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L awrence J ournal -W orld - USA TODAY TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015
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Why Britain’s election really matters Michael Wolff
@MichaelWolffNYC Michael@burnrate.com USA TODAY
It is a shame that the U.S. media, and presumably most Americans, seem to have almost no interest in Thursday’s British parliamentary election. It is the most breathless and consequential in years. This is politics at its edge-of-its-seat best, a total engagement, with almost everything up for grabs. But in a way, the U.S. indifference is understandable: Almost every possible election outcome will make Britain less relevant to the United States and less significant in the world. It really is an end-of-Britain-as-we-know-it sort of moment. At least it is a slide of some magnitude for the British establishment that has long cottoned up to U.S. power, and a challenge to the two-party system often aligned with U.S. parties and presidents: Conservative Party’s Margaret Thatcher with Republican Ronald Reagan, Labor Party’s Tony Blair with Democrat Bill Clinton. This is an election about losing power, or of having to commit a kind of suicide to achieve what remains of power. The Conservatives, once deemed unelectable because of their nastiness, came to power in 2010 on a calibrated program of moderation and a softening of their mean-spirited image. David Cameron, a former PR man, was elected prime minister. Now, they have been forced to the right once again by the upstart anti-immigrant, antiEurope UKIP (U.K. Independence Party), the nastiest of the nasties, and its charismatically noxious leader, Nigel Farage. To claw back support, the Conservatives have had to risk turning back into the kind of nasties despised by most of the nation. Labor, which turned itself
Whatever the result of the election, it will likely move toward a division of the country and/or an exit from Europe.
LONDON
JUSTIN TALLIS, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Labor Party leader Ed Miliband will have to align with Scottish Nationalists. from hard-core lefties to moderates and held power for 13 years under Blair and Gordon Brown, has always derived significant support from Scotland. But most of more than 50 seats it has held there will likely shift to the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), which echoes Labor’s old song of spend, tax and kill the rich. For Labor and its leader, Ed Miliband, to have any hope of forming a government, they will have to align with the Nationalists and their charismatic and implacable leader, Nicola Sturgeon, making Labor a mirror image of the UKIP–aligned Conservatives and anathema to a majority of Britons. It is hard to fathom a greater political irony than the leverage held by Scotland. In September, the Scots defeated a referendum to declare themselves independent of the U.K. and England. The result has been a stampede by formerly Labor-supporting Scots to the SNP, whose central
platform is independence. This means that the Scots, who hold the key to Labor’s working majority in Parliament, might control England, which will come to mean another referendum, and, eventually — if you try enough — a break-away Scotland and non-United Kingdom. In similar fashion, the Conservatives, after dancing around the U.K.’s status in the European Union, have been forced by their courtship of UKIP voters into an absolute promise of an up-or-down vote on continued EU membership — a vote that very likely will go down. Hence, whatever the result of the election, it will likely move toward a division of the country and/or an exit from Europe. No wonder the White House is ever cooler and the U.S. media indifferent to Britain. In most scenarios, it gets only smaller and more isolated. (One issue is the fate of Trident submarines; Labor and the SNP are likely to
DAN KITWOOD, GETTY IMAGES
Prime Minister David Cameron and the Conservatives are pulled to right again. dump the subs and Britain’s status as a nuclear power.) Politics is about winners. Yet from an outsider point of view, this election is likely to produce only losers, with neither Labor nor the Conservatives gaining the clear upper hand to form a government. A majority requires 326 seats. In 2010, the beginning of Britain’s descent into fractured government, the Conservatives achieved a majority only in a coalition with the smaller Liberal Democrats. By most estimates this marriage will result in a serious loss of seats for the middle-of-the-road party. This might leave the Conservatives with the biggest take but not enough to reach a majority. Labor might come out with fewer seats than the Conservatives but with support of the SNP, with whom — in its effort to curry English votes — it says it won’t join in a formal coalition. Still, an informal sharing of power that makes Labor be-
holden to the SNP would put it over the top. So a party with fewer seats than the largest party might take power with a group whose aim is to break up the country. Outside polls put the Conservatives at 274 seats, Labor a few seats behind and the SNP at as many as 54 seats. At those numbers, Labor and the SNP might oust the Conservatives in what is already being called a “coalition of losers.” The Conservatives, slightly more confident in the final days, say their own polling puts them at over 290 seats, which might just get them over the wire. It is, in any outcome, a Britain so fractured and a government so precarious as to be of ever-less interest to the U.S. On the other hand, it might be a useful and cautionary vision for U.S. politicians of the two-party future and a center that hardly holds. Wolff is a USA TODAY columnist.
IN BRIEF NYC POLICE OFFICER SHOT AT WEEKEND TRAFFIC STOP DIES
MATT CARDY, GETTY IMAGES
King Arthur Pendragon, a senior Druid, poses for a photograph as he begins a march to protest display of ancient human remains excavated from the environs of Stonehenge.
Druid, sex worker and mime among offbeat U.K. candidates Jane Onyanga-Omara USA TODAY
Britain is holding one of its closest general elections in decades on Thursday. Offbeat and often wacky candidates have long been a tradition in British politics. Here are a few of the more colorful candidates up for election: DORIS OSEN
Elderly People Independent Candidates At age 85, Doris Osen is the oldest candidate. The former teacher, who hopes to be elected in Ilford North in east London, told Sky News she wants to get her generation to be more proactive and to give pensioners a greater voice. She told the news broadcaster her age can be “an enormous advantage because I have experience.” ARTHUR PENDRAGON
Independent Also known as King Arthur Pendragon, the 61-year-old Druid is running in Salisbury, southwestern England. Pendragon, who conducts ceremonies at nearby Stonehenge, is opposed to
the austerity measures introduced by the current Conservative government and says if voted in, he will be accessible to the electorate. CHARLOTTE ROSE
Independent Sex worker, sexual trainer and political campaigner Charlotte Rose is seeking election in Brighton, sometimes referred to as Britain’s San Francisco. Rose says she entered politics in 2014 to stand up for those who were being discriminated against, especially seniors and the disabled. She says she is fighting for sexual freedom and equality and personal liberties. RICHARD TAYLOR
National Health Action Party A retired doctor and former independent member of Parliament, Richard Taylor co-founded the National Health Action Party “because of a tremendous sense of anger” at the government’s reorganization of Britain’s staterun health service. Taylor is running for a seat in Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, central west England, which he represented for two terms before losing the seat to the Conservative repre-
sentative in the last general election in 2010. DAME DIXON
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party Pantomime star Dame Dixon is seeking a parliamentary seat in Hove in southern England. Her real name is Jon Dixon, also known as Jolyon. She told the U.K. Press Association she is standing on a policy of “undeliverable nonsense.” For example, “during engineering works, trains will be replaced by magic carpets,” she said. MARK BERRY (BEZ)
We are the Reality Party Mark Berry, aka Bez, is famous in Britain for being the dancer in the alternative indie-rock band the Happy Mondays. When his candidacy in Salford and Eccles, near Manchester in northwestern England, was announced, Bez told the BBC: “I’m doing the job of the politicians and standing up for the people and bringing attention to the horror of fracking.” Fracking, drilling for oil using a high-pressure water and chemical mixture, is controversial in Britain, as it is in the USA because of environmental concerns.
attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Clinton attorney David Kendall, in a letter to the committee, said Clinton could appear the week of May 18, as scheduled. But he rejected a committee request that Clinton testify at one hearing about her email records and at a later hearing about the Benghazi attacks. He said both topics should be covered at the same hearing. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the special committee, has said committee members aren’t willing to question Clinton about Benghazi until they’re sure they have all relevant State Department emails and documents. Gowdy has challenged whether all Benghazi-related emails stored on a server at Clinton’s private residence were provided and has questioned her use of a private email account to conduct official government business. — Mary Troyan
A New York City police officer who was shot in the head late Saturday during a routine stop in Queens has died from his injuries, a city official said Monday. Brian Moore, 25, was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center after undergoing brain surgery. Authorities said Moore and his partner were patrolling in an unmarked police car Saturday night when they approached 35-yearold Demetrius Blackwell. They allegedly saw him adjust his waistband, a move that made them suspicious that he had a handgun. The officers pulled up next to Blackwell and spoke to him. According to court documents, Blackwell turned, pulled out a weapon and fired at least twice, striking the car twice and Moore once in the head and face. His partner was unhurt. Police arrested Blackwell about 90 minutes after the shooting, at a house a Corrections & Clarifications block away. — Greg Toppo OBAMA PROMOTES ALLIANCE TO ADDRESS VIOLENCE
President Obama said a new volunteer program — My Brother’s Keeper Alliance — can help address the problems that gave rise to violence in Baltimore and other cities in recent months. Too many African-American and Latino men “experience being treated differently by law enforcement,” Obama said at a event promoting an initiative designed to help men of color overcome barriers to education and education opportunity. Obama turned personal in talking about My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, launched after the 2012 death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Obama said he could have gone the wrong way but had the advantage of growing up in “an environment that was a little more forgiving.” — David Jackson CLINTON WON’T TESTIFY TWICE ON BENGHAZI
Former secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed to testify before a special House committee investigating the 2012 terrorist
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