The thumping victory of Boris in London showed that the Conservatives are back as an electoral force. It displayed the potency of a progressive, liberal Conservatism as an election winning machine in tune with the instincts of the British people.
What was probably predictable in the days following the result was the chorus of dismay from the choir of elitism on the left and the sheer gracelessness with which they ‘accepted the result’. The Polly Toynbees and Steve Richards of this world let out a scream of anguish in their columns that seemed to suggest that the people had somehow “got it wrong” or “made a mistake”. According to their wrong headed world view, it was the electorate, rather than Ken Livingstone or the Labour Party who were “at fault” for the Mayoral result. One Labour blogger called the result “a sad day for democracy” and Steve Richards said that the voters had failed a series of “tests” in the election and a Ken defeat would be the result of a “failure of voters”. All complete, self deluding clap trap of course. The anti democratic, elitist tendencies of so many on the left was again illustrated with the creation of a ‘Boris Out’ Facebook group less than twenty four hours after the declaration of the result, already planning a ‘student’s protest’ against the wishes of the people. While the rest of us were celebrating the election of a fresh, liberal Conservative Mayor full of new ideas for the capital, and the convincing rejection of a tired Livingstone, discredited by cronyism and his links with tinpot dictators and extreme right wing Islamic extremists, the left were muttering away to themselves about the “folly of the masses.”
This response says so much about Labour’s response to a re-energised, progressive Conservative Party. Put simply, they find a liberal Conservatism in tune with the British people quite impossible to handle. As New Labour and its adoring commentariat have grown illiberal and out of step with the public, the Conservative Party has grown in strength and conviction and is now marching in step with the mood of the nation. Labour are losing the battle of ideas in London and across the country. Their only response to the liberal Conservatism or the Boris campaign was to throw petty personal insults that diminished only themselves. This vacuous alternative to policy or new ideas has continued with their juvenile, tokenist ‘campaign’ in the Crewe and Nantwich by election. The victory in London on May 1st showed that Labour under Brown have no answers to a modern, liberal Conservative Party. As Toynbee, Richards et al make a futile attempt to hold back the wave, we can hopefully say that the triumph of Boris last week was the first of many famous victories for David Cameron’s Conservatives.
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The left has always disapproved of people expressing their opinions – especially when they get voted out of office. To be so arrogant as to suggest that the people ” got it wrong” belies any belief in democracy itself. By definition, the people CAN’T be wrong.