Has the sun finally set on Britain?
There have been many mistakes in the last half century of Britain’s history: from the unnecessary wars that broke her empire; to the mass migrations that broke her spirit; and the politicians, from Tony Blair to Rishi Sunak, who have done their best to break whatever remained. At first glance, the recent parliamentary elections seem like yet another log on the bonfire of mistakes. But when we look more deeply at the numbers, we see a very different story emerge.
The Labour Party is the UK’s left-wing party. It is the party of Trotskyists, communists, and “social justice.” It is the party that believes everyone would be better off if only taxes were increased and those funds poured into climate change programs, “BAME” (Black, Asian, and Middle Eastern) identity politics, anti-colonial statues in Trafalgar Square, and aggressive gender programs in the Third World. It is the party that celebrates George Floyd, but passionately hates St. George.
So how did a nation that voted for Brexit (a very patriotic, nationalist movement) in 2016 swing so dramatically to the left in 2024? In the United States, the movement away from the Left, which started in 2016, has only steadily increased. In Europe, decades of center-left, pro-mass immigration rule is being challenged by waves of dissatisfaction, with nationalist or at least quasi-nationalist parties promising sovereignty to their citizenry. So why has Britain, a nation facing all the same problems as these others, not followed suit?
Well, the unexpected answer is — it didn’t! While their outcome was historic, and their seat count does give them a strong majority (making it seem like a sweep), the Labour government garnered fewer votes (9.6 million) in this election than it did in the last election in 2019 (10.2 million), when it suffered its worst defeat — in terms of seats in Parliament — since 1935.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CONSERVATIVES?
In 2019, the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson won the election with just under 14 million votes. Two years prior, they won under Theresa May with similar support. But by 2024, the Rishi Sunak Conservatives couldn’t even muster half that number.
To understand why, one has to take a short trip down memory lane, beginning with Brexit.
From the outset of the Brexit campaign, Conservative leaders showed blatant disdain for the idea of leaving the European Union (EU), even though the Conservative Party itself had introduced the referendum, as party leaders promised their voters in 2015. After the vote to leave was won, party leaders made very clear just how much they disliked the results; with party head David Cameron, a vocal supporter of remaining in the EU, resigning from his position as prime minister just hours after the “leave” vote was announced.
Cameron’s successor won the 2017 election on a tailwind of Brexit votes, promising to manage Britain’s withdrawal from the EU. Two years and many failures later, Boris Johnson replaced her, winning his own election on the promise (in his unique, disheveled way) to “get Brexit done.”
But, as Carl Benjamin, the popular British political commentator, noted, “[Johnson] inverted the underpinning reasons for Brexit, those being returning sovereignty to the UK and regaining control of Britain’s borders (specifically over concerns regarding mass migration), and instead outsourced sovereignty to NATO (due to his obsession with prolonging the Ukraine War) and decided to open the borders.”
In the five years since the Johnson mandate to close the borders, immigration increased by 43% over what were already record-high numbers. Every subsequent year (minus 2020) brought new record-high numbers of migrants.
The Conservative Party’s record of saying one thing and doing another was not helped during the COVID lockdowns. When news broke that Tory leaders not only knew the lockdowns were unnecessary and disproportionate to the threat – but that they and their friends were ignoring their own rules while strictly enforcing them on others – it did not win them favors with their voters or those of their opponents.
When Johnson was removed following all of this, Conservatives tried once again to bring in a truly conservative government.
Liz Truss was voted in by the party and determined her first order of business would be a Reagan/Thatcher-style economic plan that could bring a much-needed boost to the beleaguered isle. However, that focus on making Britain great again was to be short-lived. Within two months, Truss was deposed by a coup carried out by the Bank of England and globalist party insiders who promptly installed the deeply unpopular WEF member, Rishi Sunak.
Honor killings rose 81% over the same five-year period. Gangs of immigrant men drugged, groomed, and raped tens of thousands of women and children while authorities stood by and allowed it to happen. Terror attacks, violent crime, the destruction of British history and culture, and BLM riots — all of these took place under a supposedly Conservative government.
REFORM: THE SILVER LINING
The Reform Party, which — like Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands and Marine LePen’s National Rally (RN) in France — claims to stand for the exact goals that so many Brexit voters had in mind when they cast that vote in 2016, went from nothing to the third-largest party by vote share in the UK.
Though Reform only secured five seats in this election, it came second in over 100 other constituencies. The weakness of the Labour victory, and the rise in vote share for previously fringe parties, seems to have been a message sent to the elites. No longer would they support a party just to keep the Left out of government if that same party would turn around and be just as bad on every significant policy as the Left.
Lastly, it is a warning to conservative parties around the world. These voters aren’t your grandfather’s conservatives. This is the emergence of a new radical conservatism (odd as that may sound), one that will push to restore their nation and civilization and will no longer stand for the “managed decline” that they’ve received from the major parties until now.
Arthur is a former editor and consultant. Born in India to missionary parents, he spent his early career working in development for NGOs in Asia, Central America, and Africa.
Arthur has an educational background in history and psychology, with certifications from the University of Oxford and Leiden in the economics, politics, and ethics of mass migration and comparative theories in terrorism and counterterrorism. He is currently launching CivWest, a company focused on building capital to fund restorative projects and create resilient systems across the Western world.
