Front Page of NYT Suggests UK's Conservative ('Nasty') Party Lacking 'Generosity of Spirit'

By Clay Waters | May 9, 2015 | 8:10 PM EDT

Conservative Party leader David Cameron led his party to a shocking outright win in Thursday's general election in Britain, claiming no less than 331 out of 650 possible seats in the House of Parliament, meaning the party will be able to govern with an outright majority, and not as part of a coalition as it had before.

But the honeymoon is already over for Cameron, at least on the front page of Saturday's New York Times, which featured London bureau chief Steven Erlanger's "news analysis" of the win by the mean and "nasty party": "To Cameron, the Tory Victor, Go the Headaches."

Prime Minister David Cameron, having achieved a smashing and unexpected outright victory in Britain’s general election, heads into his second term facing severe challenges to his nation’s identity and place in the world: how to keep the United Kingdom in the European Union and Scotland in the United Kingdom.

In vanquishing the opposition Labour Party and winning an absolute majority in Parliament, Mr. Cameron gained the right to govern without a coalition partner, allowing him to claim a mandate on Friday to pursue his own agenda. But his majority is so narrow that it will force him to tread carefully with his own fractious legislators to pass legislation and address issues that could fundamentally redefine 21st-century Britain.

Those start with his pledge to hold a referendum by the end of 2017 on Britain’s continued membership in the European Union. He will also be under increased pressure from the other big winner of the election, the Scottish National Party, to revisit the question of independence for Scotland.

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On Friday, in front of 10 Downing Street, Mr. Cameron promised to “govern with respect” and “as a party of one nation, one United Kingdom.”

But it will be easier said than done, especially after he demonized the Scottish National Party during the campaign. In essence, England and Scotland are today not one nation but two, each dominated by a single party.

(Speaking of demonizing: During the failed 2014 Scotland independence campaign supported by the Times, Cameron was derided in the paper "as a wealthy Englishman who attended Britain’s most exclusive school, Eton College, Mr. Cameron is regarded by many Scots as out of touch.")

That task will require a delicacy of touch and generosity of spirit that the Conservatives, once labeled “the nasty party,” are not thought to possess in large amounts.

The fate of Scotland will also be tied to Mr. Cameron’s other main challenge: Britain’s relationship with Europe. He has promised repeatedly that, if re-elected, he would hold a referendum on continued British membership in the European Union by the end of 2017, after efforts to negotiate a “better deal” with Brussels.

If Britain votes to leave the European Union -- not likely, but still a significant possibility, and higher under a majority Conservative government -- pro-Europe Scotland would almost surely bring forward another referendum on independence, one that might very well pass.

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Mr. Cameron must also deal with the temptation to govern as the head of “Little England,” distanced from Europe and from strategic and military allies like the United States and France.

There will be other tensions. Mr. Cameron and his chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, have also laid out plans for continued spending cuts to bring down the big budget deficit and the national debt, promising a fully balanced budget by the end of the next Parliament in 2020. Without a formal coalition partner, the party can do roughly what it pleases, so long as it does not suffer any backbench revolt.

Erlanger portrayed the Conservative support for free-market economics (as opposed to the socialism represented by defeated Labour) as some odd, "theological" quirk.

As laid out in the Conservative manifesto, the cuts would be deep outside certain protected areas like the National Health Service, and might be about 30 billion pounds, or about $49 billion. Mr. Osborne is driven by a Thatcherite belief in the value of a smaller state to free up individual and corporate enterprise and encourage those able to work to do so, and such cuts could create political tensions, and even unrest, in the country.

Mr. Osborne is respected, but his economic theology is not shared by every Tory, which could also lead to defections and close votes.

Another UK election tidbit: Columnist Paul Krugman, who loathes conservatives of all stripes and who has vociferously opposed Cameron's purported "austerity" regime, managed to uncover on his nytimes.com blog an "overwhelming anti-Labour bias of the press," based on incredibly thin analysis by Peter Jukes, a journalist in the tank for the Labour Party.

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