With such an impasse, what is a political leader to do? Go to the people in an election!
The UK normally has an election every 5 years. Yet, it has had 3 elections in 4 1/2 years (yet spare a lot for Israel, which is facing 3 elections in less than 1 year). Boris Johnson was taking a gamble, since there was not only election fatigue, but it was in the winter just before Christmas. Yet, the Brexit deadline loomed for 31 January 2020, and the election was the only way to break the parliamentary deadlock. Thus, this election was dubbed ‘Brexmas.’
By American standards, the UK election campaign was mercifully short but hard-fought. The Labour opposition party was led by Jeremy Corbyn, a Marxist/socialist who has been accused of befriending terrorist organisations and ignoring anti-Semitism in his own party. Polls suggested that the race was tightening. When election day rolled around on 12 December 2019, Boris Johnson and the Conservatives won an absolute majority.
Here is the electoral map:
Conservative Party (Tories): 365 seats, an additional 47.
Labor Party: 203 seats, minus -59.
Scottish National Party (SNP - favour Scottish independence from the UK): 48 seats, +13
Liberal Democrats (LD): 11 seats -1 (their leader since July, Jo Swinson, actually lost her
seat to the SNP by around 150 votes).
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP - Northern Ireland): 8 seats, - 2
Call it a ‘landslide,’ Boris Johnson has a mandate to implement Brexit, although don’t think the extreme Remainers to give up just yet.
The only other party to gain seats was the pro-independence Scottish National Party.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish first minister and leader of the SNP, says they have a mandate for a second referendum for Scottish independence, though the ‘once-in-a-generation’ independence referendum was only held in 2014. Sturgeon said the election results proved that Scotland did not want a Boris Johnson government and that he had ‘no mandate’ to take Scotland out of the EU.
While Scotland is immensely important, at this moment, Brexit takes centre stage.
Like every other recent election where the stakes were very high, this one was bathed in persistent, prevailing prayer. While God does not belong to any political party, He will answer fervent effectual prayers of righteous people accomplishes much (James 5:16). In essence, prayer is like a ‘vote in heaven,’ which will affect votes on earth.
The Resilient Nation
At the 75th Anniversary of the Allied D-Day Landing in Normandy, France of 6 June 1944,
which was the beginning of the end of Nazi rule and World War II, in the presence of US President Donald Trump and other dignitaries, the Queen commented that her war-time contemporaries were ‘a resilient generation.’ The same description could apply to the UK as a whole. Keeping this adjective in mind, what is the likelihood that Britain will survive the Brexit crisis, Scottish independence push, and all the other challenges? Past is prologue.
This is the nation that survived (and even thrived) in the following crises:
• The Norman invasion;
• The black death plague;
• Civil wars;
• Henry VIII’s divorce and the English Reformation;
• His daughter Mary Tudor’s counter-reformation;
• The Spanish Armada (1588);
• The execution of King Charles I (1649);
• The great fire of London (1666);
• The Glorious Revolution (1688);
• The loss of the American colonies (1776);
• The abdication crisis of Edward VIII (1936);
• The Battle of Britain and Nazi blitzkrieg (1940);
• Post-war economic crash;
• The ‘troubles’ of Northern Ireland;
• The divorce of heir-to-the-throne Charles and Diana.
Yes, Britain has overcome all this. But never forget: ultimately, British resilience is due, not to the ‘stiff upper lip’ or the motto ‘Keep calm and carry on,’ but to prayer. The role of prevailing prayer in the UK is enormously impressive. Now is not the time to ‘roll over and go to sleep,’ but to ‘watch and ‘pray.’ Let’s keep filling the bowls of heaven (Revelation 5:8) on behalf of this nation who has
blessed the world.
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