First thoughts on the UK election of 8 June 2017.
As a result of the vote, do people sense they have the power to change things – that they actually can make a difference with their vote?
Does anyone not think it was a misjudgement by the Conservative leadership to think they could so easily carry the election.
Does anyone not think it was hubris for the Conservative leadership to call an election at all when they did not need to?
The result undermines the belief of those core Conservative voters who have for many years, perhaps their whole lives, believed in something akin to the divine right of kings – the right of the Conservatives to govern because ‘they know how to govern’.
On the showing at this election, capping the performance of David Cameron at the Brexit vote – they have shown that they do not know how to govern any more than does any other party.
A threat to the throne would cause normally core Conservative voters to rally around the Party, but this foolish error of judgement could mean a loss of core Conservative voters at a future election.
But where would they go?
Is this the first, faltering step towards a European model of proportional representation?