Boris Johnson offers voters post-Brexit British revival

The British election is the most consequential in decades. Not since the crackpot “ban the bomb” socialist Michael Foot led Labour to a crushing defeat at the hands of Margaret Thatcher in 1983 have the deep fissures in British society been so exposed, or the choice the 46 million voters face appeared more momentous. Finally “getting Brexit done” and transforming Britain’s place in the world, as Boris Johnson puts it, is the promise held out by the election. A Tory victory, he says, would end the interminable chaos, confusion and profound national embarrassment since the 2016 Brexit referendum. It also would give effect, at long last, to the will of the British people to leave the EU.

Given the abysmal track record of British pollsters, however, there can be no certainty that will be the outcome. After enjoying a steady 10-point lead over Labour through most of the campaign, reported Tory alarm about late private party polling showing that has been slashed is understandable. The vagaries of non-compulsory and likely tactical voting in a first-past-the-post system add significantly to the uncertainty. The ineptitude of hapless former prime minister Theresa May (seeking re-election in Maidenhead) in trying to get a deal done with the EU and the British parliament’s protracted inability to reach a coherent decision on Brexit have divided politics in a way that has made things even harder for Mr Johnson to achieve a majority in the 650-seat House of Commons.

By any reasonable standard, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn should be unelectable. His anti-Semitism, dalliances with terrorist groups such as the IRA, Hamas and Hezbollah, fawning admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran, and ambivalence when terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi get their just desserts should make him a non-starter. So should his undisguised Soviet-style hostility towards NATO and other intelligence and defence groupings such as the Five Eyes alliance, which includes Australia.

It is a reflection of how deeply split Britain is that Mr Corbyn and his so-called “former communist” comrades remain in the race. Unable to articulate a coherent position on Brexit, he has unveiled the most costly, unrealistic policy manifesto in British history. He has pledged to raise taxes and a wholesale renationalisation of utilities, railways and the postal services. At a cost of $159bn to 2023-24, he has promised a range of hand-outs aimed at diverting attention from his muddle-headed confusion over Brexit and focused at brazenly buying votes. This includes free university education, free childcare, free dental treatment, free prescriptions and free broadband.

Mr Johnson’s principal promise is to have Britain out of the EU by the end of January, with all that promises for Britain’s freedom, after being unshackled from Brussels’ diktat, to strike trade deals with countries such as Australia, India and the US. To this he has added sweeteners, including more police on the beat to deal with rising crime rates, more nurses for the National Health Service, significant extra spending on schools, and an immigration program based on our own points system. This would reassert British control of its borders, a key factor in the Brexit referendum result.

Judged on their respective policies, the Tories should be a shoo-in. Mr Corbyn may be lagging but with the anti-Brexit, strongly pro-Remain “third party” Liberal Democrats on 13 per cent and Nicola Sturgeon’s implacably anti-Brexit Scottish National Party likely to scoop the pool with a possible 50 seats, he may emerge at the head of an anti-Brexit coalition. A hung parliament is also possible. A betrayal of the wish of the British people in the referendum is the last thing the country needs.

At the 70th anniversary summit of NATO leaders in London last week, it was clear Brexit indecision has led Britain to be sidelined from the centre of global influence. Discussions on the future of the Western alliance were dominated by the politically secure leaders of France, Germany and even Turkey, as well as Donald Trump. Britain is paying a high price for the years of floundering under Mrs May. It has an opportunity to return to the stability and strong leadership it has been lacking. It will be a tragedy if voters do not take it.

Mr Johnson is not without political and personal baggage. His cynical trajectory from outspoken Brexit opponent to ambitious pro-Brexit conspirator seeking to remove Mrs May from Downing Street does much to feed suspicions about him. His willingness to compromise his principles has won him few friends. Neither he nor Mr Corbyn rates highly in the political popularity stakes. But in the 4½ months since he became Prime Minister, he has shown the strength of leadership and purpose Britain needs as it navigates Brexit and seeks to establish a place for itself in the world, away from EU bureaucratic madness.

Mr Johnson has offered voters a vision for a reinvigorated post-Brexit Britain that evokes memories of Thatcher’s famous 1983 victory over the loony Left and the broad program of economic and social reform that unleashed. Mr Johnson has achieved a sensible, pragmatic deal with the EU. The entire world will benefit if Britain is finally able to sort out its decades of schizophrenia over its place in Europe and at the same time see off the very real threat presented by Mr Corbyn and his heavy-duty Marxist comrades.