Boris Johnson is Mayor.

[Andy Bowden]

Boris has beaten soft-left Labour candidate Ken Livingstone for mayor. Goes alongside worst result for Labour in 40 years, they only took 24% of the vote, compared to Liberals 25% and whopping 44% for the Tories.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

someone shoot that man

[Devrim]

Is it a shock, or was it expected?

Devrim

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

expected really but fuck did i ever tell you how much i want to shoot Boris Johnson. I mean he really is just a rich boy who strolls in and fucks working class lives up.

[Zurdito]

firstly: FUCK! :(

secondly, the reasons for all this are that with food price inflation 15% in one year, fuel prices going up, and the government just last month increasing the tax burden on the lowest earning workers, the economy has acheived what no foreign war or corruption scandal could manage: the Labour government definitely been punished by its base, which hasn't come out to re-elect Labour councillors and Mayors, with the result being a crushing set of defeats for the Labour Party.

thirdly, to put it in perspective, Labour, the Party in national government, got 24% of the vote nationally - 3rd place, behind even the Liberal Demcorats who got 25%. Imagine that in the US eh, the 3rd party is in government. :D - bitter smile there btw

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7380947.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7372860.stm

PS - "Left List" was a disaster, Lindsey German's mayoral candidacy got less than a third of what she got in 2004, and in their heartlands, they got 1.16% in North and East, and less than 1% in City and east.

Worst of all, the BNP is reproted to have got around 10% in City and East. I haven't seen this officially though.

[communard resolution]

Shit! On a day-to-day basis, this means trouble. Expect the prices for transport to rise astronomically in the near future. This, and a lot of other little things designed to make your life more difficult. Unless you're rich, that is.

[Andy Bowden]

Devrim - it was pretty neck and neck between Boris and Livingstone, but towards the end, expected.

In a further analysis, the Left List appear to have been thoroughly outvoted by Respect-Galloway, though I doubt he will get on the GLA.

Only hope might be that the BNP don't get on the GLA. And even then that'll be cause Tories stole their votes :(

[Andy Bowden]

Galloways RESPECT get 2.43%
Left List get 0.92%

BNP have a GLA seat now, they took 5.33%

Full scale rightwards shift it looks like.

[Zurdito]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7554.html

BNP have won a seat on the London Assembly :(

edit: oops, I missed Andy's reply above somehow:s.

still I will leave the post as the article from a gay perspective is quite interesting.

[Kami]

BNP have a GLA seat now, they took 5.33%
Shit. I actually voted for the sole reason of increasing the turnout in order to raise the bar for those arseholes.

Now we have Fascists on the assembly and a toff buffoon as mayor. I think I shall be heading back to sussex -.-

[BobKKKindle$]

Left List get 0.92%

I really thought we would be able to get a seat. It's clear that New Labour has failed to meet the expectations of working people, who have always served as the party's main support base, and yet it seems that, instead of voting for a more radical objective, people have simply turned to the other main party, the Conservatives, or, in some cases, have shown electoral support for the BNP. I just don't understand what this has happened...

The council election results are also disappointing. I noticed that, in some wards, LeftList and Socialist Alternative both put forward candidates, hence splitting the left-wing vote between two different parties, which makes getting a seat very difficult. Why can't all the left-wing activists stand as a single electoral bloc?

[thejambo1]

the left always seems to stand dis-united, always a fractured vote. there seems to be too many differences between the left for a more united front. bnp getting a share of the vote is bad news, they seemed to be imploding with expulsions and in-fighting but this will galvanize the fash.:(

[Vanguard1917]

I really thought we would be able to get a seat. It's clear that New Labour has failed to meet the expectations of working people, who have always served as the party's main support base, and yet it seems that, instead of voting for a more radical objective, people have simply turned to the other main party, the Conservatives, or, in some cases, have shown electoral support for the BNP. I just don't understand what this has happened...


New Labour does not have a working class base and the labels 'left' and 'right' no longer have any meaning in British politics. What happened in the Mayoral elections is that Boris Johnson won the PR war. The Livingstone-Johnson competition was not over policies and political substance, but over style and personality.

Personally, i'm glad that Livingstone has gone. Good riddance to him. He's been replaced by a buffoon, but that's another story.

[RHIZOMES]

Boris Johnson being mayor just made bourgeoisie democracy that much more ridiculous for me.

[Die Neue Zeit]

New Labour does not have a working class base and the labels 'left' and 'right' no longer have any meaning in British politics. What happened in the Mayoral elections is that Boris Johnson won the PR war. The Livingstone-Johnson competition was not over policies and political substance, but over style and personality.

Personally, i'm glad that Livingstone has gone. Good riddance to him. He's been replaced by a buffoon, but that's another story.

^^^ [Waits for the IMTers on this board to call you an "ultra-leftist" ;) ]

[bolshevik butcher]

Personally, i'm glad that Livingstone has gone. Good riddance to him. He's been replaced by a buffoon, but that's another story.

I suppose you have a complete disregard for the attacks that his administration will inevitably wheel out on working class people, partiuclarly the most poor and vulnerable. I wasn't about in the 80's but I think that we all know what happened under the Tory government at that time, why should it be any different now, especially given that we are enterting into a period of economic decline.

It is correct to attack Livingstone as a Labour bueruacrat, all be it one who is somewhat more left wing than Blair and Brown, still he refused to back the RMT struggle against the privastiation of the railway, and supported metronet among other things. But to then argue this means that the unemployment and attacks on services and benefits that will hit the poorest sections of the working class the most are an irrelevancy is indeed ultra leftist.


I just don't understand what this has happened...

I expect you won't be the only one asking these questions this morning.

You in many ways actually answered this question for yourself. Of course you are entirely correct about the failings of New Labour in regards to fialling the working class, and I would never defend the leadership of the Labour Party (new or old). However, as you idenitified for yourself, the working class did not orientate itself towards the Left List, infact a majoraty of it stayed at home. The left list exists in isolation of the main stream labour movement, the working class remains attatched to its traditional mass party. This has been shown time and again in recent years, and in the areas where it gains support. The New Labour project failed in the sense that Blair was unable to break the union link, despite many attempts. In times of dissilusionment the working class generally just doesn't turn out, while some of their votes may go to bourgoirse parties posing as some kind of alternative.

This is a shift to the right in electoral terms but I don't think we should be too misrable on the left just now. The working class is turning to the industrial front in increasing number, with the biggest wave of strikes in years and sees the labour leadership as offering them nothing. The natural flow of events from this is a turn to the political field in time.

[Kropotesta]

the late late broadcasting must have fucked up the Revolting London anarchist demo.

[Cheung Mo]

the left always seems to stand dis-united, always a fractured vote. there seems to be too many differences between the left for a more united front. bnp getting a share of the vote is bad news, they seemed to be imploding with expulsions and in-fighting but this will galvanize the fash.:(

Labour is a Socialist International member. As such, the only thing left about Labour is some of its base. And either they need to be liberated from Labour or Labour needs to be liberated from reactionaries and neo-libs.

[The Living Red]

Minor correction to someone above:Livingstone did not support Metronet. If only' he'd been listened to by Brown et al, we would not have had that embarrassing episode in London history.
You're right about him and the RMT though.

[Vanguard1917]

all be it one who is somewhat more left wing than Blair and Brown


In what way? I would argue that he's New Labour through and through.



But to then argue this means that the unemployment and attacks on services and benefits that will hit the poorest sections of the working class the most are an irrelevancy is indeed ultra leftist.



In what way are the policies proposed by Livingstone more in the interests of the 'poorest sections of the working class' than those of Johnson? Specific examples?

In reality, if you look at the manifesto and literature of both candidates - as well as those of the parties which they represent - you see a remarkable absence of any substantial political proposals for change whatsoever. Like i said, there is no serious political confrontation going on here - like there may have been in previous times, over issues like public services, nationalisation, trade union legislation, etc.

Today, both parties presuppose that there's no alternative to the status quo and they thus seek to win support not over actual political policies, but primarily over matters of style and personality. As a result, political labels like 'left' and 'right' become superfluous and meaningless when party confrontation is not over politics in the first place.

[Djehuti]

Whats wrong with England? Boris Johnson is an utter fool, a clown!

Englands seems more and more lika a dystopia to me, and a dystopia that really coyld happen here as well, if things go wrong. That really scares me.

Correct me if I am wrong, but England does not have any working class-movement at all? Or any left-wing movement at all for that sake?

A nation ruled by clowns and wankers. You really, really need to do something. I hope this all thing will be a big wake-up call for England.

[Herman]

London will be digging its own grave soon enough.

[Patchd]

You realise the Mayor of London has very little power, especially not to the extent that he/she would have had before Thatcher got rid of the precedent to the GLA.

Still, the fact that Livingstone didn't support privatisation of the rail networks means nothing. Thatcher nationalised Rolls Royce, she's still a conservative, and Ken's still a scab.

[LiamPK]

Do not be fooled by his clumsy attitude, he is using it to divert the issue away from his "policies" and you can bet that he will use his clumsy appeal in order to divert attention from what he is actually proposing/doing.

[Led Zeppelin]

Whats wrong with England? Boris Johnson is an utter fool, a clown!

Englands seems more and more lika a dystopia to me, and a dystopia that really coyld happen here as well, if things go wrong. That really scares me.

Correct me if I am wrong, but England does not have any working class-movement at all? Or any left-wing movement at all for that sake?

A nation ruled by clowns and wankers. You really, really need to do something. I hope this all thing will be a big wake-up call for England.

Are you being serious?

"As Marxists, we have never been worshippers of formal democracy. In a society split into classes, the democratic institutions, far from abolishing the class struggle, only lend the class interests a highly imperfect form of expression. The possessing classes have always at their disposal thousands of means to pervert and adulterate the will of the labouring masses." - Trotsky (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1918/hrr/ch03.htm)

[Djehuti]

I am no worshipper of formal democracy, I don't see what that has to do with anything.

But really, something is seriously fucked up in England. The labour movement have not yet recovered from the Thatcher-era, not even close. People are so disillusioned that they are actually voting for racist toff clowns.

On the positive side, this might help to make bourgeoisie democracy look like what is allways has been; a spectacle.

[Led Zeppelin]

I am no worshipper of formal democracy, I don't see what that has to do with anything.

Well I didn't say you were, I posted that quote specifically for this part: "The possessing classes have always at their disposal thousands of means to pervert and adulterate the will of the labouring masses".

You seemed to be blaming the working-class of England for the election results, which doesn't make sense because there's no real democracy in England.