Tory voters want to punish their party – and themselves

For progressive onlookers abroad, the Labour landslide now projected next month will seem a cheerful counterweight to the EU parliamentary elections’ lurch rightwards and will represent a huge, refreshing popular shift in Britain to the left. Yet according to at least one recent poll, this perception would be statistically mistaken. Add the Conservative and Reform support together, and on the ground the British left and right are neck and neck.

But never mind the numbers. The notion that an historically extraordinary Labour majority would betoken a renewed British enthusiasm for socialism is off the beam. Where is the emotion in this election? What few passions July’s contest stirs fester almost exclusively among fed-up former Tory voters. They’re furious. They’re so angry they can’t see, and so have become blind to their self-interest. Demented by loathing for their own party, they are about to elect, or be complicit in electing, an extreme left-wing government largely to punish the current one for being too left-wing.

That doesn’t make any sense, so you can see why foreigners get the wrong end of the stick.