New Delhi: The tides have turned in Britain with the Conservative Party conceding defeat after 14 years of governance owing to a slew of missteps, miscalculations and scandals. The first domino fell when former UK PM David Cameron sought the 2016 referendum on Brexit, say experts, and the tenures of the four who succeeded him — Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak — eroded the party’s reputation as one of discipline and smooth organisational machinery.
On Friday, the Labour Party, led by Sir Keir Starmer, who is tipped to be the next British Prime Minister, secured a landslide win by winning at least 412 seats out of a total of 650 in the UK Parliament, comfortably obtaining a majority. The Conservative Party has had its worst showing, winning as few as 121 seats (two seats remained to be counted at the time of publication) and seeing its vote share drop by 20 percentage points. Meanwhile, the Labour Party has only seen a 1.6 percentage point increase in its votes.
“It’s not so much that Labour has become popular, but rather the Conservatives have become unpopular,” Navtej Sarna, former Indian envoy to UK, US and Israel, told ThePrint.
He added: “It’s been a rocky 14 years marked by gross misgovernance, strategic missteps, division in the party and scandals. This combined with a sluggish economy, a disastrous fall in living standards and a breakdown of public services left the populace angry. The Conservative Party’s future looks bleak going forward, at least in the short term.”
After less than two years in office, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat. “I am sorry. I take responsibility for the loss,” he said in a speech as the election results poured in.
‘Lack of discipline, party organisation’
According to Harsh V. Pant, professor of international relations at King’s India Institute and vice president, Observer Research Foundation, a shift in the long-held perception of the Conservative Party is what led to its downfall.
“The Conservatives always prided themselves on being a party of discipline and a “natural party of governance”. This perception took a beating after Brexit, Covid-19 mishandling and the internal divisions and scandals that followed,” Pant told ThePrint.
He argues that the Labour Party’s shift to centrist politics was successful, and it has thereby been able to send out a clear message on policy. “Starmer has achieved this centrism by agreeing with the Conservatives on foreign policy and to some extent immigration, while also issuing strong opposition against existing domestic policies on health, housing and living stands,” he said.
While Sunak has been credited with improving the UK economy and stabilising national politics after his predecessor Liz Truss’ tenure failed to last longer than a wilting head of lettuce, he faced backlash for his Rwanda asylum plan and awkward interactions with ordinary Britons. Suella Braverman’s blistering attacks on Sunak after he sacked her as home secretary also didn’t help his campaign.
While Cameron dealt the first miscalculation with Brexit, it was under Theresa May that a “civil war” erupted in the Conservative Party.
Her inability to bring both factions on board for a Brexit plan eventually paved the way for an electoral setback after she called a snap election in 2017 — which resulted in a hung Parliament — and her departure from 10 Downing Street.
Enter Boris Johnson, who was able to secure a Brexit plan under the Trump-esque slogan of “Get Brexit Done”, but the mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ‘Partygate’ scandal further unravelled the Conservative Party.
Then came Liz Truss’ short tenure, marked by a mini-budget in September 2022, which commentators say “broke Britain, and led to higher mortgage costs for millions in the UK, among other adverse ripple effects.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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