HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT

Labour intensive. All eyes will likely turn to Corbyn’s political future and potential successors. Ahead of the election, Labour members had reportedly been planning leadership challenges, but Corbyn’s allies encouraged their comrades to focus on winning today’s vote. Now that it’s over, the country’s main opposition force may well descend into an intraparty clash over its future course: Stay radical, like Corbyn, or move toward the center? Many of the rumored leadership contenders, like Corbyn supporters and shadow secretaries Rebecca Long-Bailey and Emily Thornberry, are women, potentially signaling that Labour will look to establish a new image more than a new ideological direction.

Middle of the road? Both Johnson and Corbyn (pictured) suffered from low approval ratings and accusations of radicalism: The latter is further left than most Labour leaders, while the former expelled nearly two dozen Conservatives for veering from his hard-line position on Brexit. But both were running on new ground, since the electoral map appears to have been redrawn around Brexit. Many Remain voters were uncomfortable with Corbyn’s equivocation over the issue, while old-school Labour supporters who voted Leave are likely to have shuffled over to Johnson’s camp in this vote. Meanwhile, an American-style divisiveness colored the campaign, with many supporters of either party unwilling, or unable, to see eye to eye. That raises another question: Could that spark fresh demand for centrism?

Not so fast. Despite the impressive results, Conservatives shouldn’t hope to rest easy. Sure, Brexit now appears on track — but negative economic effects are anticipated, and the party will need to navigate the country through the challenges. Their overwhelming majority means they’ll have to take responsibility for it with voters. One recent analysis found that Johnson’s negotiated breakup deal with the U.S. would shrink the U.K.’s GDP per capita by 6.4 percent.

Meanwhile, across the pond … Given the similarity in voting trends between the U.S. and Britain since the 1980s, Labour’s stinging loss raises questions over the staying power of leftist Democratic presidential candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. And on matters of business, 2020 candidates may find themselves increasingly thinking about how they’d approach a post-Brexit U.S.-U.K. trade deal with a Conservative-led British government.

WHAT TO READ

Forget Brexit: The New Battle Is Over Jeremy Corbyn’s Successor by Zoe Williams in The Guardian
“This is no longer a question of where the party stands on membership of the EU: We know Labour’s destination. The question is who will survive the landing, and in what kind of shape.”

Our Politicians Have No Answers to the Greatest Challenges of Our Time by Jeremy Warner in The Telegraph
“On how the government will tackle mass migration, ageing and AI, the voters were offered not a clue.”

WHAT TO WATCH