The Corbyn factor

British voters have declared their verdict. They prefer a hung parliament instead of giving a clear majority to Conservatives. It was a devastating night for Prime Minister Theresa May, who fell short of winning the majority to form the government.

The Conservatives have emerged as the leading party, with Labour lagging behind. The Scottish National Party stands third. Both the Conservatives and the SNP suffered losses and Labour Party made gains. The SNP lost more than 20 seats in Scotland. In rural Scotland, the Conservative Party surprisingly won 10 seats, capitalising on a strong anti-independence and pro-Brexit mood that exists in the rural population. The SNP is in a state of shock as two of its biggest stars lost the election. Its former leader and senior parliamentarian Alex Salmonds lost to a Tory candidate.  

Ukip has, so far, failed to win a single seat. Ukip lost its appeal as an anti-establishment party to right-wing voters. Even its share of votes fell. The Liberal Democrats have been able to recover some ground they lost in 2015 elections. But they suffered the biggest shock of the night as their former leader and ex-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg lost his constituency.

May’s decision to play the gamble of the snap elections backfired. Nevertheless, the Conservative Party will be able to form a coalition government either with the help of the Liberal Democrats or the Irish DUP. But the dream of a strong and stable government has turned into a nightmare. May’s own position might be at stake. She has emerged as a weak and feeble leader from this election.

Jeremy Corbyn failed to win enough seats to form government or stop the Conservatives from forming a coalition government. But he emerged as a real winner in this election. The Labour Party has been able to increase its votes and seats under his leadership. Corbyn will gain confidence from these results and will adopt a radical, anti-austerity tone on both national and international issues.

This will be a disappointment for all those who wanted to see a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn. But Corbyn has undoubtedly changed the face of British politics. He will not be prime minister but has proved to be the most radical and pro-people leader in Britain at the present time. The Brexit issue prevented him from obtaining a majority or enough seats to form a coalition government. May’s strategy paid off in this regard. Many voters preferred the Conservatives over Labour because of Brexit negotiations. The British press played its part as well. The media ganged up against Corbyn and tried everything to stop his march towards the victory.

It’s not clear at the moment whether or not he will remain a Labour leader. Blairites desperately wanted to see his back. If he decides to stay, they might launch a fresh campaign to remove him as the leader. There might be a new crisis in the Labour Party on this issue. But it will not be easy for the Blairites to take the party back to Blair’s time. Corbyn rightly pointed out that new centrism is based on an anti-austerity and pro-people agenda.

The resurgence of Corbyn and the Labour Party in the last couple of weeks surprised many. Corbyn turned a generally boring and corporate style election campaign into a lively one. He energised the whole layers of youth and working class people and gave them new hope of change. He is the first Labour leader since the 1990s who stood firmly against austerity, cuts on social welfare, privatisation and, more importantly, against free market economic policies and neoliberalism. He transformed the Labour Party from a pro-capitalist, free market and neo-liberal party into pro-working class and youth party. 

Corbyn put forward a clear programme to change economic policies. He called for the nationalisation of railways and other utilities. He wanted  to abolish the university tuition fee for students. Every university graduate left behind a debt of GBP 50,000, which he or she had to pay back. He wants to abolish the anti-trade union legislation and protect the workers.

He wants to pursue an independent foreign policy and end the support and sale of arms to all the undemocratic and authoritarian regimes. He wants to stop interventions in the Middle East and other countries.

When he started to talk about democratic socialism, pro-working class and anti-austerity policies, the nationalisation of railways, electricity, gas, postal services and other utilities, the right-wing media unleashed a vicious propaganda to discredit him. He was declared a dangerous socialist and an outdated left-wing populist who was detached from reality. The British media showed its true face and colour to discredit him. 

Corbyn’s only crime is that he stood for the many and not for the few. He challenged the capitalist class and its anti-working class policies of free market, austerity and cuts on welfare. It has become a crime to challenge or question the free market economy, neoliberal policies and the political hegemony of the capitalist class. Jeremy Corbyn committed this crime and faced the wrath of capitalist media. But he refused to bow down and change his policies. He dared to challenge the capitalist monopoly and hegemony by putting forward a radical programme and manifesto to solve the basic problems faced by the working class people and the youth.

Even his party colleagues tried to remove him from the party leadership. Blair supporters never hid their hatred and dislike for Corbyn. They joined hands with the right-wing media to discredit him and desperately wanted to keep the Labour Party as a centrist party and continued to support cuts, privatisation and austerity. As a result, Corbyn is fighting two battles at a time. He is facing the Conservatives, the right-wing media and the British establishment on the one hand and his party’s right-wing pro-capitalist rebels on the other.  

When May announced the surprised snap elections two months ago, everybody thought that the Conservatives would have a free run. The British media published one opinion poll after the other to prove the point that the Conservative Party is heading for a larger majority. Some commentators even gave the Conservatives the majority. Everybody had written off the Corbyn-led labour Party as unelectable and irrelevant. The results of the local bodies elections last month proved them right. Theresa May and her Conservative Party won with a clear majority.

When May called the snap election, she had two clear objectives to achieve. One was to win a large majority to comfortably negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU. The second was to buy time between the final exit and the next general elections to minimise the impacts of hard Brexit. May was not willing to go to the polls soon after Brexit in 2019.  She also wants to strengthen her grip on the Conservative Party to implement her policies. With this election result, she will not be able to achieve any of her objectives. She might face a serious leadership challenge from within the party, and could end up being the first casualty of this election.

The writer is a freelance
journalist.