Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Should US Republicans embrace Canadian / UK style health care, hard lockdowns and climate action? UK Conservative British PM Boris Johnson has just won a stunning by-election victory. But there are dark economic and political storm clouds looming on the horizon of green BoJo land.
Pinkerton: What the Republican Party Can Learn from the Huge Victory of the British Conservative Party
JAMES P. PINKERTON
8 May 2021How the Brits Did It
Here’s why American conservatives should pay attention to the recent special election in Hartlepool, United Kingdom: The British Conservative Party has modernized and mobilized itself to win a parliamentary constituency that the Labour Party had held for nearly 60 years; indeed, the Conservative candidate won the seat on May 7 by more than 23 points.
Now that’s a story worth paying attention to, with an eye toward our replicating it here.
The parallels between American conservatives and British conservatives are strong and more recently even stronger, as the two parties have taken a populist, pro-worker, anti-globalist turn.
As we all remember, in June 2016, British voters endorsed the Brexit referendum. Then, of course, in November 2016, Donald Trump was elected president of the U.S. And in July 2019, after weak Conservatives had dithered on Brexit, Boris Johnson became prime minister on a flat promise: “Get Brexit Done.” Johnson won in a massive landslide; it was the biggest victory for the Tories since 1935. Then Johnson kept his promise on Brexit, absorbing along the way voters who had supported Nigel Farage’s U.K. Independence Party.
Yet there was more to Johnson than Brexit. His winning political platform was heavy on conservative and populist themes. He pledged more money for police, science, healthcare, apprenticeships, and infrastructure, while at the same time holding the line on personal tax increases. Johnson further promised to restrict immigration, as well as to toughen up on crime.
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To be sure, Americans haven’t quite cottoned to national health insurance, although it is true that the Affordable Care Act now enjoys a healthy margin of public support. Moreover, just in the past three years, the ruby-red states of Idaho, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Utah have voted to expand Medicaid, bringing many working-class families (the poor have always been covered under Medicaid) into the protective embrace of health insurance.
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Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/05/08/pinkerton-what-the-republican-party-can-learn-from-the-huge-victory-of-the-british-conservative-party/
For now Britain supports Boris Johnson. He gave them lots of money during the lockdown, and his authoritarian crackdown made frightened people feel safe. His massive subsidies for renewables also plays well with a population who have been relentlessly propagandised by the government funded BBC on the need for climate action.
Business confidence is also at a record high – all the money the UK government has pumped into the economy has sustained demand.
But sooner or later someone has to pay for the bread and circuses. British National Debt has crossed the £2 trillion mark for the first time – according to the OECD, the British Government owes 144% of GDP.
There has also been growing unrest against endless Covid lockdowns, though for now Boris Johnson’s Covid authoritarianism seems to enjoy overwhelming public support, if the Hartlepool election is any guide.
It is possible that US Republicans could achieve a similarly overwhelming victory by copying elements of Boris Johnson’s formula which resonate with Democrats; by embracing government funding of green policies (and providing impossibly optimistic estimates of the cost and benefits), promising comprehensive free universal healthcare, promising generous benefits, spending borrowed money like water, yet gaining an advantage over their opponents by leveraging people’s trust in Republican economic stewardship.
But this would be be a deeply unsustainable path to victory. Promising the impossible might get your foot in the door, but sooner or later people figure out they have been misled.
Boris Johnson’s Britain has to somehow contain and pay back that spiralling 144% GDP government debt. Massive investment in solar panels and wind farms will achieve nothing for Britain’s economic competitiveness. The inevitable harsh tax rises required to pay for all this big government populism could cause Britain’s new found business confidence to evaporate as quickly as it appeared.
Westminster is often called the uniparty – because that’s what it is
All well to the left of Pol Pot, all signed up to the same climate/lockdown nonsense
Boris Johnson became prime minister on a flat promise: “Get Brexit Done.”
Which he failed at.
-The border with Ireland retreated to the middle of the North Sea – a surrender to the IRA.
-The fishing industry was destroyed by the betrayal.
-There is more red tape for exporters, not less.
Anyone could “get Brexit done” by just giving the EU whatever they wanted. He didn’t put Britain first.
The reason Wales went Labour is that Labour are incumbent and the pandemic matters. Furlough and vaccines led to a huge swing to the incumbent.
The reason England went Tory is that the Tories are incumbent and the pandemic matters. Furlough and vaccines led to a huge swing to the incumbent.
The reason Scotland went SNP is that the SNP are incumbent and the pandemic matters. Furlough and vaccines led to a huge swing to the incumbent.
Please note, this election leads to the break-up of the UK. I would not recommend the USA tries policies that lead to the Southern States declaring independence again.
Just so we are clear about the state of political choices in the UK, consider this.
Labour backed hard left policies which were straight out of the Marxist hand book. Their front bench finance minister, Shadow Chancellor i..e. the man who would be making financial decisions in the UK, if Labour had been elected actually carried a little red book from chairman Mao in his pocket. He even pulled it out to read a passage from it in the House of Commons (UK Parliament) during a budget debate!
Labour were obliterated at the last election because of their Marxist desires and because they wanted to remain in the totalitarian EU.
The LibDems were regarded as the sitting on the fence party. They made up the place in politics where those who hadn’t a clue about politics, could place their vote, safe in the knowledge it was a pointless gesture towards a pointless party. The leader of the LibDems was so out of touch with reality, she said she would ignore the vote of the electorate if it continued to demand exit from the EU. That was so popular an idea, she didn’t even get re-elected in her home constituency!.
The greens are so lacking in popularity there is just one Green MP in Parliament out of a total of 650 MPs. she (it had to be a she) represents the gay capital of England i.e. Brighton. No constituency votes for a Green MP because they are bat sh..crazy people. Correction, the gay community vote for a Green MP,
The devolved regions of the UK i.e. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own dynamics they vote with local mindsets, ignoring all else.
That brings me to the Tories.
They are a popular political party. They are being voted for, not because the voters are excited by the identified policies they offer, but because there is hope the Tories will one day realise they have been suckered into Gang Green policies. Those Net Zero policies are damaging to the Nation. Until the Tories wake up we have to live with voting for them they are the only party that is not worshiping at the shrine of Karl Marx, which happens to be in London, by the way.
The movement and members that drove the get out of the EU referendum success, are now returning to the Woke Green Tory party. The crazy direction the Tories adopted under Cameron and May, due to the absence of rational realistic real Tories will now change.
The PM’s girl friend and live in lover at Downing St. is a rabid Green, she supports XR demos and is as bat sh.. crazy as all other Green political advocates. She is affectionately known as Princess Nut Nuts because she is, apparently…
On the plus side, Boris loves her so she gets to strut about the corridors of power like some character from Cicero’s famous “Enemy within”.
History repeats:_
.“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for s/he is known and carries his/her banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his/her sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; s/he speaks in accents familiar to his/her victims, and s/he wears their face and their arguments, s/he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men (and women). S/He rots the soul of a nation, s/he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, s/he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero
(Edited for formatting) SUNMOD
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Sorry, Eric. You’re wrong about the “climate activist” element of the Tory success. The “climate emergency” is being pushed by all the main parties and the public will go along with the idea of “saving the planet” until the real cost of the policies is revealed. Watch this space.
Johnson didn’t win the Hartlepool by-election, Starmer lost it.
The choice was, ‘anything but labour’.
There is no choice in the UK there are three ways of voting socialist Com (Socialist light) Labour (Woke Marxist) Liberal Democrat (Woke unliberal undemocratic )
All are believers in the climate change religion (BS) and support net zero.
I think all political parties are becoming more bureaucratic and are introducing laws all the time to get control of the population, it is no longer us versus them but us versus the government.
Menshevik wins election!
I would not like to see America copy conservatism or its ways in deluding the voting public.
Perhaps what America thinks is conservatism is different in the UK
Perhaps we can do draw similarities in conservatism and republicans in business and commerce.
We certainly can not draw similarities in the freedoms of individuals, I believe America still is the land of the free, but maybe not much longer, ( the green agenda ,democrates) the vile way the usa media ( as well as the UK media ) treated trump in office, if there was ever hatred publicly displayed then we saw it for the last 4 years in America by the democrates.
Uk conservatism has no principles, honesty, they are not conservative as we once new them they have taken business models and applied them to the poor, screwing them financially ever tightening of the noose of freedoms, you can’t be free to expand in all senses because we follow a biase in favour of corpatism the free are tied to the shackle , the state at present is bonded with corpatism mutually ,at the expense of every one,
Hartlepool is simple its a old working class area left in the 80s mind set, disillusioned with the party that supported its grandfathers (Labour) Labour still relie on the desendents of the working class for the vote eg ( look at Wales Labour being almost unanimously voted in again) a large area with many consistencies in a old coal mining area , the mind set has not changed but the world has, they vote in a party ( Labour) who is so far removed from what they once stood for, now= pro eu , pro green agendas is a polite way means of description, deliberately not investing in infrastructure eg m4 relief motor way,because of green issues ,haters of private transport, the list is endless yet the south wales working class still vote them in ,so desperate for a vote they gave 16 and 17 year olds the vote. Agendas being pushed onto schoolchildren that they had to legislate for ,because its so far from the norm .
The UK as a roll model is beyond a joke its dangerous.
A couple of points.
First the Johnson government scared the people in an extreme way and then appeared to help them. That is entirely Pavlovian in nature.
Secondly he didn’t win the election so much as Labour lost it. The opposition parties are so weak and ineffectual, lacking any leaders of note and inconsistent that anyone half competent could have beaten them.
Johnson won nothing the Woke Marxist Labour party was sent a message by the working class. I am a conservative and Johnson is a second rate hack with ideas of grandeur thinking he is the reincarnation of Churchill when he is clearly a moron. His stupid green energy policies will destroy the UK… but I guess he needs to keep his idiot green girlfriend happy because he a a pathetic excuse for a man. He is a typical so called journalist he has no understanding of science and engineering. A waste of fresh air. He was elected of Brexit… Job done no go!!
Sadly the premise of this article is completely wrong. The lying oaf Johnson won because the alternative is even worse than him and his shambolic left-of-centre party, however hard that is to believe. The Labour party are devoted to woke minority causes and ape the way that the USA is going and the electorate have rejected that.
Below the line and requiring a level of intellect beyond the media children is the not inconsequential matter of turnout. If Johnson is the new messiah and not just a lying cheating fiddling feckless naughty boy, 8 out of 10 of the electorate of Hartlepool seem not to agree.
I don’t think there is much to be learned from this election. If the Democrats had actually run Bernie Sanders, then the November 2020 election would have gone just like this UK election. The Democrat oligarchs who actually run the party knew this and installed the addled Biden as their candidate and made sure the media reported night after night a “nothing to see here” narrative.
Exactly how is Boris an American style conservative?
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