British election of 2017， a frustrated victory

梁世豪

Theresa May was back to No. 10 after her party suffered a loss of 13 seats and the status of the majority in the lower house. The British Conservative party now is forced to form a coalition government with The Democratic Unionist Party， a pro-British party in Northern Ireland. In the front of Her Majesty， May promised to form this minority government on the basis of “friendship and loyalty”. Then， she made a commitment to the electors that the conservative party， under her “strong and stable” leadership， would give the Queen's land an “open， beneficial and effective Brexit”. However， all these things were not in the original plan.

In the beginning of the year， when May announced a snap election， both the political critics and normal voters had a rare but unified opinion： this is an election that would bring up more power to the Mays government. Nicholas Malyon， a sixty-three-year-old Englishman sent me a WeChat that goes “Another one？ You must be kidding！” It is truly shocking indeed， especially if we put the date of the last election into consideration， 2015. However， it is a board but not a ridiculous move. In the political culture of the Great Britain， a snap election is always a great instrument to enlarge the margin of the major party or to reinforce the administrative authority to its members. The current two-party system in this nation occurred on the dead body of the Liberal government， which was defeated， to some extent， by the snap election tricks directed by the Conservatives. To limit such an action of taking advantage of the system for ones party interest， the House of Commons passed the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011， ruled that the election should be held every five years， unless in some listed exceptions. May made it. She inherited the position and leadership， both inside the party organization and the Congress， from the former Prime Minister， David Cameron， who resigned after the Brexit referendum. The snap election was passed with a ? majority with the power of Conservative seats. Facing the challenge inside the party and form the oppositions， Theresa may have thought about increase the say on her Brexit plan form this election，。

Unlike the elections in the nations under a presidential system， such as France and the U.S.， the British ones were never designed merely to choose a leader. In fact， since the year of 1929， the terms of the PMs， who were put into power by voting， 12， is the same as the one of those， who just walked into the No.10 without a general election. May as well as other PMs， such as Winston Chill， gained the power for the first time because of the resignation of their former ones. Another point is that the PMs， in the Parliament System， do not join the elections directly. The leader of the majority party would become the leader of the country automatically So， the election also functions as a great poll of the British public opinions regarding the political agenda set by different parties. The election of 2017 was for mainly two purposes， unifying the party line and gaining enough dominance for the Brexit negotiation in the future. When Theresa made the decision， the wind was perfect， the performance of the Conservative excelled in the poll and left the Labor Party far away. Even she has said to the press herself that this election will lay the base for a “strong and stable government in the future”.endprint

It seems that the universe was making a joke， that many elections in recent years ended up with unexpected results， for example， the one that put Donald Trump into the Presidency. The gamble of May went wrong. The reasons， if we look into deeply， are mainly the four listed below：

I. A united minorities. The advantage of the Conservative party was significant on all aspects. However， we must highlight a tactical union formed by the minorities，like Scottish National Party， with one single aim， stopping May. One of the patterns in common among these parties was the turnout of their constituencies in the Brexit voting， all most all of them was against or hesitate about the idea of Brexit. The idea was clear， the state of the United Kingdom was deeply divided， that near all the left-wing parties took the stand of anti-conservative. The interest groups and individuals， which cried for Broin gave these parties with numerous supports， both politically and financially. Gian Miller raised over ?400，000（ about 3.5 million RMB） in his own name. To make sure the direct usage of his money on the campaign of the Labours party， Miller defeated the British administration in the Supreme Court for the right included in the clause 50.

II. Inner allegation. The Conservative MPs did not May their full loyalty. For many of the MPs in the conservative house， especially to those won their seats with slight margins， the snap election that May called is putting their positions in danger. Though the poll seems great in the most of constituencies， politicians do not like risks， and therefore many of them criticize such a sudden election would put the political status and even “the future of Britain” on instability. Some of the seniors inside the party organization are rebellious against May in nature， that many of them， even those in the cabinet， are not willing to embrace Brexit. The fresh still wound of Brexit vote on the heart of the party made the Conservatives deal with this election more carefully， even with the attractive potential achievement.

III.The inadequacy of champion strategy. Another dispute was made those MPs who regard the election as a lost under a “failing campaign strategy.” One of them is Nigel Evans， who called this election an “absolute disaster”， further， he even suggested that Theresa May should “consider her position.” The reasons of such political lost， which was described as “ we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot， we shot ourselves in the head，” when he told BBC Radio 5 live， were concluded into two major points： First， May was “too charmed” by the poll， that she did not think through before she made the decision as a party leader， that “ the grand design at the beginning has been shot off course”. Second， the election focused too much on social programs， such as winter fuel for the senior， the price of school lunch， instead of Brexit， economy or immigrants. “We were hijacked by ourselves”， he said， as he contempt the Manifesto was “deeply flawed" on social care costs. Moreover， even the slogan was a mistake. “Strong and Stable”， came up by Sir Lynton Crosby， was hated by Theresa May personally， that she， not only one time， complained about using it repetitively during interviews. By the third week of the campaign， it had all but disappeared and was never revived after the debacle over social care plan in the manifesto. However， it was， octenyl， used by her opposition， to mock at her policies and political ideas， specifically， by the Labours.endprint

VI. Unexpected and intensive terrorist attacks. Three in a roll within two months， these inhumane actions shocked London and every corner of the world. Though it sounds terrible， a sudden terror may be a good chance to boost the current governments power. However， in the case of May， the government under her leadership did not gain the same effect as the George W. Bushs administration did after the incident of 9.11. It was rooted from the small government idea of May and corresponded cut of funding on police force and city maintenance. The Mayor of London， Sadiq Khan， as a Muslim himself， accuse Theresa May to be the cause of the lack of preparation and an efficient enough response. “May plans to cut ?1，700 million on the London police budget， resulted already the close of police stations and sacking police force. We are not receiving the sort of funding we need as a capital city，” he said to the Press. Such a contradicting fact definitely undermined the champion slogan of May “Strong and Stable”. Her companion， the leader of Labours Party， Jeremy Corbyn responded， “She said we have a problem. Yes， we have a problem indeed， we never cut police force.”

Now， Theresa May is facing more problems than the party itself. Loss of political majority and 13 seats have made many of her fellow party members lose confidence in her. The loyal opposition encourages the consideration of her position， proposed by its leader Jeremy Corbyn himself， and some of such a voice also came from her own party. Inside the ruling core， a civil war inside the cabinet is on， in which five cabinet ministers urge Boris to topple May chancellor demands softer Brexit. According to the foreign secretaryof Her Majesty， Boris Johnson， a handful of senior people have pledged their loyalty to him at the cabinet level. It is been said that they wish the current PM could step away. It could possibly undermine the power structure of Theresa May. A snap survey conducted by the website Conservative Home just after the election found that over 60 percent of the grassroots members they surveyed wanted her to hold the personal responsibility to this disastrous election and resign to the British Crown. This gesture clearly has made a difference that May， “facing the overwhelming pressure of to soften her position，” has signaled the soft version of Brexit. The cooperation with the DUP could also be a challenge. Though it will happen for sure that the DUP will form a government with the Conservatives， it was still unclear of the possibility of their cooperation. With a difficulty within the party line and an increased challenge from the labors as well as other minorities in this deeply divided Congress， the future actions of Brexit would definitely be tremendous. Nevertheless， May may be just pretending， is still confident about the next five-year-life in the Donning street. She， set in an interview on BBC， said that the future's still bright， though we have paid a lot. We are still in power and Brexit will happen and we are the only people can make it happen.endprint

Conclusion.

The election of 2017 was designed to boost the leading status of the Conservative Party， with risks. Though the statistic， in the beginning， was beautiful to Theresa May -- almost 7 points ahead of the Labours at its peak--， the gambling started to go wrong under the effect of Four main elements. Many of minorities got united under to topic of Brexit and took a clear and simple stand， to stop May. The party was also somehow divided， even in the initial stage of the campaign. The miscoded focus of the manifesto made the policies on Brexit and Immigrants be marginalized and the social welfare policies were easily challenged by the left-wingers. A serial of terrorist attack reminded the electors of the early policies made by Theresa May. And a connection of funding cut and less prepared response after the attacks was easily built by the Liberal press. The huge earthquake on the Conservative Party made more and more people start to reconsider the ability of this incumbent PM and direction she is going. The phrases， like resignation to the Crown， should hold personal responsibility or even a vote of confidence， the British application of impeachment， are now not rare among both the left and right. However， facing the pressure inside her cabinet and， in a broader view， around the country， Theresa May did not let her indulge in the Morse of losing seats but， now， actively seeks the support for any possible source and promotes her agenda in the House of Commons with a positive outlook.

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