Beyond our Ken
Two days ago, I did a posting about the London elections. In the event, Ken Livingstone did not come that close to holding on to the post of London Mayor and now we have at least four years of Boris Johnston in the top seat. It will take some getting used to – but he may surprise us. I liked his statement: “I was elected as new Boris and I will govern as new Boris, or whatever the phrase is”.
Although there was an encouraging turnout in London of over 45%, appallingly the British National Party (BNP) still managed to win a seat on the Greater London Assembly (GLA) because they exceeded the 5% threshold. The only good news for Labour in London was the winning of the Assembly seat for Harrow and Brent by Navin Shah. That’s my seat and of course I voted for him.
Nationally the result has been a disaster for Labour. I joined the party in 1969 and have been a member continuously ever since. Thursday’s results were the worst for Labour since 1968 with a mere 24% of the poll putting the party behind the Lib Dems. I guess it means that we won’t have a General Election now until 2009. Meanwhile a lot of thinking and rebuilding needs to come from the Labour side.
Part of the defeat is the consequence of being so long in power; part of it is the result of the global downturn in economic conditions; but an important element is self-made and Labour clearly needs to reconnect with its core voters while not forgetting the middle class vote. It won’t be easy and there is not much time – but it can be done.
The organisation Compass has been quick off the mark with its analysis of what went wrong and what needs to be done.