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Mike Yardley: Boris Johnson's victory a turning point for Britain

Author
Mike Yardley,
Publish Date
Mon, 16 Dec 2019, 12:03PM
Boris Johnson won thanks to common sense, writes Mike. (Photo / Getty)

Mike Yardley: Boris Johnson's victory a turning point for Britain

Author
Mike Yardley,
Publish Date
Mon, 16 Dec 2019, 12:03PM

It’s always tempting to talk-up the impact of a particular election. To dub it a watershed or a turning point in history.

But Boris Johnson’s triumph is all of that. The nation’s future was truly on the line, it was do or die for Brexit. 

In many respects this was a second referendum, which so many Brexit-denying whiners had demanded. And they got routed. The Tories resounding victory has unshackled the UK from the soul-destroying woe, mischief and misery of a hung parliament. A Parliament that did everything in its power to thwart the will of the people.

Britain has also been saved from a radical lurch towards full-throated socialism and renationalisation. Britain said no to another winter of deep discontent. No to old-style union militancy and no to class warfare.

The election verdict has delivered a thunderous repudiation of Jeremy Corbyn’s Marxist cult, the man and his party. Despite all the free stuff he was doling out like confetti, a vast swathe of the UK’s working class weren’t buying his hard-left agenda. Nor Labour’s absurd pretence of neutrality on Brexit.

The parallels between the political climate in the US and the UK are uncanny. The Democrats are on the brink of eating themselves, with the party base shifting further and further to the left, much to the consternation of Blue Dog Democrats.

And just as we saw a realignment in US politics with Trump’s White House victory, the same dynamics powered Boris Johnson’s victory. They’re both larger-than-life personalities with a warehouse of peccadillos. But they know how to connect with the widespread anxieties of working-class folks, whether it be illegal immigration, costly climate policies or identity politics.

You could argue Britain’s “quiet Brits” found their voice as powerfully as Scott Morrison’s “quiet Australians”. The urban liberal elites and associated luvvies just don’t get it. Nor do the self-righteous celebrities, the Hugh Grants and Stormzys, who weaponise their Twitter feeds with such spiteful, arrogant fervour.

Britain kept its head, they kept calm, to carry on with common sense. The party of Churchill and Thatcher is now more blue-collar, more northern and less beholden to the metro elites. Boris’ broad church is the stuff of history.

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