Report from England Feb 2010

Victor Primov '03
United Kingdom
February 1, 2010

Report from the field: Report from England

An Englishman's home is his castle and the protection of personal privacy is very precious to the public. One must always be modest, root for the 'under-dog,' never appear boastful, and never kick a man when he is down, lessons given in the spirit of English fair play. Furthermore, social justice, equal opportunity and taking care of fellow citizens are pillars in the minds of the British. Lastly, while Brits are both tolerant and patient, willing to take much from government without complaining, they defend their right to protest peacefully without intimidation, even giving the politicians the 'middle finger salute' on regular basis is deeply cherished and has tremendous support from all across the political spectrum. They do expect politicians to treat them like adults, to be honest and explain the rationale behind big decisions, such as going to war.

The Labour government is seen as lacking credibility when assessed according to the above criteria or "pillars" of British life, but the Conservatives are not exactly faultless or seen as already having won. Unlike in the US, the war with Iraq was seen not as a 'patriotic duty,' but as being espoused under false pretenses in a cynical ploy to gain Iraqi oil and as a power grab reminiscent of the days of the British Empire. There was a tremendous public opposition to the Iraq war and the Blair government nearly fell during Parliamentary votes. There were millions of people protesting every single day against Labour and even more when former President George W. Bush came to the UK. The public believes that the Blair government lied and "sexed up" the rationale for war with Iraq, but the war in Afghanistan was seen as necessary. The British public is angry with the fact that for the Blair government to go into Iraq, it deprived British forces in Afghanistan of necessary equipment and many soldiers in the field died unnecessarily. This goes against pillar #4.

The British public also is rather angry that in the name of fighting terrorism, the Labour government has grown exponentially, e.g., government surveillance and monitoring powers via the increase of Closed Circuit Television Monitoring (CCTV), extrajudicial wiretappings, DNA data bases, and giving the police the power to stop and search anyone, while trying to force everyone to carry a National ID at all times. These powers often are used not to deal with hateful leaders who spew jihad from mosques, but to wiretap and follow British citizens to see whether they really live in a certain Post Code in order to send their kids to a certain school as well as to lock up people for taking out their trash on the wrong day. This violates pillar #1. Additionally, the government also used on multiple occasions pre-dawn raids, armed and Special Counter Terrorist units (like SWAT teams) and helicopters, to round up and lock up peaceful protesters incommunicado without access to lawyers. This violates pillar #4.

British citizens are very angry at Labour for bailing out the 'fat cats' at the banks who awarded themselves massive bonuses with taxpayer funds while ordinary people could not, and many still cannot, get a mortgage. Businesses are going bust because they cannot make payroll. Labour has also forgotten their core base since many people feel incompetence is rewarded while hardworking people are suffering. This violates #3.

But at the same time the Conservatives have been acting in a very arrogant, condescending manner as if they are already in power. They have resorted to making fun of Gordon Brown's partial blindness. This is very much against #2 and a big NO in the UK.

So on one hand, the situation would seem conducive to Conservatives grabbing power; but, at the same time, the public is upset that members of Parliament fiddled with taxpayer funded expenses and one Conservative member of Parliament used taxpayer money to clean up the moat of his castle. If the public decides that they are sick and tired of Labour, they might give the Conservatives a chance. But if they decide that all politicians are dishonest and sleazy, it is very possible that NO party will get a majority resulting in a "hung" Parliament. If this is the case, then the Liberal Democrats, a party with libertarian and social justice views, could very well play king maker and join either the Conservatives or Labour to allow one or the other of these parties a sufficient majority to govern.

At the moment, no one knows who will gain control of Parliament. A Conservative controlled Parliament seems just as likely as a "hung" Parliament.