On July 4, the British voters elected a Labour 411-seat majority (out of a total of 650 seats). The Conservative Party was reduced from majority government to a party low 121 seats. Various other parties split the remaining 128 seats. Pro-life MP Miriam Cates, who lost her seat, said that her party lost because it governed to the left of the average Conservative voter on moral (gender identity, abortion) and cultural (immigration, crime) issues; one analyst pointed out that the Conservative leadership was to the left of the average Briton on social issues. This analysis rings true: Labour won despite losing 600,000 votes compared to when it had its worst-ever seat count (202) in 2019. Conservative voters either migrated to the culturally conservative Reform or stayed home. One should be cautious about importing lessons from foreign countries but both Conservative and Republican politicians should heed the warning about abandoning social conservatism.
