Theresa Villiers gone. Jacob Rees-Mogg gone. Liz Truss gone. George Galloway gone. Ian Paisley Jnr gone. At the time of writing it’s only July 5 but feels like December 25.
Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” is ringing in my ears.
I never imagined being a cheerleader for the TUV’s Jim Allister, but hearing him declared brought a wry smile to my face. Allister will be 76 at the next general election – so we probably haven’t heard the last from the House of Paisley.
The election results in the north were a bit of a curate’s egg. Everyone got something.
Sinn Féin remains top dog. The DUP leadership survived – just. Doug Beattie’s patience was finally rewarded. Alliance swapped seats. And the SDLP was as before.
The TUV did as it set out to and damaged the DUP. It could been a lot worse for the DUP had it lost East Belfast, East Derry, Strangford or East Antrim.
One suspects this may be the last parliamentary hurrah for DUP veterans Sammy Wilson and Gregory Campbell.
Newbie Pat Cullen turned the marginal Fermanagh & South Tyrone into a Sinn Féin safe seat. Elsewhere the party consolidated as predicted. Claire Hanna’s victory in South Belfast was deservedly stunning.
Though South Down was never really in contention, the result should lead to some serious SDLP soul-searching about a strategy which wrongly talked up the possibility of winning and drew resources from other constituencies.
But in truth, all eyes were on the other side of the pond.
Keir Starmer slowly and painstakingly has made Labour an electable party of government. He transformed Labour organically over a period of four years. His task was not easy.
The scale of the victory is staggering – though the top-line figures also belie some real issues, not least the alienation of a sizeable part of the British Muslim community over the plight of the Palestine people.
Starmer’s Labour Party also routed the SNP in Scotland with a Lazarus-like return, and the Tories were sent packing in Wales.
Labour is truly a party of the nations – albeit with no electoral presence in Northern Ireland.
The Green Party had its best ever results and now has four MPs.
For the Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davies, the results are amazing. All those stunts like kayaking and bungee jumping paid off. The joke was on those who wrote him off.
Reform didn’t have a revolution but managed to shake down the Tories and so gifted Labour additional wins. It’s hard to see an egomaniac like Nigel Farage contenting himself with the mundanity of life as a backbench MP for clapped-out Clacton over the next five years.
Frankly, the Tories got what they deserved and it could have been an even greater catastrophe. They reeked of arrogance in government. A party for ‘the haves’, many of their self-serving stalwarts will soon discover the joys of signing on.
Bizarrely, the hapless Rishi Sunak displayed more energy during the campaign than he did throughout his premiership.
Starmer’s mandate is so large he can provide the UK with some much-needed stability, which after years of reckless Tory corruption and roulette-playing is long overdue
Starmer will be the fifth Labour prime minister of my lifetime. He now carries the hopes and expectations of a weary and worn-down electorate. Starmer and his cabinet has to hit the ground running. The first 100 days in office will be watched closely and judged harshly. Political honeymoons are short-lived.
In Northern Ireland, Labour’s inbox will be full: picking up the political fallout from the general election, shoring up the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement, ditching the Legacy Act, acting on funding for Casement, building better British-Irish relations, joint stewardship of the Common Travel Area, and deciding whether to implement the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) which is so damaging to the northern tourist industry.
Starmer’s mandate is so large he can provide the UK with some much-needed stability, which after years of reckless Tory corruption and roulette-playing is long overdue. Good riddance Rishi!