"Rejoice ... rejoice!"
As a left-leaning former Brit, my first reaction to the extraordinary UK election result was to invoke these famous warmongering words, uttered by erstwhile Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, during the Falklands War, in 1982.
Thatcher won the first election I voted in, in 1979, and the Tory party remained in government for 18 years, until Tony Blair's "New Labour" swept to power, with a similar landslide victory to that of Sir Keir Starmer's party, last week.
There was euphoria in 1997, and now that 14 miserable years of Tory mismanagement - epitomised by the oafish Boris Johnson partying at 10 Downing Street while the rest of the UK endured strict COVID lockdowns imposed by him - has come to an end, there are grounds for similar excitement and hope.
Two recent visits to England, in October 2023 and this May, shocked me. The effects of Brexit, sold and delivered on lies, of the badly-handled COVID crisis and of economic incompetence by successive Tory governments, could not have been clearer.
Last year, after sustaining an injury while travelling, I had first-hand experience of the demoralised, cash-starved National Health Service (NHS). First, it was virtually impossible to see a GP, meaning I had to pay $400 for a private consultation. Then, I faced waiting 14 hours in the emergency department of a regional hospital for an X-ray. At the time, junior doctors, consultants and other healthcare staff were on strike, as were rail, tube and airport workers, making UK travel a nightmare of cancellations and delays. Others taking industrial action then included ambulance staff, midwives, firefighters, teachers, postal workers, refuse collectors and even barristers.
Both the rail workers and the junior doctors' disputes were still going on in May - the latter is one of the first issues for the new government to address - and there was a general sense of despondency. The economic reality of severing ties with Europe, the soaring cost of living and distrust of the ruling elite was writ large. The sound of sirens where I was staying, in South London, was near constant.
People wanted change, and on July 4 voted for it, decimating the Tories. This was their worst result in parliamentary history, with a gobsmacking 252 MPs losing their seats and key figures including ex PM Lis Truss, whose 49-day tenure in 2022 was embarrassing, losing their seats.
The result was more Tory collapse than Labour triumph, however. It owed as much to a three-pronged attack that included the left-of-centre Liberal Democrats, which won an unprecedented 71 seats, and Reform, the new far-right party spearheaded by odious spiv, Trump chum and chief Brexiteer, Nigel Farage. Reform's success, ranking third with 14 per cent of votes, alongside the rise of the far right in France - thankfully denied power by a leftist alliance at the weekend - is another worrying sign for global stability.
Britain's anachronistic first-past-the-post electoral system also threw up some anomalies. Labour won just 34 per cent of votes (only 2 per cent above their share, in the previous election, when they were roundly beaten) but 63 per cent of seats. The Liberal Democrats, who have long argued for electoral reform, ironically won their 71 seats from only 12 per cent of votes while Reform had a larger voter share but saw only four MPs elected. Voter turnout was also very low, at 60 per cent, reflecting widespread disenchantment with politics.
So, as the dust settles, this landslide victory is, even for this lifelong Socialist, tinged with trepidation. It will take way more than one term in government to sort out the Conservatives' chaos and Starmer has said there is no going back on Brexit. The new PM helped make Britain's Labour Party electable again, but is more of a steady hand than trailblazer.
Yet, while Starmer may be uncharismatic and Labour has inherited a poisoned chalice, anything is better than the mendacious, incompetent Tory rabble they've replaced and there are already signs of an uptick in national morale, with Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix and England's men's football team reaching the final of the European Championship, and potentially on course for their first trophy since 1966.
