Daily Times

The Tories have just been mortally wounded and bruised by what is considered to be the most divisive general elections in the United Kingdom’s modern history. In other words, it’s the last nail in the coffin of Prime Minister Theresa May’s embattled leadership. Her ‘strong and stable’ mantra has miserably backfired with calls for her resignation mounting rapidly. It’s truly a ‘weak and chaotic’ leadership.

The party’s failure to secure a simple majority implies that its top leadership was largely unprepared and perhaps overconfident, to say the least. Now with just 318 seats, the party has opted to form an unholy alliance with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that is historically known for its far-right tendencies. Is this what the British people wished for? Absolutely not for this was supposed to be more like a second referendum on the much despised Brexit. May’s decision to call a surprise snap election was akin to placing her hands in a lion’s mouth that eventually dealt her a heavy blow. The biggest factors were May’s insistence to have the mandate as an ‘elected’ prime minister and push for a ‘hard Brexit’ that would have economically drained the country by a large margin.

On the other hand, Jeremy Corbyn has managed to defy all odds and secure a much stronger mandate for Labour. The press and the media were largely unfriendly to him and repeatedly called for his removal from the party’s leadership. However, it seems like karma played in a strange manner since the same voices are now focused on May’s removal. Corbyn’s success is mainly owed to the younger generation that wished to remain in the European Union (EU) and was fed up with the protectionist and isolationist policies of the Tories. Strangely, a certain orange-faced individual comes in mind when speaking of such things.

Jeremy Corbyn has managed to defy all odds and secure a much stronger mandate for Labour

Nevertheless, this generation vowed to teach the ruling party a lesson that would be remembered for decades to come. With young voters’ turnout reportedly exceeding 70 percent, the Tories got obliterated. Yes, they did manage to remain the largest party but at the cost of their own snobbish and arrogant behaviour. They might have formed a government but the real powerbrokers are based in Belfast not London with only 10 seats. Once this small group pulls out its support, the government would collapse like a house of cards. It does remind one of how US television series House of Cards portrays fictitious US President Frank Underwood trying to climb the power ladder through unnatural means. The comparison is quite uncanny.

Labour has formally entered the era of Corbynism while leaving behind the remnants of the Blairites. While Corbyn’s support base is largely socialist, it did not deter most young people — regardless of their inclinations — to provide much needed lending hand to his leadership for the sake of the UK’s future. Being a grassroots political worker and a staunch ally of the late Tony Benn — the prime minister Britain deserved but never had — Corbyn is known as a man of principles unlike May who took multiple U-turns on various occasions.

Just recently, three terror attacks took place in London and Manchester and the onus lied on the Tories for cutting down police spending and putting the country’s security in jeopardy. Ironically, the attackers in these incidents were already ‘known to the security services’.

The point is that false promises and politically misleading policies would eventually come back to bite hard.

Last June, David Cameron, George Osborne and Michael Gove were the casualties for their failed Brexit gamble. Exactly a year later, Theresa May has joined their ranks. She might think that her troubles are over but this is just the beginning of the end in light of an extremely weak mandate and an EU leadership waiting to hound her in Brussels. Hard Brexit officially died an unnatural death on June 8 and Britain is likely heading for a soft Brexit to much relief of those under the age of 30.

Corbyn may be the opposition leader but he certainly won the hearts of the people which is unprecedented in recent history. As for May, the only option left is to resign and pave way for a more capable leader to take the helm of party’s fractured leadership.

The writer is a geopolitical analyst at Business Plus. He can be reached at hassankhan440@gmail.com and tweets @mhassankhan06