London a few days before the election The rich make even more money - that's why Brits don't vote
The British go to the polls on Thursday. All the signs indicate that a change of government from the Conservatives to Labour is imminent. A mood report from London.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Shortly before the early general election in the UK on July 4, the Tories are far behind in the polls.
- The Labour leader Keir Starmer, who is likely to become the new Prime Minister, is not very popular with the electorate.
- When Tony Blair also led Labour to power in 1997 after a long dry spell, the country was in a festive mood.
- "This time there is little sign of ecstasy," writes blue News correspondent Hanspeter "Düsi" Künzler in his mood report from London.
Richi Sunak, who is still Prime Minister, is certainly not to be envied. Since he announced the date for the next general election on May 22, namely Thursday, July 4, he has not only grown two left hands, but also two left feet.
The announcement itself was a symbolic debacle: when Sunak stepped outside Number 10 Downing Street with big news and a sour face, it was pouring with rain.
Around 70 Tory MPs immediately announced their resignation, knowing that their party had lost so much support that the chances of re-election were slim.
A feast for symbol hunters
A few days later, Sunak held a press conference in Belfast - just around the corner from the shipyard from which the Titanic once sailed to its doom. This was also a feast for symbol hunters.
About the author: Hanspeter Künzler
Zurich journalist Hanspeter "Düsi" Künzler has lived in London for 40 years. He specializes in music, art and football and writes for various Swiss publications such as blue News and the NZZ. He is also a regular guest on the SRF3 program "Sounds".
The fact that he left the celebrations to mark the anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy early to film a TV interview in London, which was not due to be broadcast until a few weeks later, was an inexplicable faux pas that earned him heavy criticism, including from within his own ranks.
And now it turns out that people from his inner circle had engaged in insider trading by placing bets on the election date thanks to their foreknowledge and pocketing the corresponding profits. Symbolism ahoy: Privileged lucky bastards use their position to shovel even more cash into their own pockets.
Why the absence of election propaganda on the streets?
My London constituency is Queen's Park & Maida Vale and is quite central in the North West. Like almost all areas in this city, it includes council estates as well as middle-class villages and mansions with Bentleys lined up outside - and, incidentally, the house where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote their first song together.
Surrounded by a sea of blue - read: Conservative-voting constituencies - London has always been an oasis of red, i.e. Labour. Given the latest poll figures - Labour 40 percent of the vote, Tories 20 percent - the mood here should be one of celebration. Pennants, placards and "Vote Labour" posters everywhere, you would think.
But that's not the case.
In the course of my daily 10,000 steps, I come across two miserable "Vote Labour" signs in the streets. Of the opponents, only one independent candidate stands out, promoting himself with the slogan "For the people, not a party".
His leaflets are stuck under windshield wipers or lying around on the sidewalk. Just as I take a photo of one of the Labor placards, its owner comes out of the house.
Lloyd is a lifelong Labor voter, his plaque already has four defeats on it, that's enough, he says. Why the conspicuous absence of election propaganda on the streets?
It was probably decided to spend the money in a constituency where the outcome could be close. Even in the pub, no one doubts that Labor will dominate the next parliament. However, there is no real enthusiasm about this.
They are just happy to finally be rid of the Tories
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader and most likely to be the next prime minister, is not getting the political passion flowing.
Voters who would describe themselves as "working class" find it almost as difficult to recognize a lawyer as one of their own as a Rishi Sunak, whose wealth is estimated at 651 million pounds in the list of the richest Britons published by the Sunday Times.
You're just glad to be rid of the Tories at last. And more than a little scared: the legacy he is taking on after 14 Tory years is a difficult one.
Trust in politicians has sunk to rock bottom after all the Tory scandals - just look at Boris Johnson's lockdown parties, while the rest of the nation stewed in their parlors.
Keir Starmer is under pressure to act. Who knows how the collective dissatisfaction will manifest itself if the first signs of improvement are not visible within a very short space of time under Starmer!
The frustration of the British is great
British people are very frustrated. Almost everywhere they feel betrayed by the Tories for one reason or another. In the North, people are complaining that virtually nothing of the promise to even out the prosperity gap between South and North has been fulfilled.
In rural areas, traditionally firmly in Conservative hands, there is outrage that, despite all the big words, Rishi Sunak, still Prime Minister, has not managed to reduce the flow of immigrants and asylum seekers - quite the opposite.
More or less everywhere there is horror at how the Tories have run down the National Health Service and other social services.
Or how, almost weekly, new cases emerge of the Tories handing out dubious contracts within their own circles.
The influence of social media and conspiracy theories
When Tony Blair also led Labour to power in 1997 after a long dry spell, the country was in a party mood: Britpop with Oasis and Blur created a party atmosphere, art, literature and football celebrated a boom and the country rode a wave of euphoria.
This time, there is little sign of ecstasy. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Starmer has to deal with problems that were still a long way off in Blair's day.
Gender issues, for example, or the situation in Palestine, which is of particular concern to younger Maybe voters, or the uncontrollable influence of social media and conspiracy theories.
A Guardian poll of the 200,000 people who attended Glastonbury Festival at the weekend elicited the same reactions over and over again - roughly the same ones I encountered in my London neighborhood:
Those who disagree with Labour's stance on Palestine or gender vote Green or Liberal Democrat (as long as there's no danger of a Tory winning because of it). The others vote Starmer - anything else would be worse.