logo
Japan's Leader Has Lost His ‘Mandate From Heaven'

Japan's Leader Has Lost His ‘Mandate From Heaven'

Bloomberg16 hours ago
Shigeru Ishiba was long considered an outside prospect to become Japan's leader — so much so that he once said it would take the involvement of the gods themselves.
'If I were ever to become prime minister, it would probably be when the Liberal Democratic Party or Japan was in serious deadlock,' he wrote in his book published last year. 'Unless I receive a mandate from heaven, it's unlikely to happen.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Starmer clashes with senior MP over welfare reform
Starmer clashes with senior MP over welfare reform

Yahoo

time21 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Starmer clashes with senior MP over welfare reform

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer clashed with one of his senior MPs over welfare reform as she said she felt 'ashamed' of the 'poor' legislation the Government had put forward. Work and pensions committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams said the welfare bill was 'far removed' from Labour values as she questioned the Prime Minister at the Liaison Committee. She asked Sir Keir what he would like to say to the disabled people who experienced 'fear and anxiety' before the Government made concessions on its bill. 'Well, it's very important that they feel secure and supported, and that is at the heart of what we are doing in the changes we are making to welfare and related areas,' he said. Sir Keir said he did not accept that it would take several years before labour market changes allow more disabled people to be employed following Sir Charlie Mayfield's review, due in the autumn. Mrs Abrahams asked what he would do to mitigate against a potential 50,000 newly disabled people being pushed into poverty. Sir Keir said: 'I don't accept that everything is going to take years. Some changes do take years, but not all changes take years, and we have to do work in the interim to give that support to those with disabilities.' Mrs Abrahams said she felt 'ashamed' of the 'poor' welfare legislation the Government put forward. 'This was poor legislation. It was designed to save money for the Treasury by cutting support to sick and disabled people. 'It was so far removed from Labour values of fairness and social justice, let alone compassion and common decency. 'I have to say I felt ashamed.' After a year in office, Sir Keir was asked what he wanted the UK to look like at the end of his first term in No 10. He said: 'I want people to feel better off and there has to be a central focus on living standards. 'I want them to feel – as they will – that the health service is working much better, is there for them and their families in a way that it hasn't been for many years. 'And I want them to feel safe and secure, both in their immediate neighbourhood and as a country, both our borders and national security and defence. 'So, they're the three things that I'm focused on more than anything else.' Sir Keir's drive to improve the NHS could be derailed if resident doctors in England go ahead with strike action, which is due to begin on Friday. The Tory government faced waves of strike action in the NHS, which contributed to care backlogs. The Prime Minister has put international co-operation, including a promised one-in, one-out deal to return small boat migrants to France, at the heart of measures to control the borders. But arrivals are running at record levels for this point in a year, with the latest Home Office showing 23,534 people had crossed in small boats so far in 2025. The Liaison Committee, a panel made up of senior MPs who chair the various Commons select committees, was focusing on measures to tackle poverty. The Prime Minister, who is under pressure from within his own party to scrap the two-child benefits cap, said: 'People will not feel better-off or safe and secure if we haven't tackled poverty.' He said there were four 'limbs' to the Government's strategy: increasing incomes, decreasing costs, strengthening local support, including measures to get people into work and boosting financial resilience. 'I'm very proud of the fact that the last Labour government drove down poverty and I'm determined this Government is going to as well,' Sir Keir said.

In Japan, Anti-Establishment Parties Resonate With the Young
In Japan, Anti-Establishment Parties Resonate With the Young

New York Times

time23 minutes ago

  • New York Times

In Japan, Anti-Establishment Parties Resonate With the Young

The surging popularity of new, right-wing political parties that handed Japan's long-governing Liberal Democratic Party a humiliating election defeat is a sign of a growing generational gap, as younger voters embrace calls for lower taxes, restrictions on immigration and a break with the political status quo. The defeat, which rendered the Liberal Democrats a minority in both houses of the Diet, the country's Parliament, could herald the end of an era for the broad-tent conservative group that has been the country's dominant political force for 70 years. But while the party has faced would-be usurpers before, this time was different, because the challengers came from the nationalist right, which the Liberal Democrats had long controlled. The biggest winners on Sunday were two, far-right parties that did not exist five years ago. While Japan in the past has seen its share of flash-in-the-pan, anti-establishment upstarts, the Democratic Party of the People and the more extreme Sanseito party seemed to make much larger inroads among younger voters, who were drawn by their pledges to lift stagnant wages, reduce the number of foreign workers and break the grip that older generations of voters have held on politics. 'The populists appeals have found support among younger voters whose income has not grown or who feel uncomfortable seeing more foreigners,' said Harumi Arima, an independent political analyst. 'Their disenchantment with the L.D.P. has spread online, outside traditional media.' The gains of the right-wing parties have led many in Japan to wonder if the global wave of right-wing anti-establishment political movements had finally reached their shores. After years of seeming insulated from outside political forces, many Japanese voters, particularly in its younger generations, finally have had enough of what they regard as a political order dominated by corporate and political vested interests and the legions of retirees Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Few presidents have bowed out like Biden. Historians explain what it means
Few presidents have bowed out like Biden. Historians explain what it means

Fox News

time23 minutes ago

  • Fox News

Few presidents have bowed out like Biden. Historians explain what it means

Weeks after former President Joe Biden went head-to-head against now-President Donald Trump, Biden announced exactly a year ago, July 21, 2024, that he would bow out of the race — an unprecedented decision that led to a series of 2024 election plot twists. Biden's announcement came amid increasing pressure from his own party to step aside following his debate performance against Trump June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, where Biden struggled to answer seemingly basic questions. Biden's last-minute decision to exit the race rendered costly consequences for his party and his legacy — at least in the near future, according to experts. "The way Biden handled his infirmity and his reluctant exit from the race will be devastating for his legacy," Tevi Troy, presidential historian and the former deputy secretary of Health and Human Services under George W. Bush, said in an email to Fox News Digital Thursday. "While Biden was once known as the person who slayed the dragon that Democrats see as Trump, he will now forevermore be known as the person who allowed the dragon to return." Even after his rough debate performance, Biden dug his heels in and refused to immediately hand over the baton to another candidate. Initially, Biden, along with his White House and his campaign, said that ending his run for reelection was off the table, and that he wanted to face Trump in November 2024. But after calls from Democrat leaders, including former Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Biden finally issued a statement claiming that he believed "it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term." As a result, Biden endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to take his place in the race. "I think it's very difficult to separate the fact that he bowed out from the fact that he did so belatedly and only after his disastrous debate performance," Alex Keyssar, a history professor at Harvard Kennedy School of public policy, said in an email to Fox News Digital. "That is true now and will also be true for his legacy for quite a while. "He is seen as someone who made an enormous mistake — remaining as a candidate when he could have withdrawn six months earlier — and a mistake that may well have cost his party the presidential election," Keyssar said. Few presidents have chosen not to run for reelection, and even fewer have chosen to do so in the middle of a presidential campaign. The departure from the race marked the first time a presidential candidate had done so in nearly 60 years. Those who've called off their presidential bids in the middle of the campaign season include former presidents Harry S. Truman, who bowed out amid low polling, and Lyndon B. Johnson, who announced he wouldn't run again amid tensions stemming from the Vietnam War and fractures within his own party. Even so, they each withdrew from the race months ahead of Biden. "Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson both pulled out of reelection efforts in late March," Troy said. "Joe Biden did it in late July, throwing the Democratic Party into turmoil." "While incumbents generally have the advantage in running for reelection, the history of incumbent parties after the incumbent chooses to drop out late is not great: Truman's, Johnson's and Biden's party lost in each of the elections in question," Troy said. Since Biden pulled out of the race, multiple books have been written detailing Biden's final days in office, his deteriorating mental faculties, and challenges within the Democratic Party as a result of his decision to withdraw from the election. Additionally, multiple investigations are ongoing on Capitol Hill concerning Biden's mental decline. For example, the House Oversight Committee is examining the cover-up of Biden's cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized executive actions taken during his presidency. Biden's presidential approval rating reached a high of 57% from January 2021 to April 2021 after he first took office, but dropped to a low of 36% in July 2024, according to Gallup. Even so, Keyssar predicted that time would soften public opinion toward Biden's presidency. "As an historian, looking further into the future, I can imagine that his legacy will become more positive, as historians and other analysts focus more on his achievements in office and his basic decency as a person," Keyssar said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store