THE HAND OF HISTORY rested only lightly on their shoulders, but they could not shake it off completely. The 200 or so volunteers, activists and campaign aides who lined Downing Street to see in a new, Labour prime minister knew they were there, in part, as extras in a historical re-enactment. With their union flags and hoarse cheers, they were replaying a scene etched in Labour folk memory: that glad, confident morning in May 1997 when Tony Blair made his way to No 10 through a throng of supporters having won a landslide victory.
The memory was inevitable, and not only because the overall majority won by Keir Starmer is uncannily close to the 179-seat number that put Blair in the record books. The echo of 1997 struck because everyone present – starting with Starmer himself – understood that what the country had just witnessed was an event of vanishing rarity.
Until the early hours of last Friday morning, Labour had only twice before ousted an incumbent government by winning a clear, viable majority of its own: 1997 and 1945. That is it. ( Harold Wilson ejected the Tories in 1964 and 1974 , but he did it with majorities you could count on one hand.)
When it comes to general elections, Labour’s default setting is to lose, lose and lose again. Not for nothing were Labour families urging their teenagers to stay up late last Thursday night , explaining that what was about to unfold in July 2024 was a once- or twice-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
No wonder so many Labour staffers wanted their babies or children with them as they waited for Starmer in Downing Street: they assume the photos of that event will become historical artefacts.
Nor was it a surprise that there was such a release of emotion in the crowd once Starmer had finished speaking and walked through that polished black door.
Bu hikaye The Guardian Weekly dergisinin July 12, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Guardian Weekly dergisinin July 12, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Friendship interrupted
They were best mates. Then one had a baby, while the other struggled to conceive. They share their brutally honest takes on what happens when motherhood affects friendship
KERNELS OF HOPE
During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection, the first of its kind, had to protect it from fire, rodents-and hunger
A new horizon' The inverse link between cancer and dementia
Scientists have long been aware of a curious connection between these common and feared diseases. At last, a clearer picture is emerging
Across the universe
Samantha Harvey won the Booker prize with a novel set in space. Yet, she says, Orbital is actually 'a celebration of Earth's beauty with a pang of loss'
Frank Auerbach 1931 -2024
Saved from the Holocaust, this artist captured the devastation of postwar Britain as ifits wounds were his own but he ultimately found salvation in painting
Seven lessons I've learned after 28 years as economics editor
Margaret Thatcher was Britain's prime minister and Neil Kinnock was leader of the Labour party.
Droughtstricken dam leaves economies powerless
A ll is not well with the waters of Lake Kariba, the world's human-made lake largest A punishing drought has drained the huge reservoir close to record lows, raising the prospect that the Kariba Dam, which powers the economies of Zambia and Zimbabwe, may have to shut down for the first time in its 65-year history.
Let this be the end of these excruciating celebrity endorsements
I wish celebrities would learn the art of the French exit. But they can't, which is why Eva Longoria has announced she no longer lives in America. \"I get to escape and go somewhere,\" she explained.
Alive, but unable to thrive under absolute patriarchy
Since the Taliban returned to power, women and girls have tried defiance, but despair at their harshly restricted lives
‘It's tragic’ Reflection in the wake of Amsterdam violence
Carrying signs scrawled with messages urging unity, they laid white roses at the statue of Anne Frank, steps away from the home where her family had hidden from Nazi persecution.
