Monday 12 June 2023

Can Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage create a new alliance?

 

Can Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage create a new alliance?

As the Conservative Party stands today, commentators believe that the outcome of the 2024 General Election is a given: Keir Starmer as new British Prime Minister and Rishi Sunak to follow Liz Truss on the way out.

It is also said that the SNP stands to lose the next General Election thus given the Labour Party MP seats that it needs to win the General Election.

Now, it the success of Keir Starmer a given. There are many doubters within Labour ranks that don't see that Keir Starmer has traditional labour values at heart. The campaign against Jeremy Corbyn made Keir Starmer some friends, but also many enemies. And what about the A team of the Labour Party? Is it really an A team.

Another factor to be taken into consideration is that Scottish Nationalism might be stronger than many commentators like to think, such levels of emotion regarding independence that will make may Scottish voters who could be reluctant to support SNP the strength to ignore SNP's many failures for the sake of keeping the campaign towards independence going. If this is the case, then Labour might collect some seats, but the SNP might be able to maintain its electoral force. The Greens that have been SNP allies might benefit by allowing SNP to keep its mandate in Scotland while extracting, at the same time, some more concessions in terms of the environmental agenda. A bit like the Greens in Germany entered a coalition with SPD to allow Olaf Scholz to form a coalition.

There are already three test in the immediate future that the Conservative Party must face. One is the seat of the now Former Prime Minister and Former MP in Uxbridge. Another is the seat of Nadine Dorris. And yet another is Nigel Adams' seat. Uxbridge is a marginal seat. The bar in terms of losing Uxbridge is very low. Thus should Boris Johnson's supporters decide to abstain the seat will be lost. Conservative voters will have to decide regarding Nadine Dorris' seat and Nigel Adams' seat. Will Conservative voters decide to punish Prime Minister Rishi Sunak by abstaining? 

In the coming days, should there be more resignations, Rishi Sunak's leadership will be under enormous strain. After the rout of recent local elections, losing three or more by-elections, and this on top of MPs - some from the so called Red Wall - that have not decided to stand for election in 2024, could lead to the unthinkable, but some say that the unthinkable for the Conservative Party will be like committing harakiri. the unthinkable has been defined as yet another leadership contest within the Conservative Party to replace Rishi Sunak. It was Boris Johnson that made the seemingly impossible happen. Boris Johnson as leader managed to persuade Labour Party supports to support the Conservative Party. The Red Wall successes were due to Boris Johnson's leadership and voters feel betrayed.

Some commentors say that many Conservative MPs did not wish to resign because it would be the equivalent of turkeys voting for Christmas. Let us be reminded that this is not happening right at the beginning of a Conservative administration. They would not be turkeys voting for Christmas because Christmas will happen anyway in May 2024.

If Boris Johson comes to an agreement with Nigel Farage, the Conservative Party could be a goner even before the next General Election. Rishi Sunak is not seen as a leader, but as an administrator. Given what is happening, Rishi Sunak could be a defined as a Caretaker Prime Minister. It must be remembered that Rishi Sunak was not elected by the Electorate and on top of that Rishi Sunak was not elected by Conservative Party members either. He is also remembered as the man who rebeled against Boris Johnson and was part of a coup to unseat Boris Johnson. It woul also be said that his reluctance to support Boris Johnson against what has been qualified as a witchhunt was a calculated effort to get rid of Boris Johson. It would very difficult for Rish Sunak to appeal for party loyalty.





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