Energy Bangla - British Elections: A Few Thoughts

MAY 11 marked the end of 13 years of the Labour Party’s rule, first under Tony Blair and then under his successor Gordon Brown. May 11 also saw the formation of a coalition government, between the right-wing Conservatives and the left-leaning Liberal Democrats, something Britain had last seen in the form of Winston Churchill’s war cabinet during the Second World War.
   The coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats appears to be a marriage of convenience between two parties that are poles apart in terms of policies and politics. As everyone knows by now, the coalition government became inevitable after the May 6 general elections returned a hung parliament, the first since 1974. As the Liberal Democrats agreed to form a coalition government with the Conservative Party, Brown resigned and Queen Elizabeth, the titular head of the United Kingdom, asked David Cameron to form a new government.
   Brown tried to appear graceful in defeat and took the responsibility for Labour’s loss. ‘As the leader of my party, I must accept that as a judgement on me.’ He also announced that he was stepping down from the leadership of the party, well before its September conference.
   The defeat of the Labour Party was, one might say, inevitable, and Blair was the architect of its downfall. Blair came to be known as the ‘yes minister’ of the then US president, George W Bush. Some American columnists even gave him the title of ambassador-at-large of the United States. The Britons were generally opposed to their country’s joining the US-led invasion of Iraq on dodgy grounds. Global financial crisis also hurt the UK and the Labour.
   Brown’s decision to step down as the leader of his party was a renewal of the democratic norm and practice in the UK. Cameron was effusive in his tribute to Brown. Overall, it was something that Bangladeshis would perhaps never imagine taking place in Bangladesh. Here, our leaders claim to be believers of Westminster-style parliamentary democracy but never accept defeat in elections with grace, let alone take responsibility and relinquish leadership for electoral debacle.
   Upon acceptance of the premiership, Cameron, flanked by Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg, told a news conference at 10 Downing Street, official residence of the British prime minister, that ‘no government in modern time has ever been left with such a terrible economic inheritance. We know there would be difficult decisions ahead. We have some deep and pressing problems – a huge deficit, deep social problems, a political system in need of reform as well as reform of electoral system.’ Clegg, who is given the portfolio of the deputy prime minister, holds the opinion that not only public finance needs to be reformed but also economy of the country needs to be rebuilt on new sustainable foundations replacing rubble of old economy.
   An Associate Press report points out that the Liberal Democrats have emerged from ‘the political fringe to the top rung of the government’. The party expects 5 cabinet posts and dozen more junior roles in the government although Liberal Democrats party is the least experienced governing partner.
   Agreement between the two political parties allows the coalition government to go ahead on school and welfare reforms and cut significantly around 6 billion pounds of government waste and to stop an increase in the national insurance tax. However, the agreement did not accept Liberal Democrats pledges to get rid of nuclear submarines; amnesty to illegal immigrants or hand over any additional power to the European Union.
   There has been a new element in British politics which cannot be overlooked. In British parliamentary history this is for the first time so many members of minority communities got elected. Results indicate that the number of parliamentarians from minority communities have set a new record that exceeds previous record of 15 in the 2005 elections. According to the British daily Guardian of May 7, the present number of members of minority communities in the parliament stands at 27.
   It is heartening that one of them is Roushanara Ali, an Oxford graduate who hails from Sylhet, Bangladesh and won the election from the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency with a majority of 11,574 votes. That is really amazing because she defeated seasoned maverick British politician George Galloway.
   I once had a heated debate with Galloway over the controversial role of Ion Illiescu who invited coalminers to quell protest demonstration in Bucharest. The discussion took place in a hotel in Bucharest, Romania after the fall of communist system and taking over power by Ion Illiescu in 1990. Galloway was in Romania as an adviser to the British-Bangladeshi restaurant business magnate Ali of the Labour Party with humanitarian relief. Galloway was expelled from Labour in 2003 following differences of opinion with Tony Blair for his participation in war with the US against Iraq. Galloway was an anti-war activist. My hat is off to Roushanara Ali for this victory.
   It is expected that ethnic diversity in British politics will bring about robust development of relations with Asian and African countries and change political landscape in Great Britain in not too distant a future. There is no high expectation of major changes in transatlantic relations. The US president, Barack Obama, congratulated Cameron immediately after he took over office of the prime minister.
   Mohammad Amjad Hossain, a retired diplomat from Bangladesh and former President of Nova Toastmasters International Club, writes from Virginia, USA