Own goal of the season

While May led an abysmal campaign, Corbyn shined as an authentic candidate

Let’s put the June 8 UK general election in perspective. If Theresa May hadn’t called the snap election, she could have remained prime minister and the Conservative (or Tory) Party, which she leads, could have retained its majority in Parliament until 2020. But Theresa was misled by the polls, which, until we got dangerously close to the election, portrayed her as a popular leader with a commanding lead over her rivals, particularly Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party.

In contrast to Theresa, Corbyn was presented by the media as a basket case, struggling to keep the nearly defunct Labour Party alive. It was in this context that May thought she could increase her majority in Parliament and thus enter Brexit (Britain’s recent decision to leave the European Union) negotiations with a convincing mandate from the British people.

Not only did that not happen, but May lost her outright majority in Parliament with Labour gaining 29 extra seats, and is now struggling to form a coalition government with the help of the Northern Ireland-based Democratic Unionist Party. It was an epic blunder, summarised most succinctly when ex-English footballer Gary Lineker tweeted, “I think Theresa May has won own goal of the season.”

It was the second time, in rapid succession, that the Tory Party leadership seemed utterly foolish. Last June, May’s predecessor, David Cameron, wagered the country’s future by asking voters to decide, in a referendum, whether or not the UK should remain a part of the European Union. Betting that the result would be in the affirmative, Cameron had to resign when voters narrowly opted to leave the union.

Ironically, the Conservatives lost some seats to Labour because those who wanted to remain in the European Union punished the Tories for calling such an ill-thought-out referendum. This, in spite of the fact that positions on Brexit weren’t exactly drawn on party lines, with Theresa initially for remaining in the union and Corbyn sympathising with those who wanted to leave.

Nevertheless, May’s miscalculation has benefited her rival, Corbyn, the most. Despised by the media and questioned by many within his party, he has managed to come out looking like a winner. While May has lost legitimacy as the leader of her party and may soon be ousted, Corbyn has solidified his position and is poised to lead the Labour Party in the wake of its improved electoral performance.

While May led an abysmal campaign, poor in her media interactions, awkward among the voters, leading one to wonder how on earth she became a politician in the first place, Corbyn shined as an authentic candidate, a man of principle and integrity, a true rarity among politicians in any country. May’s flip-flops and U-turns appeared jaded and fake compared to Corbyn’s history of speaking truth to power. His introspective foreign policy positions are a breath of fresh air for the leader of any Western country even if his economic prescriptions may be untenable and wishful.

Young people came out in record numbers to vote for Jeremy as he promised scrapping university tuition fees and increasing minimum wage. This is understandably appealing to the young but Corbyn’s daunting tax recommendations to pay for those freebies may continue to cause many older voters to shy away from voting for him.

And thus for all those hailing Jeremy’s impressive rise within the Labour Party as a return to true left-wing politics and the end of “Labour-lite under Blair,” as some put it, it remains to be seen whether Labour can actually win the election under Corbyn, as opposed to just denting the Tory majority. Continually failing to form government may not necessarily mean that “politics has changed for good,” as Jeremy stated on election night. Let’s also not forget that in neighbouring France, the left-wing Francois Hollande was recently replaced by the centrist Emmanuel Macron.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2017.

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