The election in Britain has ended with the ruling Labour Party winning a majority in parliament, and that is worthy of attention for several reasons. Aside from the historical significance of its success at winning a third term for the first time since it was founded in 1900, voters' critical attitude towards prime minister Tony Blair's pragmatism can be readily seen in the results.
The "Labour era" that began in 1997 will now continue until at least 2010. That will rival the 18 years the Conservatives were in power prior to 1997, so that is quite an achievement for Labour, since it had never been the ruling party for more than 7 years at a time. It still lost a lot of seats, however. Ironically the main reason for the loss was none other than Blair himself, even though he had swept the previous two elections by storm. In particular it was the lies relating to the invasion of Iraq, for which he had to endure criticism for being "Bush's poodle," that were a decisive factor in how Labour had votes taken from it.
The "Third Way" Blair has pursued changed Labour from a traditional leftist party to a centrist one. The result is that Labour's political coloring has become similar to the Liberal Democrats, who are considered centrist, while Blair's frequent pragmatism has the Liberal Democrats looking more progressive than Labour in many areas. Many Labour supporters went to the Liberal Democrats in this election. Even the Conservatives, who have been neglected by the British public for being unable to part from their old ways, benefited from that. It is only natural that there are increasing suggestions that Blair has to step down if progressive politics is going to find new strength.
No politician has an easy time harmonizing principle with flexibility, and neither is mutually exclusive. Just like a car with breaks gets to go fast, the principles must be firm in to be flexible. That, it would see, is what British voters were trying to say when they issued judgment on his pragmatism while keeping Labour in power. In that sense, it was Britain's progressives who won in this election, not Labour.
The Hankyoreh, 7 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
UK's Labour Enjoy's 'Half' a Victory |
