Another Great British Election: A Triumph for Democracy after a Soggy Start
Dr Sarah Tzinieris’04 worked as a journalist stringer for the BBC’s coverage of the UK General Election on 4 July 2024.
Although now an academic, I enjoy supporting the BBC on a freelance basis to cover events like general elections. I was going to be up late anyway to watch the coverage, so why not play a role in the colossal task of bringing the results to the nation.
It was all systems go for the BBC after then-prime minister Rishi Sunak called a snap election for the 4th July, in a rain-soaked speech outside 10 Downing Street a month earlier. This set in motion the veritable juggernaut of what is the BBC’s general election coverage.
There are 650 constituencies in the UK, each of which elects a Member of Parliament in our first-past-the-post (plurality) voting system. My job was to field information about the electoral constituencies of Richmond Park and Twickenham in south-west London to the BBC’s central election team. This involved reporting on interesting stories, providing the turnout figure, and, once the declaration was made by the Returning Officer, phoning in the total number of votes for each candidate.
The BBC takes election etiquette extremely seriously, as it should. This involves being impartial in all its output. Like all broadcasters on election day, it is not allowed to report details of campaigning or election issues before 2200, the time when the polls close – and the vote count can begin.
Over the years I’ve become familiar with the (probably very British) idiosyncrasies of election night. The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is one such feature, fielding eccentric candidates to lampoon Britain’s political excesses or campaigning on single-ticket issues. The fictional Lord Buckethead, reincarnated in this election as Count Binface (on a platform to “nationalise” Adele), stood as a candidate in the prime minister’s constituency (Sunak won). In another quirk, a handful of constituencies literally compete over the fastest vote count; this time the crown went to Houghton and Sunderland South, declaring the results in a record 75 minutes!
By all accounts, the election broke a number of other records, with the Labour party achieving a huge parliamentary majority – the second highest since 1924 (only higher was Tony Blair’s victory in 1997).
This involved true-blue constituencies turning red after being in Tory hands for decades. The scale of the Conservatives’ annihilation became apparent when former prime minister Liz Truss lost the safest of seats, South West Norfolk, held by the Tories since 1964. Forsooth, the Portillo moment (the point during the 1997 election night when the Conservatives knew they were doomed) was now eclipsed by that of Truss.
But the devil is in the detail. Notably, only 52% of the UK’s adult population voted in the 2024 election, making it the lowest turnout by population share since 1928, when women were granted electoral equality with men. That is a terrible shame given the incalculable value that democracy brings to society. Entering into two world wars a century ago, victory – and the sanctity of our liberal democratic system – was not a dead cert for Britain.
Other nuances of what happened on the ground on election night reflected the rich tapestry of the UK’s evolving voting landscape. With the entry of the right-wing populist Reform party into the race, the revival of the Liberal Democrats, and an active grassroots campaign by the Green Party, there were constituencies where the UK’s two largest parties didn’t even make first or second place.
A novelty for this election was the addition of livestreams at each of the counting centres. I used a tripod and smartphone kit running the TVU Anywhere app to film the count (from a suitable distance, to maintain the secrecy of the ballot). And I later broadcast the vote declarations for Richmond Park and Twickenham; both constituencies were won by the Liberal Democrats.
The live video from constituencies across the nation yielded the most personalised election coverage ever. It was also an excellent way for the electorate at home to connect with the wheel of democracy turning – something that we should never take for granted.
Dr Sarah Tzinieris
Research Fellow
Centre for Science & Security Studies, Department of War Studies, King’s College London
July 2024