Redstate

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Boris Johnson | Britain | Conservatives | David Cameron | Foreign Affairs | Gordon Brown | Ken Livingstone | Labour — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

For the past eleven years, the Labour Party dominated the political landscape in Great Britain. And now . . . things are different:

Gordon Brown's first electoral test turned into a nightmare last night as Labour lost an astonishing 331 council seats.

In London, Boris Johnson appeared to be ending the eight-year reign of Ken Livingstone, delivering one more body blow to the Prime Minister as Labour lost a quarter of the councillors who stood for the party on Thursday.

The bloodbath consumed victims across the country, including the North and Wales, leaving Labour's local government and campaigning base severely weakened.

Ministers now fear for their chances of surviving the next general election and Mr Brown's authority was further damaged.

He promised to "listen and lead" and will launch a fightback this weekend, hoping to prove to the country that he, rather than David Cameron, has the experience and stature to take it through difficult times. It had been a "bad night", he accepted.

Yesterday's huge reverses make it almost certain that the next general election will take place in 2010 rather than next year. Mr Brown has an electoral mountain to climb to get his party into a position to win it.

Personal criticism of Mr Brown from the Labour side was muted. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, told him that the message was to "get a grip"; one MP said that he had suffered a "John Major moment"; and his closest ally Ed Balls said that the results could not be dismissed as a traditional midterm kick to the governing party.

The electorate was cross with Labour, Mr Balls said.

I am no fan of David Cameron and my fondest hope is that he wounds Gordon Brown without being able to become Prime Minister himself; perhaps that way, the Tories will opt for William Hague--my favorite candidate as a future Tory leader--to reclaim his leadership position and potentially become Prime Minister (Hague is currently the Shadow Foreign Secretary). But it is increasingly looking as if Cameron will indeed succeed Brown the next time a general election is called. Fate is fickle, to be sure, and at the beginning of his premiership, Brown looked unassailable. Perhaps he will regain his momentum. But ever since backing away from calling a snap election last year--and then claiming fatuously that Labour could have won the election (if so, why didn't Labour call the election?)--Brown has been all thumbs politically. His party has suffered accordingly.

And one day after May Day, the fact that "Red Ken" Livingstone has lost the mayoralty of London is nothing short of delightful. Ah, schadenfreude.