The rise of the anti-Boris
He is the son of a single mother and experienced as a teenager what it is like to be “homeless”, six months living in a shelter. He got to college thanks to an assistance program for students without resources (Education Maintenance Allowance. EMA) who fell under the guillotine of David Cameron's austerity. He is 34 years old, he is gay, he defines himself as a “pragmatic socialist” and he has all the tickets to become the redheaded alternative to “blonde ambition” (run down).
Danny Beales is the name of the anti-Boris Johnson, Labor candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the remote district on the north-west outskirts of London where special elections are held on Thursday for the seat vacated by the former prime minister, forced to resign also as a deputy after the devastating report that accused him of “deliberately misleading” Parliament about Partygate.
Danny Beales, Labor candidate for the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
The Conservative Party is facing what is already known as the “long Boris”, a political version of the “persistent” Covid. The expression has been coined by MP Steve Brine and reflects concern among Tories about the long-term impact on voters of the successive Boris Johnson scandals.
Votes are cast on Thursday in two other traditionally Conservative constituencies: Somerton and From, and Selby and Ainsty. A triple defeat would leave the “premier” Rishi Sunak in a very precarious situation, with 80% of the British “dissatisfied” with his management (according to a recent Ipsos poll) and growing concern among the conservative base and among parliamentarians “tories”.
Boris Johnson won by 7,000 votes in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in 2019, when he achieved his resounding absolute majority. Four years later, the economic and social malaise is evident in this multi-ethnic corner in the confines of London (zone 6).. Here they curiously voted for Brexit six years ago; among them, the grandparents of Danny Beales himself…
“People are fed up and frustrated with the situation,” Beales laments.. “Everyone is worse off financially, and that's a general feeling. People are concerned about the rise in the shopping basket, the waiting lists in public health, not being able to pay the mortgage. And it's something that happens all over the country.”
The “general feeling” is that Danny Beales, despite his limited experience as a councilor in “metropolitan” Camden, has what it takes to turn the tables and achieve Labor's unusual victory in Boris Johnson's district. We spent six months living in shelters, and that had a huge effect on our mental and emotional health.. I have had to fight throughout my life, but all the welfare programs that allowed me to get to university have disappeared or deteriorated these 13 years. And that is going to be my task as a deputy: to get the Government to adopt practical measures so that people can achieve their full potential.”