UK politics is complicated

So, much gnashing of teeth in The Guardian about Labour doing poorly in last week's elections.  Two bits of commentary:  this one in The Guardian reflects the same issues people talk about regarding Labor in Australia (the party not finding a big enough support base after the industrial working class has dwindled;  too urban, too "woke");   the other article in Financial Times points out that the pandemic has had a big influence, and people have rewarded the Conservatives for a "tough" response, and Boris retains a personal following.

While some of those factors can be seen in Australia, really, UK politics seems a weird beast all of its own.

*  the first past the post system dilutes opposition votes in a way they are not in Australia

*  Johnson (and I think, his party generally? - wait see my next sentence) does not follow the American and Australian wingnut Right on the major issue that is deemed a culture war one in those other countries - climate change.  Actually, no - it would seem from a survey done just last year that the Conservatives at the party level are rife with climate change denialism - is it just that Boris tends green and gives the impression that it isn't so much? 

*  Labour couldn't even make sense on Brexit - I can't see that anyone is declaring it a success (quite the opposite) - but the pandemic has overwhelmed public attention, and as its worst effects become clearer in the post-pandemic world, Labor can't really claim credit for warning against it because they chose a path of ambiguity instead.

In Australia, meanwhile, I think there is a large danger of Morrison riding on the coat tails of COVID back into office, even though he runs a pretty terrible government and is basically incompetent on so many issues.   (That gaff on China and Taiwan last week - just ridiculous.)   

Update:  a bit of commentary at the SMH is headed:

Little has gone right for the Morrison government, but it’s not clear much has gone badly wrong

I think the sentiment is right, in that COVID has largely distracted from a more objective assessment of how crook Morrison's judgement routinely is.