2017 UK General Election

## Election Summary

In this election, we saw the regrowth of the Labour Party and the degrowth of P&S and to an extent SDP. We saw the complete obliteration of the Conservatives and their replacement the Reform Party taking their place in power.  The Tories fell apart after a disastrous leadership of Morgan who later left the Tories to join FDP anyway and then the later inactive leadership of Boris who did very little to curb the downfall of the party. Labour also grew very well under the leadership of Clement Attlee who brought life back to the Labour party. SDP had a few of their members retire which lead to their decline slightly in this election compared to last election mind this may also be due to public boredom with the party who has never been in government.

## Background

The election was very close after the 2015 election due to certain circumstances. After the Tory Reform Group (TRG) left the Conservatives and created their own party, The Reform Party, which saw the Conservative minority lose 6 seats, pushing their tally down to 31. After more arguments occurred during the build up to the Kings Speech, the tories lost a senior adviser and MP, and Chief Whip, Daniel Hamilton putting their amount of seats even lower. The Kings Speech arrived and it inevitably lost, followed by yet another budget that failed. Corey attempted to prorogue Parliament and a Vote of no Confidence was passed, a General Election was called.

## The Election Campaigning

The campaigning started off with dominating by the new Reform party, who were desperate to build upon the seats they had due to defections. This was also helped by a pact with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) which meant that both parties were standing not standing in the same seats as eachother. This broke down later though, and a new pact was made between the SDP and the resurging Labour party who were desperate to come back from a dismal 2015 election which saw them with 2 seats. With their new leader, Clement Atlee, and an influx of members, they were able to gain some momentum. As campaigning went on, it was these three parties who were dominating. The Freedom and Democratic party (FDP) did campaign in Wales predominately, focusing on Clwyd and Powys. This meant they were able to make more momentum on such seats and aim to win them. The Peace and Solidarity party was more lacklustre in campaigning, though not the least active, they did not seem to see capitalise on the destabilisation of politics as other parties seemed to gain momentum. The Tories completely lost it however, after leader Morgan was voted out and joined the FDP, Corey also was gone and a leadership election took place where Boris Johnson took over. This left Daniel Hamilton, who rejoined the party to stand as an independent. Johnson tried to do some campaigning however the damage was already done. The previous administration lost all trust and momentum in the party. When it comes to places where parties where standing, Most parties did not stand in all seats, hence why the low vote national vote percentages, with the Reform party standing in 55 seats, and the SDP sitting in 60. Only the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats stood in every seat, though neither of them were likely to win many seats.

## Scandals

Many Scandals occurred during this election, with one starting off barely into the election with the Conservatives Michael Howard bribing police officers after sending death threats to Reform Party members. Then there was the SDP leader who dressed up as the leader of the Reform party, pretending to attack the editor the Daily Express. Then there was the Reform party's scandal where a paedophile ring joined as members and was quickly discovered. They were instantly relieved of their membership and the Reform Party asked all parties, including themselves to have a full investigation into paedophilia into politics, only the SDP agreed to it. The FDP also had a scandal surrounding paedophiles as members in Powys were seen to have pornographic images on their devices. This was made worse due to the FDP's decision not to have the internal investigation the Reform Party asked of them.

## The Only Debate

There was one debate which occurred after campaigning ended, and included party leaders Dan Watts of the SDP, Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party, David Moyes of the P&S party and Clement Atlee of the Labour party. It also included the Chairman of the Reform Party, Aaron Goldsmith as the leader of the Reform party had prior engagements due to the short notice of the debate. The debate was surprisingly tame compared to the level of campaigning and arguments that had occurred, specifically between the Leader of the SDP and the Chairman of the Reform Party. They joined together however and called out David Moyes he criticised the crown for being too involved in the political system. Dan Watts argued that the crown is unpolitical and Aaron Goldsmith stated that it is constitutional fact that the crown was not involved in the political system as they had to remain bipartisan and pass any act that passes through the Houses of Parliament. Labour's Clement Atlee joined in the bewilderment over Moyes's comments.

## Election night

Anticipation was massive ahead the election night in one of the most toxic election nights in history. The country was waiting to see the direction that the country would be in. Polls indicated it was likely to be a Reform Party minority or a SPD and Labour party coalition. There was an expectation that the Conservatives was going to be decimated after a dismal effect in government and an unactive campaign. The first results came through from Scotland which saw the reformed Liberal Democrats won the first seat of Eastern Highlands & Islands. The Reform party however stormed through Scotland taking 7 out of the 11 seats. Though many did not see this coming, they did the reigns from the Conservative party who similarly dominated in the 2015 election. The Reform Party also won 2/3 Northern Irish seats with the Peace and Solidarity party winning the other seat. This brought their tally up to 3 after winning the two Glasgow seats. Edinburgh was the only seat taken by Labour in Scotland. The north was dominated by the SDP winning 10 vital seats in their attempt to try and get their tally up to form a majority. Labour also added to their one seat to win two seats in Yorkshire. The Reform Party also won in Cumbria bringing an end to the results from the Northern English seats. An Independent also won in the seat of Cheshire. Three midland seats were also called, two for the Reform party and one for the SDP.

Following this, the first Welsh seats came with the FDP winning their first seat in the seat of Clwyd. This was a seat that the SDP and the Reform party were also looking to gain this seat so it was a fantastic hold from the FDP. The other seats that came in went to the SDP party and the Lib Dems who won their second seat of the evening, much to many people surprise. The rest of the midlands came in with the Reform party taking six out of nine seats with the SDP winning the others. The competition between the two was second the none as they traded the lead. South Wales came in with Labour taking all seats bringing their amount of seats to 8. No one thought this was going to happen prior to the election announcement and was a resounding success for the party who was seen as dead.

What came next was complete domination. The Reform party stormed the South of England with the only seats not going to Reform being Avon (SPD), where they did not stand, the Isle of Wight (FDP), Buckinghamshire (indie) and Oxfordshire and Reading. (conservatives) Going into London, this meant that the Reform Party was on 36 seats, The SDP was on 19, Labour was on 8, the P&S was 3, the FDP was on 2 seats and the Conservatives was on 1 seat, losing 38 seats. London came in with 3 seats needed for a Reform Party majority, and only one was expected to go into their column. However, they shocked everyone by winning East London, West London and Cities of London, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea. The other two going to the Labour party. This meant after two minority governments, the country finally had a majority government in the decade on instability. The party that did not exist in the last election. This left the Reform Party on 41 (up 41), the Social Democratic Party on 19 (down 6 seats), The Labour party 10 (up 8 seats), The Peace and Solidarity party on 3 (down 2 seats), The Freedom and Democratic party ended on 2 (down 2s seats) and the Conservative party on 1 seat (down 36) with 2 Independents and the Speaker.