Polls in Britain’s razor-edge election opened early yesterday in a race that is likely to reshape the country’s politics in historic ways.
Should British Prime Minister Gordon Brown cling to power, his Labour Party will have pulled off one of the most unlikely political comebacks in modern times. Victory for the Conservatives’ David Cameron would return his once-discredited party to office after 13 years.
More likely — in an election with important consequences for everything from the war in Afghanistan to the global economy — there will be no clear winner, but an unprecedented boost for the Liberal Democrats and their leader, Nick Clegg.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Britain’s tabloids pulled the trigger in yesterday’s race with the Daily Mirror running a picture of Cameron along with the words, “Prime Minister? Really?” The Sun, meanwhile, superimposed Cameron’s face onto US President Barack Obama’s infamous technicolor poster that read, “Hope.”
Only months ago, most thought the election would be the Conservatives’ for the taking — but that was before the perfect political storm started brewing.
An embarrassing expense scandal last year enraged voters after lawmakers were caught being reimbursed for everything from imaginary mortgages to ornamental duck houses at country estates, bringing trust in British politics to a record low.
And although lawmakers from all three parties were involved, the backlash was most severe for Britain’s old guard, the Conservatives and Labour.
Labour’s popularity, slipping since former British prime minister Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997, took a nosedive after the unpopular Brown took the reins.
Then came the surprise success of Clegg, a 43-year-old who called for an overhaul of British politics during the country’s first televised debates. His impressive performance thwarted Cameron and added to nagging worries over the extent to which the Tory leader actually overhauled the stodgy Conservatives.
The 43-year-old Cameron has also been hampered by his own elite background. Eton-educated and married to an aristocrat’s daughter, many question whether he can relate to an electorate that has endured 1.3 million layoffs and tens of thousands of foreclosures over the past year and a half.
“This could go down as one of the most revolutionary elections in the history of this country,” said Bill Jones, a political analyst at Liverpool Hope University.
The stakes are high — both domestically and internationally.
As Europe grapples with Greece’s financial crisis, global markets are waiting impatiently for Britain’s election outcome — anxious to know how quickly work can begin to cut London’s record £153 billion (US$236 billion) deficit.
A Conservative majority would likely lead to a stock market rally and a boost for the British pound because the Tories favor more aggressive, and immediate, cuts than Labour to Britain’s deficit.
Even a Labour majority could see a rally, however, because it would erase market uncertainty.
Meanwhile, a light aircraft carrying a candidate for a minor party crashed yesterday, but officials say the pilot and passenger survived with minor injuries.
Nigel Farage, a member of the euroskeptic UK Independence Party, was being treated at a hospital, aide Chris Adams said.
“He is OK, so it’s not life-threatening. The show goes on,” Adams told BBC television.
The pilot, who was not immediately identified, was cut out of the aircraft and taken to a hospital, Adams said.
The plane was hired for an election-day stunt, towing a party banner over the constituency northwest of London where Farage is running for a seat.
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