General Election next year

 General Election next year

As the old year draws to a close it's time to look forward to the New Year. Once the resolutions have been broken within hours of the first day in January it'll be time to analyse next year's General Election prospects which, if you were to listen to some of the experts and pundits, could be as early as next May. But this is not the time for hasty forecasts since no-one can possibly predict anything with any certainty. The fluctuating fortunes of the Tory party have become more or less a standing joke in recent times and still the nation awaits some credible opposition from the Labour party.

It could be said that Labour are simply putting their feelers out there, dipping their toes tentatively into the raging current of British politics. For the last couple of years we have endured the trials and tribulations of a Conservative government who have simply stumbled and staggered towards nowhere in particular. It didn't help when they were confronted by one of the deadliest global viruses ever to visit any of us. But then again none of us could have anticipated such an endless succession of grave announcements, death and heartache, suffering and grief on such a monumental scale.

But now we have the year of 2024 within our sights and politics is about to undergo the most gruelling session of arguments and counter arguments you're ever likely to witness. We'll have one yah boo sucks discussion after another as both the Tories and the Labour party engage in the grubbiest game of mud slinging and recriminations in the recent history of British politics. Maybe this has always been the case anyway but the fact remains that the government would seem to be heading for the most comprehensive drubbing of all time and even the market research polls that will be compiled in the months leading up to the General Election won't be able to save the Tories.

Within the next couple of months of 2024 they'll be going at it hammer and tongs, threatening, promising, guaranteeing, reassuring and then determined to do their utmost to ensure their party will lead Britain to everlasting glory and prosperity. It is without any doubt the biggest con of all time because we've heard it all before. Wool will be thrown across our eyes and quite frankly we'll fall into all the usual traps. We'll all be subjected to tedious conversations and impassioned rants about how much damage will be done if you vote for them rather than us.

So far Rishi Sunak, our helpless Prime Minister, is so convinced of victory in the General Election that a terrible complacency will set in and the air of presumption will just turn into outrageous arrogance. At the moment Sunak looks rather like somebody on a high wire trapeze circus act balanced precariously and knowing that he'll just breeze through it all to the other end of the wire. To some extent this is one battle the Tories may find it impossible to win since the country has had enough of double dealing, deceit, Punch and Judy shows, tomfoolery, hypocrisy, betrayal, smart alec talk, bolshy rhetoric and manifesto proposals that are bound to end up with people revealing egg on their faces.

So within the next month all three mainstream parties consisting of the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems will set out their stall and just whole heartedly canvass the public for their votes. At times it may just become so repetitive and boring that some of us will just turn down the volume, switch off and ignore them because this is their customary behaviour and things will never change. The result of the General Election will not be the one we were hoping for, since we were duped, sold down the river, and tricked into believing all the wrong type of hype. 

For the next couple of months, politicians of all parties will be pounding the pavements of our local neighbourhoods, knocking on doors, becoming soppy and sentimental because it's surely time for a new government and besides you have to trust us because you know you'll get to love us in time. All of those well intentioned and respected constituency members will take out their clip boards and note pads, smile simperingly at the Great British public and hope that deliberate brainwashing works.

It can't be denied that Rishi Sunak's Tory government have been put through the traumatic mill ever since 2019. When Boris Johnson was elected as Prime Minister some of us probably thought he was worth persevering with. He could hardly have done any more or less damage than his predecessors and besides Margaret Thatcher went through hell in her last years at 10 Downing Street. So this was just the accepted norm before every General Election. But this has been more than a long and winding road. It has been quite the bumpiest of thoroughfares for the Tories with so many pot holes and dreadful bungling that it could get ugly and unsightly for Sunak.

Already Sunak has been at the centre of one domestic row after another. He was entrusted with the responsibility of sending those fleeing persecution from war back to their own country. The whole migration issue has now become a full time pre-occupation for the Tories and before you know it, they may run out of boats and that'll be an even greater source of frustration. Then there's the crisis of living narrative where those in poverty may have to struggle even more desperately to feed themselves. Surely we haven't got to such a critical point but this is the reality we have before us.

It does seem that everything the Tories have got up their sleeve will just either fizzle out or just blow up in their faces. Every Christmas highlights the parlous plight of the homeless and those who are destitute, isolated, broken hearted and despairing. The sight of cardboard signs imploring enough money for a cup of tea and those dirty blankets, paint a picture of a London that tries to acknowledge their presence but then just can't think of any long term solution. The General Election may though prove the Tories ultimate undoing.

So here we are at the end of 2023 and who on earth in their right minds would want to become a politician with the right ideals and visions? Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's flag bearer supreme, will be hoping that his brand of confident and progressive sounding politics will just be too good for the  Conservatives. But then we remember the late Michael Foot and then we look at what happened to poor Neil Kinnock. Foot was just a scruffy, dishevelled figure who wore the wrong kind of duffel coats at Remembrance Day services and Kinnock presented the image of some King Canute figure who tried to hold back the tide along side his now sadly late wife Glenys and then just tripped over his own feet.

You find yourself wondering whether Labour can ever once again achieve a complete reinvention within the space of perhaps six months. All of those years of posturing in the wind and grand, rousing Socialist speeches never looked that impressive. Tony Blair did find a resurrection in 1997 when Labour romped home to victory but after a decade or so in power the shine lost its lustre and Blair quit. He did though leave a favourable legacy where education uttered three times did seem to benefit.

These are intriguing times and we love a good political thriller. After 13 years of Tory management or mismanagement whatever your angle may be, something has to give and probably will. Most of us are totally disenchanted with any one party in power because once they've been in power for about a month, everybody just gangs up on them somewhat amusingly and tells them that they're useless and their uncle and auntie could do a better job at 10 Downing Street.

What we have now is a familiar scenario that precedes every General Election year. Do we stick or twist? Do we continue to have faith and confidence in a party that thinks it knows best but quite clearly struggles to string a coherent sentence together that we may have heard a thousand times before anyway. Do we have to listen to the constant blathering, the orange crate speeches from our so called MPs who get so excited that none can either hear them properly or wish they hadn't bothered in the first place? 2024 could be the year when Labour finds its bearings again and charges triumphantly towards the finishing post or we just turn on the Tories in exasperation when things go wrong. This is a hard one to call but some of us privately know the outcome of the next General Election or at least we think we do. May the best party win next year.