Oh, what a night! We went to an election party in a gay club in Vauxhall, London, me in the most shimmery, celebratory top ever, a buoyant, anti-Tory crowd, music thumping, joy as the exit polls came through.
And also rising concern about Reform’s predicted 13 seats. I was not worried, I said. That number was too high. (Should have put a bet on that.) And, anyway, Reform MPs would soon disappoint the electorate. Can you imagine the Grand Leader going to Clacton every week to deal with a line of troubled constituents?
Friday morning brought more good cheer. The entitled Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liz Truss… gone! GB News told us the latter would be defeated by the Reform candidate, but she lost to Labour’s Terry Jermy in South West Norfolk.
Gone, too, the shapeshifting Grant Shapps, plus Johnny Mercer and Penny Mordaunt, both exceedingly self-important. Jeremy Hunt hangs in there by his fingernails.
Every one of these downfalls surpasses the Portillo moment. Though the insufferable Suella Braverman has won Fareham and Waterlooville by a majority of 6,000, the world feels brighter than it was 24 hours ago.
I am not naïve. Restoring our institutions, healing the ruptures caused by leading Tories, persuading Britons to have faith in the future, upgrading public services cannot be done in one term. But millions of us are energised by the possibilities that now open up.
Keir Starmer has turned Labour’s fortunes and wrested power from the Tories, in every region, including the North East – some achievement, when 90 per cent of the press is right wing.
But, as you know, I am not unconditionally loyal to any political party. And Starmer’s rebooted Labour makes me cautious and anxious. He comes across at times as Tory lite; his unexplained repudiation of the superb potential Labour candidate, Faiza Shaheen, enabled Iain Duncan Smith to keep his seat. The way he treated Dianne Abbot will go down in history. She’s just won with a big majority. Murdoch’s papers endorsing him certainly signals a “special relationship” between the media mogul and our politics.
Starmer’s front bench resolutely evaded the issue burning in the hearts of millions – Gaza – and were punished. The overconfident Wes Streeting won in Ilford North by a margin of just 518. His nemesis was the independent candidate, Leanne Mohamed, a British Palestinian woman. The Shadow Cabinet minister, Jonathan Ashworth, lost to Shockat Adam in Leicester South, while lawyer Adnan Hussain beat Kate Hollern in Blackburn. Both were also independent and pro-Gaza.
Jeremy Corbyn, whom Starmer had tried to push off the political stage, won more than 24,000 votes, while Labour’s Praful Nargund got only 16,000. Democracy righted a wrong. Corbyn was never fit to be leader, but the ruthless and malevolent moves to slander him were outrageous. He could have handled the antisemitism allegations better, but Corbyn is not an antisemite in the way I understand the term.
News has just rolled in about the Green Party leader Carla Denyer’s resounding victory over Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire in Bristol Central. Ms Denyer got 24,539 votes (56.6 per cent), while Ms Debbonaire got 14,132 votes (32.6 per cent). The ex Labour MP, who was shadow Culture Secretary, was smart and a doughty defender of the arts.
So I am sad she’s gone, but also elated that Denyer and three other Green MPs will be in parliament. Until now, there was only the resilient and deeply honourable Caroline Lucas. The Greens did this without the media coverage they deserved. And even now, every single TV channel is banging on and on about Reform’s four seats and ignoring the Greens.
We who are ecstatic about the election result must retain our critical edge. Thank you, Sir Keir, for freeing us from Tory rule. May you use your time in office wisely. We will be watching you.