Labour’s love lost in UK mid-term elections

Last week, Britain’s ruling Labour Party suffered its worst defeat in local elections in 40 years.

And to add insult to injury, the opposition Conservative Party also wrested control of the capital for the first time in 30 years when its candidate, Boris Johnson, upset Labour’s heavily favored incumbent Ken Livingston to become the next mayor of London.

But I shall leave it to British pundits to wax political about the reasons why it took PM Gordon Brown less than a year to lose so much of the gains it took Tony Blair 10 years to amass.

Instead, I shall suffice to note that his career as prime minister seems fated to end at the next General Elections.

After all, every conservative candidate, including the foppish Johnson, won last week by portraying Brown as a political clown; a portrayal, incidentally, that his dithering over the abolition of a 10p tax band only reinforced.

Nevertheless, this historic election will probably be remembered more for the comic relief it provided than for any policy debate. And almost all of that relief was provided by mayor-elect Johnson – who not only looks like a cross between Andy Warhol and Benny Hill but also acts like a hybrid caricature of them.

Indeed, hope springs eternal amongst British reporters that Johnson will continue to utter political gaffes and display personal antics that make those of former NYC mayor Ed Koch seem ordinary by comparison.

Therefore, here’s to Johnson and the Conservatives. And who would have thought they would prove a more appealing bunch than the politically correct and fashion-obsessed Labourites…?

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