim indeed …
Because, given those results, Britons denying the Scots the right to vote for independence would be tantamount to Israelis denying the Palestinians the right to vote for freedom and equal rights (and, yes, statehood would be nice too). What’s more, if the Scots go, it would only be a matter of time before the Welsh and Irish republicans petition for self-determination too.
Meanwhile, Brexited Britain is betting its future on an existential trade deal with the United States. But, trust me, President Trump will build his imaginary border wall, and get Mexico to pay for it, before he strikes a trade deal with Johnson.
So wail, Britannia …
Related commentaries:
Brexit…
David Cameron…
Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.