Can there really be hope, after all?
By Bruce Bawer
For some time now, the political situation in Britain has been developing in such a way that it seems almost to have been scripted in Hollywood. On the one hand, British Muslims have asserted their power with growing audacity, illegals have continued to pour into the country, and the long-established Conservative and Labour parties have looked upon this nightmare scenario with apparent impotence, taking action only to quell the restive reaction by native Brits, especially members of the increasingly put-upon working class, to this naked takeover; on the other hand, those working-class Brits, trained for generations in polite obedience, have steadily become less polite and obedient, heeding the warnings of Tommy Robinson and other brave rebels and turning out in burgeoning numbers for marches and rallies where they do the unthinkable – namely, wave the Union Jack and sing “God Save the King.”
The first clue that the British populace was no longer composed entirely of sheep was the astonishing Brexit vote on June 23, 2016, in which a small majority of the electorate registered their disapproval of Britain’s subordination to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. The man who led the Brexit fight, Nigel Farage, went on to establish Reform UK, which seeks to break the monopoly of the so-called Westminster uniparty. Conservative and Labour had taken turns ruling Britain ever since World War II, but, originally representing two very different political philosophies, had for a generation or so been almost indistinguishable ideologically – both of them acting as cheerleaders for the National Health Service and other socialist schemes, and both of them (in violation of their own repeated promises) welcoming illegal aliens, mostly Muslim, into the country in untenable numbers, thereby making everyday life more difficult and miserable for ordinary Brits on a variety of fronts, from education, housing, and crime to employment, medical treatment, and elder care.
Reform drew an impressive number of supporters, but even as it grew, it became a target of criticism by patriots who charged that it didn’t go far enough – that it was too much of a one-man show; that Farage, far from wanting to destroy the political establishment, was out to become its crown jewel; and, most important, that its program for change just wasn’t strong enough. Farage, responding to the complaints, eventually abandoned his refusal to consider deporting illegal aliens. But his vanity and stubbornness, his outspoken contempt for Tommy Robinson, and his apparent fear of seeming too radical enabled other opponents of the Westminster establishment to form rival parties, one of which, Restore Britain, has, in a matter of months, become a real contender.
On the other side of the aisle, the Green Party, too, has grown in leaps and bounds. If Reform has threatened Westminster from the right, the Green, under the very effective young leader Zack Polanski, have taken it on from the left. The Green Party stands not only for what it contends to be the apocalyptic war on climate change; it also buys into transgender ideology and celebrates immigration without exception. It enjoys an extraordinary amount of support from privileged young urban types who, a decade or two ago, would have reflexively cast their ballots for Labour.
Last week, local elections were held around the country in which 5000 seats were contested. The results were eye-opening. The ruling Labour Party, which trampled the Conservatives two years ago, did so terribly last week – it lost over a thousand seats – that there were calls for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose unpopularity is unmatched in modern British history, to resign. The Conservatives, who had hoped to significantly reverse their 2024 losses, lost more than 500 additional seats. Meanwhile Reform and Green both had strong showings, with Reform gaining over 1400 seats and Green over 300. (The Liberal Democrats, Britain’s longtime third party, picked up 150 seats.)
It was the first time in history that neither the ruling party nor the official opposition ended up in the top two slots. (The vote tallies in England, Wales, and Scotland are remarkable to ponder: Reform, 3,825,559; Labour, 2,854,352; Conservative: 2,669,816; Green: 2,319,190; Liberal Democrats: 2,075,538.) “Two-party politics,” pronounced Polanski, “is dead.” Even before last week, Britain was on edge about the next general election – which will take place some time before May 2029 – but the level of anticipation is even higher now, when it seems more certain than ever that the entire British political picture is on the verge of being transformed forever.
There was one phenomenal result that wasn’t mentioned by the mainstream media. As podcaster Dan Wootton reported, Restore Britain, which seems far more likely to be a vehicle for real, dramatic, and necessary change than Reform UK, ran ten candidates in the city of Great Yarmouth, which its leader, Rupert Lowe, represents in the House of Commons. It won all ten seats with massive majorities – this, after Farage had dismissively predicted that Restore would not manage to win even one percent of the vote even in that constituency. Wootton characterized the Great Yarmouth results as an “earthquake,” and suggested that once Restore has built up a “campaign machine” and a nationwide slate of candidates, Reform voters will jump en masse to Restore. He also spent much of the program showing videos from the previous few days illustrating exactly why Britain needs nothing less than a political earthquake.
For example, we saw a reporter trying to interview a Green Party candidate – but to no avail, because the latter, a Muslim, didn’t speak English. We saw a group of newly arrived illegal aliens, all of them young men who looked like thugs, strutting around London with city maps that had apparently been issued to them – but by whom? We saw Home Secretary Shabana Mahmoud surrounded by a dozen or so of her supporters – not one of them an ethnic Englishman, Welshman, or Scot. We saw a Muslim political leader exulting: “We are on the cusp of making political history….Inshallah!” (“God willing” in Arabic.) On a shabby-looking street somewhere, dressed in a pinstriped suit, looking for all the world like a Godfather-era Mafia don, and surrounded by several other Muslim men and one young blond woman, a Muslim political leader said:“I want to change little bit this area” [sic].
After the election, despite their failure to mention the dreaded Restore Britain, mainstream-media commentators were united in agreeing with veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil, who described the results of the vote as representing “a change in the very nature of British politics…the first very big change in a hundred years.” As one observer put it, the British people had in one fell swoop cast away “creaky party structures” that had been “designed for the nineteenth century.” Thrilling stuff. But will it lead to the radical real-world changes that Britain desperately needs in order to remain Britain? Is it at all reasonable to hope that the tragic loss of Britain can actually be undone? Or is all this electoral drama something of a hopeless last stand before the invaders take charge?
First published in Front Page Magazine
One Response
Will Reform UK thrive or fade, as did Meloni in Italy?
The ghosts from the British past are solidifying into SAS-like martial political muscle.
Up your impatience laddies ! Put your boots to the baddies !
⁰