London elects, Labour loses

"The end game of the New Labour cult."


London voters yesterday unceremoniously ousted Ken Livingstone in favor of Conservative Boris Johnson in the mayoralty election. Their choice, compounded by other local elections across the country, delivered Labour its hardest hit in 40 years and has some ominous clouds hanging over 10 Downing Street. Driven by doubts concerning the economy and immigration, and for some a mere distaste for Mr Livingstone, London moved decidedly to the right with its selection of bluntly-spoken Mr Johnson.

The Tories held 44% of votes in the local elections Friday, with even the weak Liberal Democrats beating out Labour by one percent (25%-to-24%). Voters seem more than willing to throw the Labour establishment aside given the state of Britain's credit markets and the ills of the banking industry heavily publicised during the nationalisation of Northern Rock earlier this year. Even Mr Livingstone offered to the BBC that "The smart thing for Labour to do would be to quietly remove Gordon Brown and install [Foreign Secretary David] Miliband." Mr Brown need not call a general election until 2010, but his continued success will be determined by his ability to lift a sagging economy (particularly a financial sector that accounts for more than 20% of UK jobs) and encourage lending to buttress home prices. He is putting all of his chips on it.

But Mr Brown is not in the best position to play lifeguard with the financial markets. He was a generous public spender as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair, and now finds his coffers depleted, insufficient to provide a substantive kick for the economy. Friday, Mr Brown offered only the necessary "courage and conviction," continuing to be ambiguous about what actions his administration would take going forward.

London elected Mr Johnson, an abrasive, outspoken media personality and magazine editor cum politician. Speculation is high in Britain that it may mean voters are once again ready to embrace the Tories, now under David Cameron's leadership, after more than a decade. Some speculated that Polish immigrants, numbering a registered 58,472, could influence the outcome of the election, but it seemed unlikely that the Poles would vote in a coherent bloc; the conservative Catholics expectedly went for Mr Johnson. But if this does signal a true paradigm shift of the British electorate, which all indicators point to, it will serve Mr Brown to rethink his approach before 2010.