Boris Johnson’s dominant election victory in the U.K. national election this week is great news for the U.S., yet terrible news for the Democratic Party.
Defying the pundits, Johnson romped to a majority government in the biggest conservative victory since Lady Thatcher in the 1980s. The win was just the latest for the silent majority that wants good governance in contrast to the bellicose activists who desire socialism.
Like midwestern voters in the U.S. in 2016, working-class voters in the economically-distressed industrial areas of Northern England — traditionally a Labour Party constituency — pulled the lever for a Conservative Party that will give them a hand up not a handout. The Labour Party was decimated, winning its fewest seats since 1935.
The outcome should make Democrats nervous. The Labour Party candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, is a socialist who promised to nationalize vast swaths of the U.K. economy. He enjoys support from adolescents, activists, and actors but not ordinary workers. He’s a dour and depressing curmudgeon. In other words, he would be right at home in the Democratic presidential primary field.
Joe Biden has already trumpeted the results to argue that a radical leftist cannot win a national election. “Look what happens,” he said, when you move “so, so far to the left.” And yet the Democratic presidential candidates continue to trip over themselves to see who can get farthest to the left on taxes, healthcare, education, regulations, and energy.
The growing number of suburban voters who will determine the next election are centrists, not socialists. They want a good economy to provide for their families and pay off their mortgages. By sucking trillions of dollars from these communities in the form of tax increases and burdening local businesses with over-regulation, the Democratic Party threatens the economic growth to which they have become accustomed thanks to Trump.
The U.K. results also demonstrate how voters want charismatic leaders in the mold of Johnson and Trump who embody the national spirit. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and their travelers, by contrast, have about as much personality as the average government bureaucrat. Biden called Johnson “a physical and emotional clone” of Trump. That’s a bit much, but it’s not far off in spirit. Biden’s description would be better-suited for Corbyn and Warren/Sanders.
Aside from politics, the Johnson victory is great news for U.S. policy. It will allow the U.K. to finally achieve Brexit, which the British deep state has been stalling for years against voters’ wishes. Johnson has reiterated his promise to take the country out of the European Union by January 31st.
Brexit will free a globally competitive and relatively free-market Britain from the socialist vestige of continental Europe that’s run by an army of bureaucrats in Brussels and Strasbourg. The British Pound surged by two percent on the election news.
Britain will be free to negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S. without interference from the EU intelligentsia. This will allow President Trump to follow up on his recent trade wins this week on the USMCA and the Phase One agreement with China. Small businesses and ordinary workers in both countries will benefit from access to new markets and new opportunities.
“Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the EU.”
“You may only have lent us your vote,” said Johnson to the electorate in his victory speech. The same could be said about the many traditional Democrats who supported Trump in 2016. But by continuing to reach out to these voters with economic opportunity — while pointing out the inevitable consequences of socialist policies — conservatives like Johnson and Trump can keep these votes for good.