Turning the Wight’s blue rinse tide into a sea of red
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“A NEW ERA! Watched BBC election coverage til 4am – a landslide Labour victory and a new MP for the Isle of Wight.” So I wrote in my diary during the early hours of 2 May 1997, adding, “My favourite moment was when Michael Portillo lost his seat – haha!”
Back then, Labour leader Tony Blair assured us that things can only get better and, after four terms of Conservative rule, for many they couldn’t get much worse. Consequently, by that sunny Friday morning in 1997, it was abruptly over; John Major’s government was out – and I was joyously optimistic about this country’s political future.
Can the same be said this time round though? As before, years of divisive self-serving Tory rule has guttered to an ignominious end. The cumulative faces of the last five Prime Ministers have been given a bloody nose by the electorate – or at least those with the requisite photo ID – to be replaced by Sir Keir Starmer’s considerable parliamentary majority.
Sure I’m no fan of the Conservatives, yet somehow I can’t really muster the same degree of elation about 2024’s election results. But why not?
In 1997 voter turnout was at a modern peak of 71% and, although many people voted tactically against the Conservatives (which helped 46 Liberal Democrat bottoms, including new Island MP Peter Brand’s, to warm the green benches in the Commons Chamber), there was clearly a critical number of people actively voting FOR Tony Blair’s party.
Can Sir Keir claim the same triumph? Statistically, his win was more to do with the collapse of the Conservative vote than a resounding endorsement for Labour, whose vote share crept up by less than a paltry 2%. Arguably his landslide was the result of a pencilled cross of protest, rather than a decisive choice.
Electoral Reform Society analysis reveals that nearly half of UK voters didn’t vote for their winning MP. In Isle of Wight East, Conservative’s Joe Robertson was elected, yet here 69% of voters wanted someone else – and I was one of them. And if non-voting was a party, it would have the largest share of support by far.
However, even with the low turnout and the unrepresentative nature of the first-past-the-post electoral system, Starmer does have a mandate to govern.
So what does this all mean for the Island? We now have two MPs of different hues. Will West Wight be rewarded for turning its blue rinse tide into a sea of red; bestowed with the manifesto promises of Labour’s “mission-driven government”? And, as a resident of East Wight, will my opposition MP attempt to implement his party’s pledges to reduce taxes, stop the boats and enforce National Service on nippers?
Compared to the catastrophic clown car that was the last government, Starmer has been accused of being dull. However, when talking to me about what characteristics make good husband material, my grandmother Marjorie imparted, “You need a steady horse for a long ride.”
So saddle up folks for (hopefully) stable times ahead.
This article first appeared in print in the Isle of Wight County Press on 19 July 2024 and also online.
Photo by Pexels
