Buyers Remorse?

A couple of days ago a petition was start on the Gov.uk website calling for a general election in Great Britain in the hope of removing the Labour party.

Despite only having being in office for around five months, the current Labour government have managed to sufficiently annoy and alienate a sizeable portion of British population, such that, at time of writing, 2.8 million people have already signed – seemingly with no signs of slowing down.

The petition has been reposted by a variety of high-profile UK politicians such as Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick, as well as Elon Musk and other media personalities.

The response in 48 hours has been unprecedented, and clearly speaks to the frustration and anger many brits are feeling in the present moment.

Since labour has entered government, people have watched as riots broke out over a stabbing in Southport, leading to many arrests, including for social media posts, and a feeling amongst many that information has supressed. This idea has been further supported by Nigel Farage recently stating in a podcast interview with Winston Marshall that he was under a parliamentary gagging order concerning any suppressed information relating to the Southport attack.

There has been a feeling since the summer arrests that Britain has entered an actually Orwellian period of free speech suppression – an idea supported by the banning of silent prayer outside abortion clinics, and the arrest of UK army veteran Adam Smith-Connor for this same ‘offence’.

Social media posting can now get someone a lengthy prison sentence which has led to Labour ordering that many offenders be released early to make way for these new ‘far-right’ detainees.

Meanwhile, the assault on police officers at Manchester airport, and the riots in Harehills Leeds have gone unspoken, increasing the suspicion many Brits already held that there is a two-tier police system at play.

Thrown into this mix has been increased VAT on private schools, inheritance tax on farmers, cuts to fuel allowances for pensioners, and countless other fumbles, dallying and general stupidity coming out of Labour HQ.

Given the suppression of free speech now at play in the UK, this petition is a promising sign that people are using their democratic rights to hold the government to account.

With the petition nearing 2 million signatures, and having long passed the 100,000 signature requirement for parliamentary discussion, parliament will certainly have to address it.

However, I remain sceptical. Whilst this public and democratic show of strength and dissatisfaction will have to receive parliamentary attention, I am sadly unconvinced that it will result in a general election – or that, if by some miracle it did, we’d see any real change.

Labour wasn’t voted in in 2024 for love of Starmer or his government’s policies. He was voted in because, after over a decade of mismanagement, the Tories had lost the trust of the British public – and perhaps rightly so.

I do not suspect that an increasingly autocratic individual like Starmer is likely to accept a petition calling for his party’s majority to be challenged. More likely is that he, and his cabinet, will resort to this summer’s smear tactics of accusing those who signed of being ‘far-right’.

Aside from the serious problem that the petition data shows that many of the areas with the most signatures are majority labour constituencies (or at least were historically), this will once again work with the Westminster elite who look down their noses at anyone with a regional accent or a physical job.

Unsurprisingly, like with Washington in the US election (which was 90% democrat), the map of signatures shows that the lowest areas of response are in the London bubble, of which Starmer and cabinet are now a part.

Labour now appeals, not to the working-class as it once did (this is now more the domain of Reform), but to the metropolitan liberal elites and public sector workers. They will likely be quite happy to run with the idea that those signing the petition are further examples of an ‘organised’ far-right, or the resurgence of the long dead EDL.

Even if a general election were to be called, the uni-party system would lead to very little change, and even the likes of Reform, with their ever-shifting anti-immigration policies, would likely struggle to sort out the plethora of problems Britain now faces.

It seems that despite the petitions of concerned citizens, the UK is, for at least the time being, stuck in a precarious place – on the precipice of unknown disaster or more managed decline.

To stoke further depression, I suspect a big trigger for the creation of this petition was an interview Starmer gave to Sky News days before the petition started.

In it, he was asked about Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons. Instead of giving an actual response to people’s concerns or belaying the worries that many have that we are playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette with Putin and his nuclear warheads, Starmer regurgitated the uni-party line of support for Ukraine.

In addition to Britain’s internal woes, the world seems to be in chaos as a genuine threat of a third world war looms over us.

The conflict with Russia, combined with an unstable middle east and rising tensions with China over Taiwan have got many questioning if the Western world is still a safe place to be.

My conclusion is, it isn’t.

In this regard I want to turn back to whether a general election is called or not; and if so, who is voted in.

We have been told for the past century that politics is the solution to our problems. Increasing government oversight and legislation now governs every aspect of our lives. Even the ownership of a couple of chickens in your back garden now requires registration; and a not insubstantial fine if one fails to do so!

This petition, no matter how positive, once again highlights a fundamental flaw in the current Western mindset – a misplaced faith.

We have recently seen this in America too, but there is still a consensus that the right political party, the right legislation, the right democratic process, the right peace deal abroad, and salvation for our country can be achieved.

Yes, politics and national leadership are incredibly important, and the difference between Trump and Kamala genuinely could have resulted in very different futures for our planet; but our salvific obsession is misplaced.

We have to pray for our leaders, we have to vote with our consciences, we must be politically engaged, but this is not the final word.

All of this, one day, will pass away.

In a recent tour I went on of the houses of parliament I reflected deeply on this.

I am a patriot. Walking around those hallowed and ancient halls I felt a sense of national pride, and a deep guttural hurt that many of those walking its halls are not fit to do so.

I also imagined, in great sadness, it all being pulled down and vandalised by some future evil group - and thing I wish never comes to fruition. Maybe like the state courts of Moscow during the 1917 revolution, or the Iranian parliament during the Islamic Revolution.

It hurt deeply to picture a future where this once great centre strength and stability, so beautifully adorned and rich in our heritage, could one day be in ashes and ruin.

But then I reflected further, and reminded myself the aforementioned – all of this, one day, will pass away.

Christ is Lord over Great Britain whether we, our government, or the general population recognise that.

Christ is Lord over the West, even as it tries to shake off any Christian vestiges that once made it great.

Christ is Lord over the world, even one in conflict and turmoil.

A petition calling for a general election, is, in my view, a very positive thing – I am personally deeply unhappy with labour. But whatever your convictions, we, myself included, must not get overly concerned with its outcome, or any subsequent actions.

We are where we are in Britain today because we abandoned, and continue to abandon, God. Even in many of our Christian institutions, we have sidelined God in favour of worldly agendas and positive public relations.

It is clear to me that this is now coming back to bite us. How hard, does perhaps depend on the political situation and democratic movements like this petition. But Christ is still Lord over this.

Even as we push God out of British life, and perhaps even as God withdraws Himself from us for a time as he did with the Israel in the Old Testament; He will work all things for the good of those who love Him.

That good may not be fun. It may look like war, persecution, economic uncertainty and governmental mismanagement.

But whatever the outcome of this petition, we must remember, Christ is Lord over it all.