Theresa May, like Moi, called for a snap election but results show miscalculation

Anti-Conservative Party and anti-Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) demonstrators gather with placards in Parliament Square in front of the Houses of Parliament in central London on June 10, 2017. The Conservative are beholden to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party for survival. PHOTO | JUSTIN TALLIS | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Prime Minister Theresa May called Thursday’s poll to rubberstamp her unilateral EU exit plan.
  • Mrs May ostensibly sought a majority in order to unite Brits for Brexit talks and to secure a good deal from Brussels.

The Brits held a ridiculous General Election on Thursday that deservedly delivered a bizarre result.

Having held the previous General Election in 2015, the next one was not due until 2020.

Indeed, only last June they held a referendum dubbed Brexit in which they voted to quit the European Union (EU).

HUNG PARLIAMENT
Prime Minister Theresa May called Thursday’s poll to rubberstamp her unilateral EU exit plan and her role as the natural leader of Brexit.

She led the Conservative Party into the poll with a parliamentary majority of 17 and came out of it with zero and handing Britain a hung parliament.

She had argued that the foregone result of the election would strengthen her negotiating hand in Brexit talks with EU.

PRESIDENT MOI

She was persuaded the ensuing landslide would prove her credentials as a strong and stable leader and impart certainty and stability on the UK.

Yes, like Kenya’s 1983 General Election which was about President Moi, who authored and called it, Mrs May’s poll was custom-made for Mrs May.

As did Mr Moi, she called the poll at a time of her choosing, on her own terms, and to wrong-foot rivals as per her plan and mind.

President Moi called his election soon after he told a public rally there was a local Judas who was being groomed by foreigners to seize the reins of power from him through devious means.

Having held a General Election in 1979, the next one was not due until 1984.

PUBLIC OPINION
But Mr Moi was custom-making his election from 1982.

Shaken by the failed coup and having turned Kenya into a de jure single party state, he called the snap poll to rid the system of rivals and fashion and construct Kenya’s politics and government to fit his purpose.

Public opinion was important for Mr Moi and Mrs May.

Kenyans would link the poll to the coup and Judas and vote out anyone tagged Judas.

LABOUR A DRIFT

In a one party system, those so tagged would lose and be consigned to the political wilderness for as long as it suited Mr Moi.

The Conservative Party had since January led Labour in opinion polls.

In April, the lead hit 20 points and Mrs May succumbed to temptation.

Having inherited the premiership from Mr David Cameron, who quit for losing the Brexit plebiscite, she was keen to earn herself a mandate.

A 20 point lead would translate into a massacre of Labour.

NJONJO PARDONED
Mr Moi’s and Mrs May’s polls were called on dubious premises.

Mr Charles Njonjo, the alleged Judas, faced a commission of inquiry where others similarly fingered were detained without trial.

After a long meandering probe, Mr Moi pardoned Njonjo, thanks to his greatly advanced age of 69.

Mrs May ostensibly sought a majority in order to unite Brits for Brexit talks and to secure a good deal from Brussels.

She forgot Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a referendum in 2015 over debilitating debt bail-out terms set by the European Commission for broke Greece.

ECONOMY OF GERMANY
The Greeks emphatically rejected the terms but EU leaders stayed put.

Among them was German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

She is Europe’s strongest leader but has never had a commanding majority in parliament.

What makes Mrs Merkel strong is Germany’s powerful economy.

Surprisingly, Mrs May’s legislative agenda faced no threat in the House of Commons.

DEBATES

Half of her majority of 17 or less could pass her bills.

She was running government and would have negotiated with Brussels with that majority.

Mr Moi, of course, had absolutely no parliamentary opposition.

Did Mrs May prove a strong leader and negotiator during the campaign? No.

She refused to twice debate her rivals during the 54-day campaign because she debated once weekly in the Commons.

JEREMY CORBYN

Refusal to debate her policies neither made her strong at home nor overseas.

Arrogant and contemptuous of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and like a nightingale hearing and believing only her voice, Mrs May gave little regard to the Brits whose votes she took for granted.

She was a cold, wooden, platitude-repeating robot.

Before the last vote had been counted, she had been hoist by her own petard.

CAMPAIGN

The Conservatives had lost their majority and could not get the minimum 326 seats required to form a government.

They are beholden to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party for survival.

Unfortunately, Mrs May cannot blame pollsters.

They did not suggest her lead would hold or Labour would grab 30 new seats, when she hit the campaign trail.

Opanga is a commentator with a bias for politics [email protected]