Congratulations to UK Labour PM Sir Keir Starmer on a historic and, at first glance, huge win last Thursday.
UK Labour has 411 seats in the House of Commons out of 650, the Tories a record low 121, the Lib/Dems 72 – their best result in a century – and Nigel Farage’s party Reform five seats despite getting more than 14 per cent of the vote.
Indeed, Labour got 1.2 million votes fewer than the Tories and Reform combined, but won a landslide, as the UK has first-past-the-post voting.
Labour got only 34 per cent of the national vote, the Tories 24 per cent, Reform 14 per cent, and the Lib/Dems 9.9 per cent.
Voting is also not compulsory in the UK, and the turnout was a low 58 per cent. Had the UK our much fairer system of voting (compulsory voting plus preferential voting), the result, whilst still probably electing a Labour government, would have most likely resulted in a smaller majority of, say, 340 to 350 seats, with the Tories getting more than 200 and Reform getting about 60 to 80 seats. In 100 electorates, Reform came second to Labour, with the Tories third or even fourth in some instances.
I doubt if Sir Keir will get much of a honeymoon, and he will need the patience of Job and the strength of Margaret Thatcher to guide his diverse and potentially unruly party through the various issues that plague the UK. Good luck on that one, Sir Keir, I won’t be holding my breath!
It is by no means impossible if the Tories and Reform sort themselves out, and Labour does a bad job, that they could be a one-term government. After all, the Tories squandered in five short years a huge majority, and just look at how [former Queensland premier] Campbell Newman blew an 82-to-7-seat majority in one term in Queensland 10 years ago.
If Labour stuffs it up, all the Tories and Reform have to do is pick which seats they have the best chance of winning and not stand against each other in those seats. Time will tell.
Poor old Albo really is a timid fellow. It took him ages to do what any red-blooded Labor PM would do and expel from the party room a member who crossed the floor and voted against the agreed position of the party.
Now the Lib/Nats are much easier going in terms of conscience votes, but such votes are still rare. I recall Senator Gary Humphries doing it in 2006 on Territory rights (well done, Gary!), and whilst then PM John Howard did not like it, he accepted it.
Anyone becoming a parliamentary member of the ALP knows the rules. You argue your position strongly in the Caucus, but when a final vote is taken, you accept that and vote with the Party accordingly.
I agree with the majority of ALP Senators and Members of the House of Representatives who felt Senator Payman should be expelled. At any rate, she has now resigned from the ALP, and it seems she may well have been planning such a move for some time.
