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Changing of the Guard for British Gov’t

AP photo / Alastair Grant

Boris the mayor: The Associated Press describes London’s newly elected mayor, Boris Johnson, as “a shaggy-haired, party-loving Tory, a product of Britain’s most snobbish schools, famous for his gaffes, his wit ... and for being famous.”

To say it was a politically interesting week would be a case of British understatement: London gained a new mayor—Boris Johnson, who beat incumbent Ken Livingstone to become the first Conservative to win the office—and Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party took a drubbing in local elections across the U.K. on May Day.

BBC:

Mr Livingstone’s defeat ends what Gordon Brown has called as a “bad” day for Labour in which it suffered its worst council results for 40 years.

He thanked the Labour Party for all its help with his campaign, adding: “There is absolutely nothing that I could have asked from the Labour Party that it didn’t throw into this election, from Gordon Brown right the way down to the newest recruit, handing out leaflets on very wet, cold days.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get an extra few points that would take us to victory and the fault for that is solely my own. You can’t be mayor for eight years and then if you don’t at third term say it was somebody else’s fault. I accept that responsibility and I regret that I couldn’t take you to victory.”

Conservative Party leader David Cameron praised Mr Johnson for a “serious and energetic campaign” and said his party was “winning the battle of ideas”.

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TAGS: britain conservative election england gordon brown johnson labour livingstone london mayor politics uk wales

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By Douglas Chalmers, May 4, 2008 at 3:55 am #

You mean they can actually think???? Most of the “thinkers” left in the late 1940’s….... its been semi-tribal ever since.

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By lodipete, May 3, 2008 at 8:14 am #

Things move in cycles. Labor had a nice long run that was preceded by the Tory mandate of Thatcher. Whenever I listen to British political debates, it’s the Liberal Party’s cantidates that usually make the most sense. I wonder why they’re not more of a factor. The “Irish Question” has been long solved.

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By beek, May 3, 2008 at 4:50 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I give up waiting for a UK politician to come to the fore; Labour was a disaster much like their predecessors the Torys; so now we all expect the Torys to be better than before? ha ha ha

UK is as dead as the US is soon to be. Down to BAD decisions from BADly organised thinkers.

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By Kiwi, May 3, 2008 at 3:44 am #

Tony Blairs’ being seen as President Bushs’ lapdog will, as you say, sadly cost the UK 10 years of Tory rule. The world wide showing of the tape, when neither men realized the microphones were on, showing how unimportant Blair was to Bush made him a laughing stock and showed the American leaders’ contempt for the rest of the world, even Americas’ closest friends. In Blairs’ defence I do think HE genuinely believed they were doing the right thing for the right reasons. Tony Blair never recovered credibility and took his Labour Party down with him.

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By Douglas Chalmers, May 3, 2008 at 3:21 am #

.......London today http://www.ishqrecords.com/Videos/dodatdance.htm -enjoy da weekend!

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By Mayponce, May 3, 2008 at 12:38 am #

England’s Jesse Ventura or Schwarzenegger. Well at least this helps prove the English are just as stupid as Americans.

Tony Blair brought on the Labor defeat with his idiotic Iraq policy, needless Bush ball licking (“I know what I’ll do, I’ll cozy up to the most unpopular American president in history, and a right wing wacko to boot, that ought to make me popular at home”....), and his crazy-ass Christian hypocrisy.

Blair’s horrible legacy will cost the UK 10 years of Tory rule that will make Thatcher look like anarchist.

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