This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/09/theresa-may-elections-fail
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Let’s whoop at the failure of May’s miserabilism. Optimism trumped austerity | Let’s whoop at the failure of May’s miserabilism. Optimism trumped austerity |
| (7 months later) | |
| Theresa May’s visionless, empty negativism deserved to fail. This signals a monumental shift in what is to come | |
| • Election 2017 - latest updates | |
| Fri 9 Jun 2017 07.23 BST | |
| Last modified on Sun 25 Jun 2017 19.46 BST | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| View more sharing options | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Close | |
| The earthquake shock of the exit poll will be forever a “where were you?” memory. Defying all prediction Theresa May was trounced and “Jez we can” was no wishful fantasy. Listen to the sound this morning of the eating of hats and the munch, munch of humble pie from those of us who worried he could never get anywhere near success. | The earthquake shock of the exit poll will be forever a “where were you?” memory. Defying all prediction Theresa May was trounced and “Jez we can” was no wishful fantasy. Listen to the sound this morning of the eating of hats and the munch, munch of humble pie from those of us who worried he could never get anywhere near success. |
| But if this feels like another crashing through the barriers of the known electoral world, remember this: the result follows some good old tried and tested ancient election lores that May and her failed svengali Lynton Crosby ignored at their peril. | But if this feels like another crashing through the barriers of the known electoral world, remember this: the result follows some good old tried and tested ancient election lores that May and her failed svengali Lynton Crosby ignored at their peril. |
| First, yes it was the economy, stupid. Wages have fallen back for all these Conservative years, yet May thought she could defy that law of gravity. Brexit-caused inflation has risen above pay, a gap now widening. UK workers face the biggest wage fall of any advanced economy, bar Greece, says the OECD. Household debt is high as people try to stay afloat: an average employee has just 32 days of savings, the bottom half even closer to penury, finds Legal and General. | First, yes it was the economy, stupid. Wages have fallen back for all these Conservative years, yet May thought she could defy that law of gravity. Brexit-caused inflation has risen above pay, a gap now widening. UK workers face the biggest wage fall of any advanced economy, bar Greece, says the OECD. Household debt is high as people try to stay afloat: an average employee has just 32 days of savings, the bottom half even closer to penury, finds Legal and General. |
| Every economic forecast points to much worse ahead, even before Brexit. David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, says the UK is not only the slowest-growing economy in the G7 rich nations, but the slowest growing among the EU28. What hubris of May to call an election in the face of the longest, most sustained wage-fall in living memory. Yet despite pious talk of the “just about managing” she ploughed on with monstrous £12bn cuts to tax credits and benefits for low paid families. Yes, indeed, “enough is enough”. That’s partly what the Brexit vote was all about. | Every economic forecast points to much worse ahead, even before Brexit. David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, says the UK is not only the slowest-growing economy in the G7 rich nations, but the slowest growing among the EU28. What hubris of May to call an election in the face of the longest, most sustained wage-fall in living memory. Yet despite pious talk of the “just about managing” she ploughed on with monstrous £12bn cuts to tax credits and benefits for low paid families. Yes, indeed, “enough is enough”. That’s partly what the Brexit vote was all about. |
| Second lore of elections: hope beats fear. Optimism trumped May’s grim finger-wagging warnings of “chaos”. Her manifesto offered austerity forever: that’s no exaggeration. Her budget planned to shrink the state permanently to a size so small it would change the nature of Britain. | Second lore of elections: hope beats fear. Optimism trumped May’s grim finger-wagging warnings of “chaos”. Her manifesto offered austerity forever: that’s no exaggeration. Her budget planned to shrink the state permanently to a size so small it would change the nature of Britain. |
| Third lore of elections: bribery works. George Osborne triple-bribed the voting pensioners, locking them into ever-rising pensions, every perk protected even for the richest. May thought her position so unassailable she could risk doing the right thing, and reining in the pensions bonanza now pensioners are the group least likely to be poor. She was right to reach into the untaxed housing wealth of the old to pay for their own social care – but that “dementia tax” did for her: U-turning only made it worse. | Third lore of elections: bribery works. George Osborne triple-bribed the voting pensioners, locking them into ever-rising pensions, every perk protected even for the richest. May thought her position so unassailable she could risk doing the right thing, and reining in the pensions bonanza now pensioners are the group least likely to be poor. She was right to reach into the untaxed housing wealth of the old to pay for their own social care – but that “dementia tax” did for her: U-turning only made it worse. |
| Meanwhile there was nothing airy-fairy about Labour’s manifesto: hard-headed true electoral cynicism and calculation in Corbyn and John McDonnell’s offer promised to keep shovelling cash into pensioners’ pockets, regardless. How do you catch the attention of the young, get them out of bed and into the polling booth for the first time? Yes, with a better vision, but also with a colossal eye-catching bribe of free tuition fees for all, however wealthy, never mind the sums. | Meanwhile there was nothing airy-fairy about Labour’s manifesto: hard-headed true electoral cynicism and calculation in Corbyn and John McDonnell’s offer promised to keep shovelling cash into pensioners’ pockets, regardless. How do you catch the attention of the young, get them out of bed and into the polling booth for the first time? Yes, with a better vision, but also with a colossal eye-catching bribe of free tuition fees for all, however wealthy, never mind the sums. |
| A fourth, lesser lore of elections is that the public don’t like needless ballots. Brenda from Bristol was right on day one: “Oh God, not another one!” Professor John Curtice points to a long tradition of voter revenge against leaders who call snap elections out of blatant opportunism. Seven times May swore she wouldn’t – but then dashed to “secure” an illusory 20% lead. Not strong and stable, but wily politics as usual. | A fourth, lesser lore of elections is that the public don’t like needless ballots. Brenda from Bristol was right on day one: “Oh God, not another one!” Professor John Curtice points to a long tradition of voter revenge against leaders who call snap elections out of blatant opportunism. Seven times May swore she wouldn’t – but then dashed to “secure” an illusory 20% lead. Not strong and stable, but wily politics as usual. |
| But oh to see Paul Dacre’s face when the exit poll came in! After the Daily Mail editor’s 13-page savage trashing of the Corbyn team, he saw his greatest acolyte, May, fail, despite a hysterical anti-Labour hate-campaign from his paper, the Sun and the Telegraph. But expect no humble pie from them. | But oh to see Paul Dacre’s face when the exit poll came in! After the Daily Mail editor’s 13-page savage trashing of the Corbyn team, he saw his greatest acolyte, May, fail, despite a hysterical anti-Labour hate-campaign from his paper, the Sun and the Telegraph. But expect no humble pie from them. |
| Though Labour didn’t win, today whoop it up and gloat with glee at the deserved failure of May’s miserabilist, visionless, empty negativism. Better still, look how this signals a monumental shift in what is to come. Already even David Davis questions whether there can be any full-steam-ahead charging out of the single market and the customs union. People never voted to be poorer: the fanatical Brexiters have been stopped in their tracks. There is a chance for an amicable approach that keeps us as close as possible to our nearest allies in a dangerous and friendless world. | Though Labour didn’t win, today whoop it up and gloat with glee at the deserved failure of May’s miserabilist, visionless, empty negativism. Better still, look how this signals a monumental shift in what is to come. Already even David Davis questions whether there can be any full-steam-ahead charging out of the single market and the customs union. People never voted to be poorer: the fanatical Brexiters have been stopped in their tracks. There is a chance for an amicable approach that keeps us as close as possible to our nearest allies in a dangerous and friendless world. |
| But May is not the leader for that. Inflexible and obstinate, she is not the one to navigate delicately through a hung parliament, building alliances and smoothing the path ahead. Who else? You have to laugh when Boris Johnson tries on something he has never done in his life before: to “rededicate” himself “to looking after people and their concerns!” Ha! If not May, then they need to find a wiser, more emollient, less extreme leader, but none of the contenders fit the bill. That’s the nasty party’s problem. Few of them are nice enough. She knew it once, but she couldn’t do it. | But May is not the leader for that. Inflexible and obstinate, she is not the one to navigate delicately through a hung parliament, building alliances and smoothing the path ahead. Who else? You have to laugh when Boris Johnson tries on something he has never done in his life before: to “rededicate” himself “to looking after people and their concerns!” Ha! If not May, then they need to find a wiser, more emollient, less extreme leader, but none of the contenders fit the bill. That’s the nasty party’s problem. Few of them are nice enough. She knew it once, but she couldn’t do it. |
| Politics | |
| Opinion | |
| Conservative leadership | |
| Conservatives | |
| General election 2017 | |
| comment | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Reuse this content |