Rita Panahi: European Parliament elections reveal a populist backlash
Scott Morrison has been hailed a Liberal saviour for uniting a fractured party but his efforts pale in comparison with the feats of Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage after the European Parliament elections, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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If you thought the Australian election result was astonishing then you’ll be positively blown away by what just happened in the United Kingdom.
Scott Morrison has been hailed a Liberal saviour for uniting a fractured party, dodging the numerous hand grenades thrown from the bitter Turnbull, Bishop, Banks et al camps and overcoming Labor’s cynical class warfare to snatch the unlikeliest of victories.
But his efforts pale in comparison with the feats of Nigel Farage who has not only been credited for seeing off two prime ministers, David Cameron and Theresa May, but has been declared the clear winner in the UK’s European elections.
Farage’s Brexit Party is set to be the biggest in the European Parliament, not just the biggest from the UK but along with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, it will hold the greatest number of seats of any party from all 28 countries in the EU. An extraordinary result for a political party that was created just six weeks ago after Farage became fed up with Prime Minister May’s mishandling of the Brexit negotiations.
The former UKIP leader was critical in bringing about the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.
He campaigned tirelessly and played a not insignificant part in ensuring Brexit prevailed, despite what the experts, pundits and bookmakers predicted.
Brexit won despite a hysterical campaign from the “Remainers” who promised economic Armageddon should Great Britain vote to leave the EU.
Brexit was the biggest democratic vote in British history but it has been undermined every step of the way by the political class who cannot cope with democracy when it doesn’t go their way.
The antics of the establishment have been similar to the anti-Trump phenomenon in the US where large swathes of the ruling elite, and much of the Left, have been unable to accept the result of the 2016 election. They have engineered fake crises and madly fanned now debunked Russian conspiracy theories in order to engineer an impeachment rather than formulate policies to defeat Trump at the polls in 2020.
In the European elections the Brexit Party received the highest share of the vote in nine of the 12 regions but in London they came third. Millions of voters abandoned the Tories and Labour to vote for Farage’s party and the Liberal Democrats who came a distant second.
Some Remainers have tried to rewrite history by claiming that the majority voted for another referendum but to believe that you would have to put aside facts, logic, mathematics and uncritically accept that every person who voted for the Greens, Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party wants another referendum. They don’t. And many of their prominent voters took to social media this week to counter the media narrative that any vote not for the Brexit Party or UKIP must be interpreted as anti-Brexit.
Much of the media has also been keen to push the narrative that the Brexit Party triumph is the rise of the “extreme right” or “far right” but, again, that characterisation is simplistic and false.
It prompted writer Sam White to tweet: “Someone in Britain should set up a party called The Actually Far Right Party, with actual far right policies, just to illustrate the childish twattery of the current trend for yelling ‘far-right’ at anyone not in thrall to the Guardian and the EU.”
Farage has warned the government that if they do not deliver Brexit, then his party will turn its attention to the general election.
“We voted to leave in a referendum and we voted to do so on March 29th and we haven’t,” he said. “The two-party system now serves nothing but itself. I think they are an obstruction to the modernising of politics … and we are going to take them on.’’
Meanwhile May, who will stand down on June 7, tweeted the Tories had a “disappointing night” which may the biggest understatement of her political career.
“Some excellent MEPs have lost their seats, some excellent candidates missed out. But Labour have also suffered big losses. It shows the importance of finding a Brexit deal, and I sincerely hope these results focus minds in Parliament,” she posted.
Around much of the world there has been a shift away from the grievance politics, open borders, anti-capitalist ideology of the modern Left.
From Brazil to Switzerland to India voters have embraced centre-right parties to protect national values, reaffirm borders and focus on economic growth.
In Europe this sentiment is evident in the votes of a number of countries in the EU elections. Italian deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini thanked god for “helping Italy and Europe to rediscover hope, pride, roots, work and security.”
Salvini said: “It is not only the League that is the first party in Italy. Marine Le Pen is the biggest party in France. Nigel Farage has the biggest party in Great Britain. It is a sign of a Europe that has changed.”
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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