More on the Boris Landslide

Further reflections on the big win for Boris and Brexit:

The people of the UK have spoken, and I like what they have been saying. They made it clear that the lunacy of Corbyn and Labour was not wanted, nor was more obfuscation and delay on Brexit. Boris Johnson took a big gamble on calling this election, and it paid off big time. Let me look at Thursday’s election in more detail.

The numbers

The results are now officially in for the 650 seats in the House of Commons, with the Conservatives romping home with massive gains:

-The Conservatives won 365 seats – a net gain of 66 seats. They got nearly 14 million votes, or 44% of all votes.
-Labour won 203 seats – a net loss of 42 seats. They got just over 10 million votes, or 32% of all votes.
-The LibDems got 11 seats – a net loss of 10 seats. Their leader Jo Swinson lost her seat. They got 11.5% of the vote.
-The SNP got 48 seats – a net gain of 13 seats. They got 4% of the vote.

The 80-seat majority for the Conservatives is the largest since Blair’s Labour win in 1997 when he managed to get 418 seats. BTW, the seat Blair used to hold has now fallen into the hands of the Conservatives! Nearly 20 seats held by Labour since 1945 fell to the Conservatives.

A few more details: the Brexit Party did not win any seats, and the Greens remain with just one seat. The Liberal Democrats, which is a committed remain party, lost big time. It even lost its leader, and they will have to regroup big time. The Scottish Nationalist Party did very well, and will look for a second referendum on independence, something Boris will not countenance.

Commentary

Voters in droves rejected the radical leftist and socialist policies of Corbyn and Labour. Even many traditional Labour voters turned on him and the party. Many wanted Brexit to be finalised, even if they may not have fully supported everything about Johnson. He acknowledged these voters in his acceptance speech.

Indeed, the workers have revolted big time. Socialists and Marxists have never really cared about the working classes: they just use them for their own ends. English workers got sick and tired of the leftist elites taking over the Labour Party. And the election results proved this conclusively. As Brendan O’Neill just wrote:

The ‘red wall’ has fallen. Brick by brick. Almost every bit of it. Seats held by Labour for decades have been seized by the Tories. To me, this is the most exciting thing in this extraordinary election. It feels almost revolutionary. Working people have smashed years and years of tradition and laid to waste the nauseating, paternalistic idea that they would vote for a donkey so long as it was wearing a red rosette….

Labour embraced an agenda of identity politics over community values, EU neoliberalism over British patriotism and radical virtue-signalling over the ideals of family, work and togetherness. And its working-class base said no, no, no. This is a warning to the entire political class. Do not take voters for granted. Do not insult them. Do not demean their democratic voice. https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/the-fall-of-labours-red-wall-is-a-moment-to-celebrate/

Or as Caroline Overington has written today:

Labour no longer means working class. Labour now means the inner-city lefties, with a tinge of trendy, and a touch of green. There’s really no other way to read the results coming out of Britain. The working class has deserted Labour. People who have never in their lives voted anything other than Labour – whose parents, and grandparents only ever voted Labour – have swung conservative. Nobody can quite believe this, but Boris Johnson’s team has scooped up Blyth Valley. The Conservatives have also taken the west Cumbrian seat of Workington. These are seats that Labour has held since … well, since before the Beatles were a thing. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/uk-election-2019-labour-now-means-innercity-lefties/news-story/f9465d7476f060d1a4b216898c3f89c8

Yes, Boris has smashed the red wall. And recall that in the UK folks are used to having the nation ruled with slim majorities, hung parliaments, and coalition governments. Now we have the Conservatives with a huge majority that can govern in its own right and do what it wants to do with much less resistance than normal. It was a very big win for Boris, who just a year ago was sitting on the back benches. Now he has a five-year term to get done his agenda.

Where to now for Labour, with so few seats won since 1935? Corbyn is now toast, and even though he spoke about hanging around for a while, it is likely his head will roll real soon as Labour licks its wounds, does some soul-searching, and tries to come up with a real leader who might offer effective opposition leadership.

As to the bigger picture: except for the People’s Republik of Victoria in Australia (where I sadly happen to live), many parts of the West are now repudiating the lunar left and its radical agendas. Instead they are turning to conservative governments. Even if one does not fully support a Trump, a Morrison, or a Johnson, they are far, far better than a Clinton, a Shorten, or a Corbyn.

A quick word about anti-Semitism. I have had folks try to claim that this was not a problem for Corbyn or Labour. Baloney. It was and is a massive problem. All that these sceptics need to do is read carefully the 53-page submission put out by Jewish Labour Movement. It is a damning indictment of Corbyn and Labour: https://www.scribd.com/document/438367082/Redacted-JLM-Closing-Submission-to-the-EHRC

The document makes it crystal clear that “Corbyn himself has repeatedly associated with, sympathised with and engaged in anti-Semitism.” It also says this: “47% of Jews who live in the country say they will seriously consider leaving if the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn gets into power. 87% of Jews consider him to be an anti-Semite.”

The JLM submission offers all the documentation anyone except the true believer needs to see he is fully entrenched in anti-Semitism. His hatred of Israel, his ties with Hamas, his defence of terrorism, etc., are also clear indicators of where he is at. Good riddance Jeremy.

Indeed, English Jewish commentator Melanie Phillips just wrote on this very thing:

So in this election, just as when they voted for Brexit in 2016, the working- class has risen up in revolt against against the liberal universalists who control both their party and British culture. They also despised Jeremy Corbyn. They perceived that he posed a security threat to the country through his backing for the IRA and Hamas, they didn’t believe his ludicrous promises of unlimited welfare spending, and they viewed his supporters as nasty, thuggish and antisemitic.

The antisemitism issue had got through to them. This was thanks to the dramatic warning by the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, that the poison of Jew-hatred was being spread from the top of the party, and also to the constant revelations of the eye-watering antisemitism by party members. https://www.melaniephillips.com/british-working-class-saves-britain-jews/

Spiritual perspective

The political outcome was certainly very important. But as I say after every important election: whether the “good guys” win or lose, at the end of the day politics is not everything. Boris Johnson will not save the UK. Trump will not save America. Morrison will not save Australia. Make no mistake: I am very glad and thankful indeed that all three are in office – far better than the alternatives.

When a socialist, globalist, anti-Semite and his party get trounced in a national election, that is a good thing indeed. But politicians cannot save us – only Jesus can do that. Sure, as believers we are citizens of two kingdoms: we have our heavenly citizenship, but we are also called to be salt and light in this world.

So we seek for good government and good policies. We hope that evil will be constrained to some extent. But we also realise that no laws and no governments can change the human heart. That is where the real action is at. Only God can change hardened, self-centred hearts into soft, loving, other-centred hearts.

So we need to work on both fronts simultaneously: we need to seek for godly governance, or at least wise and moral governance, but we also must proclaim biblical truth and share the gospel. Only a fully changed life, brought about by a spiritual transformation, can properly bring about the outcomes we seek.

By all means, let us work and pray that our leadership is at least somewhat reflective of biblical principles. Let us vote out clearly evil candidates and parties and seek at least the lesser of evils – which is about all we can hope for in a fallen world.

But never forget that only God can change the human heart. And that is something that we all need. As Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn once put it: “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts.”

Am I glad that Corbyn has been turfed out? Absolutely. But this is only a temporary reprieve for what really ails us. Widescale revival and reformation is the real order of the day. And that takes much more than going to the ballot box once every few years.

[1546 words]

24 Replies to “More on the Boris Landslide”

  1. Our Father………..may Your kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven ! Only turning to Christ’s commands of Love your God, and Love your neighbour can humanity be saved

  2. ‘Boris Johnson will not save the UK. Trump will not save America. Morrison will not save Australia.’
    Psalm 146:3: do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.
    If we do, we’ll soon be disappointed.

  3. I’ve not commented much here for a long time, being bound up like many others in the fiasco called British politics. It has been horrendous here since we had the “audacity” to vote in favour of leaving the EU. Yesterday’s election results were certainly spectacular and I believe God has definitely acted to bring this about, through the people; the silent majority made their decision, turned out despite the grotty British weather and voted. We don’t know God’s Full Plan for us in the coming year, but many hearts have been relieved at the squashing, for now, of socialism. Now, Boris must deliver.

  4. Amen, Bill, you have said what I feel, so well, so eloquently, God Bless you.

  5. He took brexit from the brexit party so they couldn’t win so he better deliver. Seen way too many politicians in the past steal a winning position to get elected then not follow through. Brits have waited long enough. Would have been interesting to see Nigel Farage get the PM spot though.

  6. Bill, if you will allow me another comment, it is increasingly hard for me as a reforming atheist to deny that God has had a hand in keeping the UK – my country – safe from Corbynism. I prayed that Boris would win – but nobody expected him to win big. God heard our prayers. As you allude, Boris is a complicated and in some ways immoral man, but he is the best man for the job in these trying times. He has the hardness and determination to get the job done – like the qualities of Thatcher and Churchill. I have Jewish friends, some still of the left, who were genuinely scared by the prospect of a Corbyn government. The antisemitism is undeniable. I have seen and heard it. It is sickeningly prominent in British leftist politics, and hatred of Israel is commonplace there too. When the exit poll came through I shed tears of relief and – yes! – thanked God – I am so grateful my home country has said no to politics of envy, hatred and division that Corbyn and his evil cult offered. This week has been a good week. We must make sure we build on it. Thank you for reporting on this from the UK. There is a real feeling here that there has been a seismic shift in politics. The Labour Party is in ruins. That is a reason to rejoice. God bless you and keep you safe.

  7. “But this is only a temporary reprieve for what really ails us. Widescale revival and reformation is the real order of the day.”
    Agreed (in principle)! But do you seriously see that happening? Is it a realistic hope and prospect—Biblically, that is?
    What I am getting at is, have you bought into the post-millennial notion that there will be a world-wide revival and a Christianised world before Christ comes?
    My own view is that on one hand the Gospel will expand through the world, and God’s elect will be brought in, from every nation, tribe, language-group, and family, through the ages. But, and this is important: in the face of, in the teeth of the bitterest opposition from a hostile world—and church, and that such will continue right up to the end of the Gospel age. Indeed, that hostility will intensify as the end approaches. Meanwhile, the nations go their apostate way. The call must therefore be for separation from the world, and to put no confidence in politicians.
    This is what I see the Bible teaching about the Gospel era, and the book of Revelation in particular.

  8. Thanks Murray. But I nowhere said that “there will be a world-wide revival and a Christianised world”! I am not sure how that follows from simply stating the truth that unless God breaks forth on our behalf, we are all likely toast. I would have thought that every Christian on the planet longs to see God move among us, pour his Spirit upon us, and do great things – in any way that he so chooses. There is nothing amiss in longing and praying for such things. And there is nothing unrealistic or unbiblical about it.

    It does not matter if Christ is returning this month or next century: these are things we can still pray about. We can and should ask God to move, to have mercy, and to show himself mighty. Indeed, Jesus commanded us to pray such things: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

    And my recent trip to Africa impressed upon me that God is not done yet with planet earth – at least parts of it. Sure, the West may be reaching an Ichabod moment, but there is much more to the world than Melbourne, London and San Francisco.

  9. Thank you Bill. Logical, Wise and Factual as always. Oh and you never fail to bring the Heart of the Lord into these matters. I moved from Melbourne earlier this year to UK. One thing I would want to say is that in each nation you mentioned, the USA, UK and Australia it is interesting how we actually believe and almost get defeated by the media reports about the Left. As I speak with people on the street, in trains, on planes, in the stores and the high street, there was never any question that Johnson would lose. But watching any news or reading any paper you would know that. Most of us do acknowledge the falseness of the Media in these nations, the bias, the lies, almost brain washing us to believe there is no hope. I think the most precious thing we have in democracy is the right to Vote. It must be protected. In prayer, in Parliament in all ways we are able. Without it, we are in real danger of falling into pit of lies just as George Orwell said in 1984. The silent majority need the safety valve of being able to raise their voices and defeat the enemy on all levels, through the ballot box. Churchill said (paraphrased) “It has been said that Democracy is the worst form of Government, except for all the others that have been tried”. I am truly grateful for the right to Vote and to raise my voice above the screaming lies.

  10. And meanwhile, Bill, the pro-life Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland lost two seats and is no longer in a position to provide pro-life and pro-family ballast to the Conservatives, given their majority. Moreover, as evidenced by the attack on Northern Ireland’s sovereignty over abortion and homosexual marriage, there are plenty of libertarian Tories willing to attack pro-lifers just as much as the radical elements within the Labour Party. Boris Johnson presides over a party many of whose members voted to gut the last remaining effective protection for unborn children in the United Kingdom. Wake up, please. Conservatism is not coterminous with Christianity.

  11. Thanks Rhona, but a few replies if I may:

    -My commenting rules require a full name!
    -Yes, it is sad about the DUP.
    -I have often said that Boris is NOT a social conservative.
    -Yes many of the Tories are not prolife, sadly, nor pro-traditional marriage.
    -I never said that conservatism, nor the Conservative party, are identical with Christianity.
    -That said, there are more pro-lifers in the Conservative party than there are in Labour, the LibDems, and so on.
    -And while conservatism is not identical to Christianity, it shares more in common with it than the leftist parties, as I have argued elsewhere, eg: http://billmuehlenberg.com/2007/01/05/conservatism-and-liberalism-christianity-and-secularism/

  12. I lived in England for 40 years and left 40 years ago. I may have left England but I don’t think England has left me as I devoured every bit of reporting I could about the Election and Brexit.

    When Edward Heath decided to take the UK into the common market, I felt ill at ease. Somehow it did not seem right. Even back then, labour was a problem as yes they did fight for the rights of the working man but they were prepared to destroy the economy to do this.

    I lived there when Margaret Thatcher took on the miners who had a strike for 10 months. They gave in and said it was a victory!!!

    As I was brought up just after WW2 and all the hardship that meant as the country rebuilt, there is no doubt that the English would not countenance another period of famine and shortage as would be the case under Corbyn as he would bankrupt the country.

    For me. Johnson, Trump and Morrison are the anti politician politicians. They don’t fit the mould of the ruling class who believe they have everything organised to keep them in power and the people out of the loop.

    And as has been said many times, the people always get it right. I wonder if the right wing parties are on a roll because they are the RIGHT wing, not the wrong (left) wing.

    With a PM like Boris Johnson, politics in England for the next five years is going to be very interesting and dare I say it, humorous as he definitely has a sense of humour.

  13. Very well, then. Thank you for conceding that many Tories are neither pro-life or pro-family.
    You argue that there are ‘more pro-lifers in the Conservative Party than in the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. Actually, that’s not quite true. Lord David Alton, a sterling campaigner for the unborn and against euthanasia, was a member of the Liberals and then Liberal Democrats caucuses in the House of Commons and Lords until an unfortunate policy change within the LIberal Democrats turned them pro-abortion.
    For many years, I was involved in the Labour Life Group in the United Kingdom- for yes, there are pro-life socialists and I count myself one of them. Yes, I have been bitterly disappointed in the British and New Zealand Labour parties recently, although I also applaud those ALP pro-life stalwarts who stood up for the unborn in New South Wales recently. The fact of the matter is, Bill, that the eggs in one basket pro-life strategy doesn’t work outside the United States. You said it yourself, Boris Johnson is not a pro-lifer and nor are many of his caucus colleagues. Remember Ayn Rand? She was a hardcore pro-abortionist and even attacked President Reagan on that issue. And as for Thatcher, hah! Under that woman, it became legal to kill disabled unborn babies up until birth- there’s no time limit for that form of abortion. Radical libertarianism is a major threat to the sanctity of human life- as evidenced in New Zealand by it being a radical libertarian ACT MP, David Seymour, who was responsible for our new, unwanted radical euthanasia legislation.

  14. Thanks for providing a full name this time Rhona as my commenting rules clearly state. But a few more replies if I may:

    -To “concede” means to ‘admit or agree that something is true after first denying or resisting it.’ Given that I never denied or resisted the fact that the Conservatives are not necessarily always pro-life or pro-family, I have of course conceded nothing.

    -One has to wonder about your angry and condescending tone. If you are still a died in the wool Labour voter – fine, just come out and admit it. But your continuous and rather irrational attacks on me and conservatism is becoming too bizarre and tedious.

    -And you simply make my very point of course concerning the fate of Alton. The LibDems ARE NOW a party of death. So I am glad to see your concession here!

    -And please tell me where I said we should put all our eggs in one basket. You seem to specialise in straw men and red herrings. Try to stick with reason and the facts here, and not just emotive accusations thanks.

    -If you had actually bothered to read this article and others like them, you would have discovered that I have often said that Johnson is not a social conservative; that Christianity is not identical to conservatism, but much closer than the loony left; that I am NOT a libertarian; that conservatism and libertarianism are not identical; and that I am not a Randian. But you seem to prefer to emote instead of actually knowing what you are attacking.

    -It seems your love of socialism and the left is as important to you as any pro-fie concerns you claim to have. It is exactly because I am strongly prolife, and have been so for over four decades, that I vigorously oppose the secular left and its pro-death ideology.

    -Because I am a biblical Christian, I not only see the abortion issue as very important, but I see many other issues as also quite important, and that is why I rejoice that Corbyn and Labour where so utterly trounced – rejected even by many diehard Labour voters. Those other worrying matters of Corbyn and Labour include their ugly anti-Semitism, their hatred of Israel and support of terrorism, their appalling policies in the areas of national security, their inability to respect the wishes of the people to implement Brexit, and their eagerness to economically destroy the UK with their hyper-left socialism. Most folks in the UK do not want to see their beloved nation turned into another Venezuela.

    But this will be the end of this discussion thanks. Bless you and Merry Christmas.

  15. Can someone from the UK explain why voting is not compulsory? And why does the UK hold elections on a weekday…?

  16. Not from the U.K. but if the government is going to make voting compulsory why not also who you vote for???

  17. Dear Bill,

    God sometimes allows the unlikeliest people to lead His people successfully.

    Winston Churchill was often drunk and smoked expensive cigars but when Britain faced Nazi Germany alone he inspired the people with his oratory to face up to the threat.

    Boris Johnson looks as odd as two left shoes and it is said he lives in ‘sin’ and is addicted to cocaine yet the people chose him to lead them.

    St Paul was no friend of early Christians yet in the end he helped to spread Christianity and was martyred for it.

    So let us wait and see!

  18. Having received some very clear instructions on what to pray over months for our election, I was stunned at what happened. One scripture very much at the front of my prayers was this: “”Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it grows up.” Ps 129:5-6

    During her comments the day following the election results, the BBC’s chief political editor said:
    “Throughout the night Labour’s roots appeared to shrivel. The foundations of Labour victories past were crumbling before our eyes.” Laura Kuenssberg. BBC News.

  19. Hi Cathie,

    From the UK with a degree in politics, but only able to guess why elections are held on weekdays. I suspect Saturday is out because, in past years when the day of rest was respected, it would have meant counting and results happening on Sunday. The main argument against compulsory voting is that it removes the freedom not to vote. You may think that is a weak argument and that a ‘non-voter’ could always spoil their ballot paper anyway. But I think it is also true that we want people who want to vote to decide elections; and not those grudgingly forced to the polling station.

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