I’ve felt uncharacteristically optimistic since the election. Thursday 4 July marked an extraordinary moment in British political history: a Labour landslide; the Conservatives’ worst electoral defeat in history; the Liberal Democrats’ best parliamentary performance. But above all, this general election reminded me of how proud we should be of our politics, and how fortunate we are to live in a country where the transfer of power is calm, respectful and dignified.
Our parliamentarians are, on the whole, decent people. And we don’t say or acknowledge it often enough, particularly in the media. The large majority stand for public office because they want to serve the country; they believe they can make a difference for the better. That we might disagree on how best to achieve that is a given. But it doesn’t negate the good intentions. Deep down we know this. It’s what explains why, when our politicians fail to live up to the standard we expect – as they did so egregiously with partygate, or gambling on the date of the election – they are punished. It is because the country was so outraged and fed up with a Conservative Party that repeatedly failed to abide by the rules that the electorate abandoned it in their millions.
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