Boris Johnson’s decisive victory is a win for freedom in the UK

The UK’s Conservative Party triumphed in the general elections yesterday, winning an absolute majority of 76 seats — the biggest victory for the Tories since Margaret Thatcher won a third term in 1987.  The election was Labour’s worst loss since 1935.

Johnson won the election principally by promising to “finish Brexit.” Despite the 2016 referendum to withdraw the UK from the EU, British politicians have dithered since then and pursued plans to only partially withdraw.  This stalling was  because most of the UK elite – including many Conservative Party members – oppose Brexit.  Brexit opponents – ‘remainers’ – fought hard to defy the will of the British people.  Many pushed for a new referendum.

Johnson is even willing to accept the ‘no deal withdrawal’ that spurns demands by EU members negotiated by former Prime Minister Theresa May. This deal, however, does not fully withdraw the UK from the union and would require a settlement payment to the EU that could total over 40 billion euros.

The people of the UK reject the EU because they are tired of their country being ruled by the EU’s far-left, unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.  They also know the EU is protectionist, wasteful and biased against the UK and toward Germany and France.  Popular sentiment against the EU grew strong prior to the general election that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – who is well known for his determination to gut Brexit – refused to divulge his plan if he became Prime Minister.  UK voters were not fooled by this and it caused the Labour Party to suffer heavy losses in the British heartland.

Labour also got crushed because UK voters rejected its far-left socialist policies and anti-Semitism.  Corbyn, who calls himself a “democratic socialist,” promised to hike taxes on the rich, renationalize industries like the railroads, and provide free internet to all citizens.

UK-US relations would have suffered under a Prime Minister Corbyn.  His radical foreign policy views include criticizing the U.S. decision to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and blaming drawing a comparison between U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq to ISIS.

Corbyn also was heavily criticized for anti-Semitic statements and affiliations which he refused to explain or apologize for.  He has described members of the Islamist terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends” when he invited them to the House of Commons in the 1980s. In 2011, Corbyn blamed the “Zionist lobby” for procuring the deportation of an Islamist cleric notorious for promoting the infamous blood libel conspiracy, Raed Salah.

Concerns about Corbyn’s anti-Semitism were so severe that the top UK Rabbi made an unprecedented intervention just before the election when he denounced the Labour Party for its recent anti-Semitism and called Corbyn unfit for office.  On Sunday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center named Corbyn as its top anti-Semite of 2019.

Click HERE for an in-depth discussion of this issue by the Center’s Maya Carlin.

The Conservative Party huge general election win reflected Boris Johnson’s leadership, respecting the will of the UK people and better campaigning.  But it also was a decisive rejection of the far-left, anti-Semitic radicalism of the Labour Party.

Many on the American Left hope the Democratic Party will emulate the UK Labour Party and see Corbyn as a trailblazer.  Corbyn is further to the left than Bernie Sanders, but Sanders still reflects a move in the Democratic Party toward the far-left.  While the vast majority of the Democratic Party stands with Israel and rejects anti0-Semitism, this prejudice has begun to bubble up in this party and on the American Left.

The question for America is whether Corbyn’s decisive defeat will lead the Democratic Party to turn against its radical members who are determined to force the party to go down the same road as the UK Labour Party.