Well, I was right. Calling the unnecessary general election was a reckless gamble, which has now rebounded upon the country, in particular by putting any sort of effective Brexit in peril. The hubris of Theresa May, based upon no more than a belief in oft discredited opinion polls, has thrown away her parliamentary majority, which would have enabled her government to implement Brexit, and reduced her from the poster girl of the Conservative press to a pathetic political nonentity, awaiting the inevitable visit from the men in grey suits. From being one who could have been central to achieving the clean break with the EU, for which the British people voted, probably winning another term in 2020 on the strength of that, she will now be no more than a footnote, a Prime Minister who served almost as little time in the post as Sir Alec Douglas-Home, and who stupidly threw away her premiership in the pursuit of political expediency.
We now face a future where a triumphant political establishment will make every effort to ensure that last year’s referendum is effectively ignored. The fishermen of Britain will be betrayed, the European Court of Justice will continue to hold sway in the UK, and all those hopes of a global, outward looking Britain will die, as we continue effectively to subjugate ourselves to the dysfunctional, corrupt and undemocratic EU. The blame lies with the Conservative party which, following David Cameron’s resignation, should have chosen a leader who truly believed in the campaign to leave, but instead selected a humourless supporter of the Remain campaign, who had already proved her incompetence during her time as Home Secretary. On the night of the referendum, when we were at the count, and it became clear that we had won, I told my colleagues that we had won a battle, but not the war, and so it has proved. The political establishment, whether by deliberate design, or just plain stupidity, have made a clean break with the EU almost impossible now. What seemed like the light of a new dawn now looks like the reflection of the flames devouring British democracy. That dinosaur Heseltine is trumpeting that the UK will not leave the EU, Labour and Lib Dem peers are conspiring to reject Brexit legislation and the idiotic May has even suggested that the Scottish assembly might be able to veto it. These people clearly have no concept of the true meaning of democracy.
In years to come those now rejoicing that the utter stupidity of the Conservative party may have effectively ended our hopes of leaving the EU in a peaceable fashion may come to bitterly regret the recent election debacle. While these largely middle class people are unlikely to be personally bothered by the financial costs involved they would benefit by reading the account of the ongoing Greek tragedy, as detailed by the erstwhile finance minister of that country, who recounts in graphic detail how the Greek people have been sacrificed on the altar of European integration, their democracy being destroyed in the process. Worse, as it becomes clear to the rulers of the EU that the only way their empire can be held together is by coercion, we may yet see EU security forces, drawn from non indigenous populations, sent into reluctant member states to enforce obedience to Brussels. One wonders whether even the presence of such on our streets would awaken the apologists for the single European state to what they have done.
No doubt many older people will see the result of the general election in a benign light, with more of the younger generation having their say in the affairs of the country. However such a rose tinted view ignores the fact that many youngsters, particularly at university, have never been obliged to take on the responsibilities of adulthood, including such things as finding a job, a home, a good education for their children, or even a GP. Young people like to think of themselves as idealistic, which is good, but often this is just an excuse to ignore reality and to accept the illusions offered by cunning politicians as being capable of fulfilment. Thanks to the arrogance and stupidity of the Conservative leader the future of this country is now in doubt and, for youngsters, as for the rest of us, this may prove to be a disaster. Recent radio interviews with a number of youngsters reveal just how little many of them know of political issues. Most were both supportive of Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist policies, and also desperate that the UK should remain within the European Union. These ambitions are mutually exclusive, as anyone from the genuine left, such as George Galloway, Tommy Sheridan or Jeremy Corbyn himself could tell them. The EU is an undemocratic, capitalist club, whose rules would actually prevent the kind of nationalisations which Labour policies now propose, while the desire of the left to extend democracy runs counter to the bureaucratic nature of the organisation. It is all very well praise the greater involvement of young people in politics, but it needs to be informed involvement, not merely emotional reactions, based on mistaken ideas about the realities of the world.
There are two other truths which this election has brought to life. The first is that, while opinion polls had some chance of being a genuine guide to public opinion in their early days, when most members of the electorate were unused to such things, flattered that their views were being sought, and generally replied truthfully, today’s more sophisticated voter is only too aware of the realities, and is much more inclined to lie to pollsters. This is a problem which cannot be overcome, and which renders such exercises pointless and farcical. Secondly the past few years have made it seem likely that Mrs Thatcher was very much a one off, in being a female leader who had the authority and ability to direct the affairs of a major democracy. The arrogance of Hillary Clinton, in acting as if she was entitled to the presidency, the decline in seats experienced by the SNP under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon, after she reneged on her previous promise that the vote on Scottish independence would not be repeated, and the overwhelming stupidity of Theresa May in throwing away her parliamentary majority, make it almost certain it will be a cold day in hell before any of the major parties in the UK and USA put their faith in a female leader again. Some will point to Mrs Merkel in Germany but of course that nation is not a mature democracy, still harbours authoritarian tendencies, and is not a guide to the actions of the older, truly democratic nations. This may seem unfair to feminists but, unfortunately for them, the proof of the pudding is obvious, and if women are to make it to the top they will need better champions.
The massive fall in the UKIP vote did not benefit the Conservatives as much as they expected, for the truth is that the anti EU movement is basically one driven by the working class, not comfortable middle class voters, so many more votes went back to Labour than the ignorant media commentators assumed would be the case. Those UKIP voters who, in constituencies where the Conservatives were certain to win, even had a donkey been standing for them, chose to vote for the Tory to keep out a Corbyn supporter, who actually had no chance, have helped to demoralise the only party which really believed in Brexit. They may find that, when it becomes clear the main parties have no intention of pursuing the latter, there is no one available they can turn to to stand up for Britain.
I know that UKIP must try to be optimistic, and that it is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness, but the darkness really is pretty overwhelming now, not least because many branches lack the financial resources to fight another general election in the near future. We face either a future within an EU which will, as I pointed out above, eventually resort to force, or a Neo Marxist government where those of the hard left, who have not changed their aims since the 1920s, are in charge, with all that means for our democracy.
I hope that I am wrong, and you may think I am being unduly pessimistic but, having been proved correct on the results of calling the election, I fear that I might be only too accurate about the future.