Three Worthy Giants

The most shocking election result in recent history has taken place on the 8^th of May. It was never thought possible that the conservatives could possibly win a majority again within Westminster, however they have done and not only has my faith in the British people dropped to a rock bottom low but there are also other elements to this election that have been disappointing. There has been a lot of talk in the media recently of the slain giants that have been voted out, the majority of which being Liberal Democrats and Scottish Labour candidates. However there is only a few that I would actually deem worthy of being re-elected or taking control of a seat for the first time. It’s important to put personal political preferences aside when selecting which candidates are worthy, because in these politically devalued times It is safe to say that honesty trumps the watered down ideologies that are being peddled in our direction.

Admittedly I never did much research on Bradford West prior to the election but that was purely because I thought it must be almost a certainty that George Galloway would maintain his seat. I now know how naïve that was, for reasons I will discuss at the end; similar reasons to which Nigel Farage and Mark Reckless lost their seats. Galloway is one of the most impressive orators in current British politics, I would say only matched by Farage and even then I would say Galloway still pips him to the post on skill. His ability to point a rigid digit and direct anger and outrage towards an opponent can make them shrivel and feel shame for their own beliefs. Now I realise that this is not the definition of honesty but there is good reason suggesting over the years that George has been consistent in his views and never plays to the gallery; this has earned him a great deal of respect from what few allies he has and his opponents who are capable of doublethink. The most frustrating thing about Galloway is how idealistic he can be, his opinions on Israel and Palestine becoming one united state are a good example of wishful thinking; something he himself has admitted to. The same goes for his stance on the European Union. He once opposed the EU but has since changed his mind and thinks it can be reformed but I have a feeling he knows just how hard that will be and that you can’t reform something that isn’t broken. This particularly irritates me as if he does know fine well the immense hurdles that will have to be jumped for reform then why is he so keen to gamble on liberty in Europe? Regardless, give me George Galloway over a new-labour or fake Tory MP any day.

There weren’t many highlights for the Unionist campaign in the Scottish Independence referendum and when asked to produce examples people usually look to Gordon Brown’s speech or something else that I can’t even remember at this time. During the campaign though there was one man that shined, one man that gave maximum effort, one man that took his milk crate soap box and waded into battle. That man was Jim Murphy, no one come close in terms of passion apart from maybe Galloway in the final debate before the polling in which he ended the show by reminding everyone of Britain’s lonesome stand against Nazi Germany in WWII. Something that didn’t go down well with the students in the crowd at all, this just highlighted all too well the true crux of the problems in Britain. The abolition of national pride and values which are the bread and butter of social cohesion. Jim gave it his all and it particularly saddens me to hear calls for his resignation as leader of Scottish Labour, it was anyone but Jim’s fault and there is certainly no other superior candidate in existence within Scotland that isn’t infected with the fatal disease Tony Blair left behind.

Mr Murphy is like a gentle giant, and who would want to slay the BFG?

It had been hit and miss for some time whether Nigel Farage would manage to earn his place in Westminster but after a number of polls showing UKIP at neck and neck with the Tories there was one published that showed a UKIP lead of 9%. I thought this would be just enough for Nige to earn his well-deserved place in the House of Commons but sadly there was to be a different outcome, Nige made in my opinion one massive mistake. By making the pledge that he would stand down as UKIP leader he was attempting a last roll of the dice to increase his vote share, but sadly all this proved to do was in fact bring all the people who hated him out of the wood work and encouraged them to make sure they would vote against him. The Tories capitalised on this and brought all the big guns to South Thanet including Boris Johnson to encourage a late surge in the Tory vote, typically this will be the only occasion until the next election you will see major Tory figures appear on the streets of South Thanet. Farage is not only one of the few honest politicians in the country but perhaps more importantly he has a point of view that is just not represented in Westminster in any serious form and deserves to be so.

The reason these candidates did not successfully win their seats is a really simple one. Election polls are largely inaccurate because the information given at the time has a tendency to be fraudulent, people may have intended to vote for UKIP but when it came down to polling day their old tribal allegiances will have been rekindled by the dread of an opposing major party being elected. In other words people voted Labour because they fear the return of Thatcherism and right wing voters voted Tory to stop Labour wrecking the economy. In theory these old allegiances should be dead with both parties being redundant to their voters but tribal politics along with the immense amounts of money they can raise will continue to keep them alive. Unless we realise this and stop thinking about the short term implications on the country we will have no one but ourselves to blame.

In the words of Nigel Farage on May 7^th, ‘god help us’

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