Can a new PM reverse the decline of UK?

Monday, 22nd June was yet another important day in British politics. As the golden rays of late spring sunshine was bathing Downing Street early in the morning, a lectern was seen placed on the doorstep of No.10, which meant only one thing; that the sixth British Prime Minister in 10 years was about to deliver his swansong, before completing even two years in office. Queen Elizabeth II had only 15 British Prime Ministers in her record-breaking reign, lasting 70 years, having had a record of 179 serve as Prime Ministers in her realm, the first new appointment, after her ascension to the Throne, being none other than Dudley Senanayake of Ceylon in 1952. In contrast, King Charles III will have his fourth British Prime Minister even before he completes his fourth year of ascension on 8th September, as Andy Burnham may be PM by 16th July. This rapid turnover of PMs is the sign of a deeper problem underneath; the inability to prevent the rapid decline of a once great nation! Keir Starmer led the Labour party to a landslide victory in the general election held on 4 July, 2024, when it won 411 seats of the 650 in the House. Interestingly, the party’s vote share was only 33.7%, the lowest of any governing party on record, making the thumping majority of 174 rather paradoxical. It made this the least proportional election in British Parliamentary history and was largely due to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party taking a major slice off the Conservative vote. The gloss of this remarkable victory was quickly tarnished when it transpired that Starmer accepted thousands of pounds, from a Labour Lord, to buy clothes and spectacles! Starmer, devoid of charisma, started becoming unpopular very quickly, more due to a large number of policy U-turns he made. Starmer’s biggest blunder, however, turned out to be the hasty appointment, without proper security clearance, of the Labour grandee Peter Mandelson as the British Ambassador to the USA. Mandelson, the first ‘spin doctor’ in the UK, was one of the architects of Tony Blair’s massive victory and was a powerful figure in the Labour Party. He was a bitter critic of Trump but changed his views to get appointed to the coveted position! Further, he hid his close connections to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, exposure of which by the media, left no choice for Starmer but to sack him. This raised serious concerns regarding Starmer’s judgement. The extremely poor performance of Labour at the May Local Government, as well as Devolved Assembly elections, sealed the fate of Starmer. In comes Andy Burnham, who has always harboured ambitions of being PM. He is certainly charismatic and more to the left than Starmer. Having being unsuccessful at the leadership of the Labour party twice, losing out to Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn, Burnham gave up national politics to be Mayor of Manchester, a major city in the Northwest of England with a rich industrial heritage and the birthplace of Marxism, where he had done some good work. Viewing a golden opportunity in Starmer’s failure, Burnham attempted to enter national politics again. Though Starmer was able to thwart his first attempt, Burnham succeeded in the second attempt, winning the Makerfield by-election, convincingly defeating Reform, which is the emerging threat to Labour. The belief of most Labour MPs, and supporters, that ‘crowning’ him will see off Reform, nationally, may well turn out to be an illusion! Burnham is a typical politician, who changed his views on many of his convictions during the election campaign, simply to get elected. If he keeps to his leftwing policies, it is very likely that the UK economy would get worse. Anyone thinking that only Sri Lankan politicians are fickle are completely wrong. As much as Sri Lankan politicians have ruined a country with so much potential, British politicians have ruined the country that once had the largest empire. I have been familiar with the UK since 1969, when I first came for my postgraduate studies and visiting regularly, and intimately, since 1988, when I started working for the NHS. With a sense of horror, and sadness, I have seen the slippery slope taken by once a great country. It is to a great extent due to idiotic decisions taken by politicians based either on ideology or because of self-interest. I can well see the parallel decline in the two countries close to my heart. When I started work in the NHS, it was the best health service in the world. Then ‘Clarke’s curse’ struck. Kenneth Clarke, during his tenure as the Secretary of State for Health in Margaret Thatcher’s government, introduced a ‘Trust’ system for hospitals and other health institutions on the premise that they should be better managed, like in the USA, disregarding all the evidence that the health services in the USA was not cost-effective and gave poor coverage. Most resources pumped to health services, since, have been absorbed by management, resulting in falling clinical care. Whilst there are plenty of managers in hospitals, there are no beds in wards resulting in corridor patients, the equivalent of floor-patients in Sri Lanka. UK doctors are also on strike frequently, perhaps taking the cue from the GMOA! John Major, who followed Thatcher, privatised railways and even water services. Most of these are returning to the government due to failures. The first public railway service in the world was the Stockton to Darlington Railway in the North East of England, which started in September 1825 but today UK rail services have nothing to boast of. Beeching cuts of the 1960s decimated the British railway services and, in spite of attempted reforms, expansion does not match anything remotely similar to what countries like China have achieved. The high-speed rail link from London to Manchester is over budget and behind schedule, opening in 2036! Britain once was a leader in aviation, Sir Frank Whittle being credited with the invention of the jet engine in 1930. London Heathrow was, not so long ago, the busiest international airport in the world but due to squabbling by environmentalists, etc., has been struggling for the past 10 years to build a third runway while many other countries have built hundreds of airports! When we first came to the UK, honesty was the cornerstone of society. Today, shoplifting is the norm! Police do not care for petty thefts and some illicit immigrants are having a field day earning a living by shoplifting and petty theft! Antipathy towards immigrants is thus developing fast, as everyone is looking for someone or something to blame. Could another PM from the Labour party make a difference? It is highly unlikely as the Labour Party is so intimately tied to the powerful trade unions. The infighting has led to the demise of the Conservatives as a political force and it is unlikely to have electoral success in the near future. Will Nigel Farge’s right-wing Reform party, which is likely to form the next government, if Burnham too fails, do any better? Perhaps, it will take the wind out of the sails of the extreme right and reduce anti-immigrant rhetoric but whether Farage has the vision, and the team, to reverse the decline of the UK, is the big question!

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana