May’s Mayhem

The electorate is in an extremely unforgiving mood. The financial collapse ten years ago, has severely impacted peoples’ standard of living, wages, and future prospects. The young  see their future job prospects in doubt, and house prices bounding up out of the reach of most of them. The elderly and retired see their savings deliberately destroyed by government low interest policy. Social Services have been cut back due to financial constraints.

In short, the whole current economic and political system is not providing what people want or need from life.
Compounding this, is the apparent failure of the authorities to protect the people from terrorist attacks. I do believe that the two recent serious jihadist attacks, in Manchester and London Bridge, turned a lot of people away from voting for Theresa May. This is because she was Home Secretary for 6 years, and was responsible for security policy, and seemingly oversaw a continuing influx of migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere.  Many of the attackers were known to the authorities as threats, and people have a right to expect their government to protect them. I do believe that this was a factor, although you will see no mention of this in the newspapers.

There were some positives from the election however. The Scottish Independence project has been seriously set back, with the Scottish Nationalists losing a lot of their seats. Secondly, the May Government has allied with the Northern Irish Protestant DUP party, to give a parliamentary majority. These are good , because it draws the non London parts of the country, back into the mainstream of UK politics. London completely dominates the country in terms of worldview and the economy, so any push back against this is welcome.

People here want leaders with credibility as human beings. Theresa May has proved to be quite robotic and too politically calculating. Jeremy Corbin, the Labour leader is an authentic hard left revolutionary, but appeals to the idealistic young among others. Nigel Farage the former UKIP leader, is a charismatic person, with a large following. Boris Johnson in the Conservative Party, is likewise a very popular figure among the public.

Many think that Theresa May’s position is untenable, unless her fortunes are reversed by events. For example Margaret Thatcher was very unpopular, until Argentine invaded the Falklands, which turned Thatcher into a hugely popular leader.

This unsettled situation is not good for the UK Jews. Public dissatisfaction is never good, and invariably rebounds on the Jews. Compounding this is the extreme hostility of many in Jeremy Corbin’s Labour Party, against Israel and hence Jews in general (who they call “Zios”, so as not to appear anti Jewish) . Many members of his party are from communities originating in the Middle East, where anti Semitism is rife. If Labour does get into power , the Jews are going to be in a difficult position. Polls suggest that nearly 80% of Jews planned to vote for the Conservatives, because of Labour hostility. Jewish leadership has been very hostile to Corbyn, inevitably so given the hostility we face, so it puts us in a difficult position.

The establishment can no longer easily hide events from the public, when people can for example stream video of the terror attacks direct from their phones to the whole world.

People want straight talking and authenticity, and hence Theresa May’s failure. Watch out for Boris Johnson replacing her sooner or later, maybe ?

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Levy is a businessman and freelance writer based in London.  He may be contacted via lloyd.levy@sdjewishworld.com