Secret woke alliance would be bad for our democracy
ONE line from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet describes the current position of the beleaguered Prime Minister: “When sorrows come, they come not in single spies, but in battalions.”
On so many fronts, Boris Johnson is in trouble. As Partygate drags on interminably, the Tories at Westminster are gripped by new sleaze scandals, prompting the resignations of two backbenchers in recent weeks. Meanwhile, living costs are soaring, taxes rising, NHS waiting lists lengthening and key state agencies failing.
Against this backdrop, it is likely that the Tories will take a battering in the local elections on Thursday, especially given that Labour has enjoyed a consistent and significant lead in opinion polls. “To be honest, it hasn’t felt this good for us on the doorsteps for a decade,” said one shadow minister.
Intriguingly, the Conservatives may hang on in the former Labour “red wall” heartlands of the North and the Midlands, where Sir Keir Starmer’s progressive metropolitan agenda has limited appeal to traditional working-class voters. It seems it is in the more affluent, middleclass areas of the South where Tory popularity is plummeting amid mounting disillusion.
IN THEIR determination to maximise discontent with the Government, the two main opposition parties have been accused of adopting a covert, underhand strategy, which, if true, would have huge implications for electoral politics in Britain. Yesterday, Conservative chairman Oliver Dowden denounced Labour and the Liberal Democrats for apparently operating a secret, nonaggression pact to avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote, whereby each party is said to have stood down candidates in areas where the other party is stronger.
Both opposition leaders, Sir Keir and Sir Ed Davey, have fiercely denied the charge. Yet there is some evidence to support the belief that some sort of informal arrangement has been made. In the South West, traditional Liberal Democrat territory, Labour are contesting 61 per cent of seats, compared with 97 per cent in 2018. But in the North East, where Labour are the Tories’ biggest challengers, the Liberal Democrats are fighting just 56 per cent of seats.
The same pattern can be seen in some individual authorities. In Blackburn, where 15 seats are being contested, the Liberal Democrats have put up just four candidates, while in Somerset Labour is fighting just 45 of 110 seats.
Any such deal would be entirely in keeping with recent rumours about Lib-Lab talks on mutual co-operation, where the two parties are said to have agreed not to compete actively in each other’s top 30 targets at the next general election.
Moreover, Left-wing politicians have long clung to the hope of a grand progressive alliance, which could keep the Tories out of power forever and ensure the dominance of their cherished values, including open borders, identity politics, and softness on crime. At the heart of this Woke Coalition would be the drive for Britain to rejoin the EU, making our country a province of the Brussels empire once more.
That is one prime reason why any such pact would be bad for British democracy. But equally undemocratic would be the attempt to conceal any agreement from the public. There should be no hidden agendas in a fair election. People must know what they are voting for. The outcome should be decided by the electorate, not by a backroom stitch-up.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with an electoral pact, providing participants are open
about it. British Parliamentary history is full of such arrangements. In the late 19th century, the Tories held office largely through the support of Liberal Unionists, who opposed Irish Home Rule.
THE Labour Party only gained a presence at Westminster in the Edwardian age through an agreement with the Liberals. In 1947 Churchill made a permanent deal with the National Liberals, which helped him return to power, while the SDP’s alliance with the Liberals in 1983 almost ousted Labour as the second party.
But all those agreements were transparent. Labour have accused the Tories of desperation, but the speculation exposes the weakness of Starmer’s party, which, for all Johnson’s problems, does not convince as an alternative government. The prospect of a Woke alliance could backfire disastrously, alienating voters and galvanising the Tory cause. “Vote Liberal Democrat, get Starmer’s socialism,” could be an election winner for Johnson. The dream of the all-powerful progressive coalition could turn a nightmare for its proponents.
‘The speculation exposes the weakness of Starmer’s party’