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YARLEY'S LANDSLIDE: COMMENTARY FROM ACROSS THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM
Following the Liberal landslide, we ask a number of political and media figures for their views
'A historic triumph that leaves the Prime Minister unassailable' - Genevieve Rhodes
In the forty-five years I have been writing about politics and reporting on some of the greatest breakthroughs in Eura's progress as a society and democracy, nothing pleased me more than to see a truly modern campaign, led by a woman, batter down the old guard of the Euran establishment. Within her own party, the military, the other parties and the media, she has seen off every threat to her project from a body politic that was out to get her from the moment she stood as an MP. Ambitious and not a bloke? Good luck, said Eura's gray suited class of professional naysayers - and she accepted the challenge with relish.
Its true that Michael Judge laid the framework for Yarley with his statesmanlike management of the war with the Sameba in its early years. But she has been the key instrument of the Liberal Party for the best part of a decade and a half now, and its time that she moved out of his shadow. The comfortable majority enjoyed by the Liberals should provide more than adequate scope to transform this country in desperately needed ways, from reforming our electoral system to rebuilding our wartorn economy. Some have asked if the "Yarley consensus" will be a passing phenomenon. Make no mistake, that is not the case. This is only the beginning of a golden age.
Genevieve Rhodes is an Emplor columnist
'Yarley reigns supreme - but the legacy of wartime could make victory bittersweet' - Nathan Ramsdale
Time moves slowly in Euran politics. That's what I was taught anyway. But does it still? To give credit to the Prime Minister, she has essentially upended the rules of our political system over the last decade both as Foreign Secretary and PM. Now her party is experiencing a level of electoral success that it couldn't have dreamed of until recently. However it is important not to get carried away and forget that like all leaders she is subject to the power of circumstances.
Eura has not fully recovered from the war. Millions died, far more fled, and the shock it delivered to our economy has rippled throughout Rushmore. Despite all her ambition and talk of momentous change, it is more likely that Yarley will spend the majority of her time in his office dealing with these after affects. And what of Sameba? The region (not a country anymore, not officially) remains ungovernable and thousands are dying in the chaos. It is a black mark on Eura's reputation that Yarley must lead on resolving. To become a true great she must learn from the old adage of Eura's most famous statesman, Lord Baker; "to challenge the mantle of power is nothing to what it is to wield it".
Nathan Ramsdale is the Emplor's chief political correspondent
'The Social Party faces an existential danger. It must reform' - David Lennon
If any party must learn something urgent from this dominant Liberal election performance, it is the Social Party. Eura's traditional party of government and the bastion of the broad spectrum of Eura's left has been decimated. It represents barely a sixth of the country in seats and a fifth in vote share. This is not enough for a party that I was proud to serve as a politician, and have covered extensively as a journalist. Somebody has to take responsibility and unfortunately that must be the leader Roger Grayson. I admit we are not from the same cloth in terms of factional alignment. But we both know that the Social Party's long term success comes from it's ability to change with the circumstances.
Roger is a fine man but his limitations have been made clear by this campaign and his ideas are to the left of where the country is heading. He needs a younger and fresher replacement. They need to be able to appeal to a broader range of the electorate without alienating the core support. More importantly the party around them needs to be given an upheaval from top to bottom. It is unsustainable to continue with a situation where a leftwing leadership and the unions are in engaged in a three way battle between themselves, the more centrist-leaning membership which has dwindled in recent years, and a badly divided parliamentary party. The party must rediscover its unity if it is to take power again any time soon, and come up with a progressive, social justice driven narrative to challenge the rapidly emerging Liberal led consensus.
David Lennon is the political editor of the Directus Post and a former Social Party MP
'This neoliberal victory is a temporary and overstated setback for radical politics - but Grayson must go' - Morris Grover
I won't lie to the readers; this election was a devastating experience for me and hundreds of millions of others who were inspired by the message of Roger Grayson and the Social Party. The last election defeat was obviously bad but came in the context of a war, where the people wanted to support the standing government. No-one could seriously blame the Social Party's new radical direction for its defeat. On this occasion we expected to do a lot better and to at least reduce this callous Liberal government to a minority now that there is no war to paper over the cracks. This would set the template for finally overturning this establishment-in-disguise edifice before long. Sadly this result has not transpired and for that reason Grayson should quit. He should hand over the reins to a younger, baggage free spokesperson for radical change.
It can't be denied that, unfortunately, Amy Yarley and her party have clearly gained further popularity, and look set to rule with an enormous mandate for five years. When we've seen her blatant disregard for human life in the conduct of warfare she orders, how can any true progressive not worry about the future? Yet I would urge the many supporters of our movement out there who have felt desolate this week to take heart from the fact that our ideas cannot be defeated by one general election result. We were the most popular party among the young and the agenda we offer, the most transformative socialist agenda proposed by the Social Party for half a century, is only the starting point of a generational project to put power in the hands of the people. So let's bear the brunt of the coming onslaught from the mainstream media and the bedfellows of neoliberalism. We've taken it before and will again.
Morris Grover is a columnist for the Brigham Herald and a Social Party activist
'This election was capital punishment for the Capital Party. How can they revive a corpse?' - Layla Ramsey
I remember that when I was fresh out of university, a little known Capital Party MP by the name of Jonathan Crow was running for the leadership. Barely fifteen or so years later and look what remains of his project to detoxify his party and make it a force of government again. He transpired to be an opportunist and chancer, brought into government only by seizing on the enormous complacency of the allegedly unbeatable centrist version of the Social Party triggering their own downfall, and then limping into power off the back of a sizeable Liberal minority. The modernisers were discredited and shuffled off the mortal coil of politics by the international outrage surrounding the Askoy Crisis. Crow was lucky to avoid prison as his government collapsed to be replaced by its junior partner. The flashy but incompetent Crow? Gone. In came technocrat in chief Michael Judge.
Then Lathersby and the right wingers took over. Desperate to remain relevant, they threw the kitchen sink at Yarley's government while engaging in actual subterfuge against it over the border crisis with Electrum. Moderates abandoned the party quite literally with the one-election wonder that was One Nation Capital. Moderate voters either joined this projected or jumped ship for the Liberals. Working class Capital voters in cities like Bastion - remember them? - voted for the Social Party and an avowedly socialist leader because their traditional party utterly lost touch with them. The result was the utter embarrassment of the last four elections. Only now are the shoots of recovery growing with a minor gain in seats, but it is not enough. There is no sign of a long term recovery to be a party of power. Diagnosis? Dead as a dodo. Time of death? Maybe Crow's leadership was the real starting point.
Layla Ramsey is an Emplor columnist
'A victory for the Liberal Party is a victory for Rushmore' - Anthony Carberry
Not many pundits have been willing to say it but Amy Yarley and the Liberal's outstanding victory is as much about the Common Rushnmori Community as it is the war or her leadership. When they won the argument in favour of the CRC they won over the country. Entry into this body represents Eura's future, and a vision of what we want to be; regional leaders and much more. In contrast, what did the other parties actually offer on foreign policy let alone the issue of our regional political union? The right wing fetishised military imperialism and spent the whole campaign telling everyone how, if they'd run the war effort, the body count would be way higher, like that is what the Euran people really care about. And what of the Euran left? Seriously, what of them? They were too busy talking about lowering the legal strike ballot threshold to notice that 65% of voters under 50 wanted the Social Party to advocate for CRC membership. They did so with about as much passion as a wet flannel!
The Liberals have five years now to set the agenda and the CRC must be absolutely central to their efforts to mould the nation in their image. Its a vehicle for exactly the kind of values they have espoused on their route to power, and a mechanism through which to force subsequent governments to maintain Liberal defined standards on workers rights and the environment. It is also a unique device for spreading Euran influence and enhancing Euran regional leadership. We can lead the CRC in all but name if this government is willing to do so. From everything we have seen of them it seems that is exactly what they intend to do. That can only be good for the region which, thanks to the reckless suicidal Sameban regime, has been short of a nation willing to stand up for the regional interest for too long.
Anthony Carberry is a freelance political writer and sits on the board of the Eura Via Rushmore thinktank
'Eura's democracy is under mortal threat from the Liberal peril' - Julia Osprey
Has anyone else woke up and smelled the coffee yet? Eura's media and political establishment are gushing among themselves at the moment to lavish praise on the new Liberal order. Its an order that isn't new, nor is it liberal in the sense that actually deserves any praise! Let's examine the reality here because some real talk is in short supply. A dangerously authoritarian Prime Minister sits in office, operating outside of the law in areas ranging from constitutional matters to extrajudicial killings abroad. Frequent red flags indicate Amy Yarley is about as trustworthy as the late Emile Gartanzo's smile. The small number of seats held by my party and the Social Party due to First Past The Post makes co-ordinated opposition extremely difficult. To top it all off, she is taking us into an undemocratic vehicle of globalisation and cultural takeover by foreign elements, the CRC, that we were not given a referendum on which to decide if we actually wanted to join at all.
Some have opined that we have under performed at this election because we were too right wing for much of the last parliament, or in the words of your paper, "nativist", compared to our roots as the party of business. This is not true. The "nativist" parties in this country (EIP, ENP, Unionist and such) are minority parties who have retained most of their core vote. We are increasingly the party of the sensible and too often silent backbone of society. Taxpayers, homeowners, business owners, the people who actually make this country great. We gained seats after several disastrous elections for a reason. In my constituency which has historically voted Social, the honest working people of Ironchester threw out the loony left incumbents and saw off the challenge from a servile Liberal opponent whose chief achievement is ripping off our government as a human rights lawyer. They voted for me and the Capital banner because we are the party of common sense. Once the sheen has come off this soulless government we will see who the real silent majority are.
Julia Osprey is the newly elected Capital Party MP for Ironchester South and the chair of the Sovereignty Goup of Capital MPs
'Huzzah! The war of ideas is over. Maybe we can shut up about politics for a bit?' - Jeremy Hamish-Bottomley
Its over now. The ballot boxes are tucked away, the pundits have returned to their day to day anonymity outside of election time. Civil servants can go back to their day job of being the living embodiment of the colour beige. You don't have to worry anymore because Dear Leader Ms Yarley is going to lead us down the path to prosperity. She is firmly in charge. And she's a woman. How modern! Opposition? Nah, no need for that. You'll only get any if the raving socialists and predatory venture capitalists of the Social and Capital parties somehow manage to work together. That's not likely while water is wet and God is Euran. I'm not sure anyone even remembers other parties exist either. Its not like they would make much difference. All of that might be playing on your mind but just remember, to be absolutely clear, its over.
There's many ways you can distract yourself from what comes next. If you subscribe to anything other than the Liberal Party you may as well take up some kind of hobby, because the next five years are going to be a total write off. I''m pretty sure Roger Grayson is already counting badgers and Catherine Lathersby 2.0 - sorry, I mean, "Matthew Montague" - is no doubt building a MicroTransport model of the taxi he'll be getting after the Capital party conference. If you're a Liberal diehard you can maybe take up baking, because it can serve as a symbolic reminder that your beloved party's cake and eat it policies won't last long in government. Then you can use it to celebrate when the next election comes along because at this rate the Liberals are going to win that one too. And if you're a non-Euran reading this article then you can go back to paying attention to your own nation's affairs. No doubt they are less of a one horse race and more exciting. How anyone can get hyped up for another Euran election after the far more engrossing drama and bloodshed of the past decade is beyond comprehension.
Jeremy Hamish-Bottomley is a satirist and author of the bestselling pre-war book 'Euraucracy: Inside Rushmore's Overpopulated Pantomime'
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