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Let’s start at the top. The big winner of the United Kingdom’s 58th general election is the democratic process itself. The country has spoken, power has been peacefully, indeed seamlessly,

transferred from the Conservative party to Labour. Job done. Next. The first general election for the UK House of Commons took place in 1802, albeit with a right to vote that was severely

restricted. Every election since then has witnessed (by and large) a similarly smooth transition accepted by the electorate, the parties, the state and the world. That’s an achievement this

fractured, stressed country, worn down by storm after storm, can be proud of. That may sound like a (condescending) statement of the obvious. After all isn’t that what’s supposed to happen?

Isn’t it like falling off a log? But cast your mind back across the Atlantic to January 6, 2021. Supporters of the defeated incumbent US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, the inner

sanctum of America’s democracy, with his backing to try and overturn the result. It could happen again. Stability and continuity – the foundations of the modern state – matter. They matter

to the practice of government, to business when it’s thinking about where to invest, to our partners (and competitors and enemies) and to the rest of us who want to get on with our lives

without worrying about when the next earthquake is coming. Autocrats argue their countries don’t need democracy. They just need order. That’s Vladimir Putin’s favourite line. That’s a

half-truth. But without the oxygen of free speech, freedom of assembly, a free press, freedom to vote your government in and kick it out, it’s a half-life. So without apologies or false

modesty, let’s pat ourselves on the back. So what do we have? What does this great occasion in the life of our nation tell us about ourselves and the future? This is a big event. No doubt

about that. The Labour Party has won a landslide victory at the upper end of expectations. Keir Starmer’s achievement in pulling his party together and turning it into a disciplined, smart,

ruthless fighting force after just four years is nothing short of remarkable. It’s Henry V leading a depleted English army against a vastly superior French force at Agincourt. The

Conservative Party has gone down to its worst defeat since its inception some 200 years ago. In many ways this has been more of a referendum on the last, miserable years of a Tory government

than a contest between rivals. The Tories now need to bury their dead, heal the wounded and retreat to somewhere quiet to think about who they are and what they stand for. It won’t be easy.

The path ahead isn’t obvious. Starmer’s stunning victory was fought and won on the centre ground, which is where the prize is invariably to be found. The Labour leader had a crystal-clear

three-part strategy: change the party, take on the Tories, offer hope. He and his team worked calmly, patiently, methodically, often with a low profile. His objective was simple: get Britain

to trust the Labour party enough after the Corbyn years to give it another chance. It worked. Labour has gone from an enterprise with a massive overdraft to one with a fortune in the bank.

As he told his rapturous supporters in the early hours: “We did it.” The Conservative party on the other hand chose to tack Right to challenge Reform UK after tearing itself apart over

Brexit. Danny Finkelstein, a former advisor to John Major, puts it with brutal clarity in _The Times_: “Part of being in the centre is to show integrity, be responsible, be mature, be

cohesive, provide stability, be thoughtful, be competent, be honest, produce workable solutions to problems people care about, listen to voters and make them your focus rather than yourself.

The Conservative Party failed on every measure of reasonableness and competence.” Which way will the Tories tack next? Who will rescue them? Can they be rescued? But there’s a but. This

extraordinary victory by Starmer is broad but shallow in places. Some majorities are huge. Many are razor thin. And in those shallows lies peril. Yet again the UK’s first-past-the-post

system shows its age. It’s worth reflecting on the following numbers to see just how skewed these results are. * Labour have 412 MPs, based on less than 35% of the popular vote, the second

lowest ever for a winning party. * The Tories have collapsed to just 121 seats but with just under 24% of the vote. * The Liberal Democrats won 71 seats with just 12 %. * Reform UK, who took

14% to become the third largest party by popular vote, got just five seats. * The Greens with 6.8% also got four MPs. It’s tempting to say that the tradition of party affiliation, like

football club loyalty, passing from one generation to the next is over. That’s probably premature. But this is an electoral system fraying at the seams. Nigel Farage, the eighth-time lucky

winner of a seat in Parliament, will no doubt be pulling hard further to unravel it. Reform UK received over four million votes. This too is a stunning result. But Reform’s policies are

flimsy, bullet points on a sticky note. Some of their candidates have been awful. It’s a powerful electoral force today riding on a wave of fury (largely) at the Tory party. But this should

not be confused with an organised electoral machine with a vision. The great Farage paradox is how a man who is so hollow can be so consequential. Farage is essentially a spoiler. He’s

arguably the most accomplished pub bore on the planet. But he is not to be dismissed. The far-Right is here to stay, as it is in France, Italy, Germany and the US. This poses a serious

dilemma for those thinking about the future of the political Right. The other result of the election which is hugely consequential is the collapse of the Scottish National Party. The SNP

lost 38 seats. It’s a devastating result for the party and wipes Scottish independence off the board for the foreseeable future. There are also questions to be asked about the future of

Unionism in Northern Ireland and the Welsh nationalists in Wales. The one great service Starmer may have already done for the UK is to make it more united than it has been for a generation

in its contempt for the Tories. In his first speech at the Downing Street podium Prime Minister Starmer said he wanted politics to become a force for good. He wants, as he put it, to “return

politics to public service”. For much of the morning Larry the Cat could be seen snoozing behind the railings of Number 10. He’s seen it all before. This will be his sixth Prime Minister.

Everything Starmer has done, marshalling his bid for power brick by solid brick suggests someone who understands that Rome was not built in a day. He is now lord of all he surveys. He will

never be more powerful than he is today. We can expect to see a programme of significant and eye-catching policies unveiled in the next few weeks. Starmer has a mountain to climb. The fates

may, as they have a habit of doing, frustrate him, but this is not a man to be underestimated. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every

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