UK Election 2017 – post mortem Along with many others, last week’s UK election has proved somewhat humbling, not only because I completely underestimated Jeremy Corbyn but I also got the mood of the country very wrong. That said, I found election night riveting and the result encouraging and a victory for democracy. Last Thursday, I wrote that the Conservatives would win handsomely based on ‘a safe pair of hands’ for Brexit negotiations, that Corbyn would not be taken seriously by the electorate and that the voting would be dominated by the ‘golden oldie’ brigade. None of these proved to be true. The Conservatives ran a poor campaign, perhaps as a result of over-confidence and their policies just did not resonate with the electorate and were badly and confusedly presented. The electorate blamed Tory austerity for the problems of the NHS with some justification. Labour on the other hand ran a very good campaign partly because that is something Corbyn is extremely good at, another factor the Conservatives underestimated. And finally it was good to see the younger generation coming out to vote in far greater numbers than in the past. It is hard to judge what factor Brexit played in the election. The collapse of UKIP was significant but it is open to debate who it benefited. The election result has seriously weakened the UK’s negotiating position with the EU as it has the position of the ‘hard Brexiteers’ within the Tory party. The position of the Conservatives would have been even worse had it not been for the gains they made in Scotland and the Scottish Tories are very much on the soft side of ‘Brexit’. The DUP, the new putative allies of the Conservatives in Westminster, also have their demands vis-à-vis trade with the Republic. Ultimately it is probable that the electorate are somewhat bored with Brexit and are more concerned over other issues such as the NHS and social spending. Just get a deal done that is not too disruptive to trade but reduces the number of immigrants seems to be the message. The other political trend that got a bloody nose last week was populism. It is likely that the travails of Donald Trump have given populism a deserved bad name and got a bit of protest vote out. Jeremy Corbyn is the very antithesis of Trump unlike Theresa May. It is noticeable how much more self-confident the EU is helped by the success of Macron in France and stability of Merkel compared to the antics of Trump. So British politics is now extremely fluid and unpredictable which is good news for those of us who find such things fascinating even if we are no good at predictions. Who knows how long May will last or the Conservative government or what the final outcome of Brexit will be? Everything is up for grabs. And we not even mentioned the SNP!