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UK: Labour Loses Local Races |
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In what the British press is calling a “bloodbath” for Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, local election results are spelling out some bad news.
Labour — with Brown leading them into elections for the first time since taking office last year — was set to finish third behind opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, according to near-complete results.
The ruling party could face further humiliation in the closely-fought London mayoral race, which pitched the current mayor, Labour’s Ken Livingstone, against the Conservatives’ maverick Boris Johnson.
“It’s clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour,” Brown told reporters, linking Labour’s performance to the effects of the global credit crunch.
“We have lessons to learn from that and then we will move forward.”
Conservative leader David Cameron said the results were “a very big moment” for his party. Some commentators suggest the Tories’ strong showing could be a springboard to victory in a general election which must be held by mid-2010.
The BBC has more information on seats won and lost, though the results of London’s mayoral race have not yet been announced.
While I’m sure the election results have a great deal to do with local politics, it’s tempting to view them in a geopolitical context as well. A referendum on Gordon Brown - if that’s indeed what the elections are - has indicated that Brits are still unhappy with the centrist and pro-Bush policies laid down by Blair. Practically every world leader with ties to Bush who has competed in free and fair elections has lost…is this the tail end of that trend? Blair did win in the last parliamentary elections in 2005, but Labour lost 57 seats that year (according to Wikipedia). And that was 2005. So I’m wondering whether the votes for Conservatives indicate a general distaste for Labour’s politics in the last few years, rather than an embrace of their opposition per se.
Then again, I’m pretty ignorant of British politics, and I tend to see things through a US-centric lens, so I could be totally off base.
Thoughts? UK readers, what’s the scoop?
