I have begun to draft a prolonged 'Thinkpiece', and am already thinking that it is probably going to be too wordy for the normal blog format. I'll press on with it for a few days, but in the meantime I intend to carry on blogging most days in simple, short dollops. It seems to suit my temperament.
This morning, the radio brought me the shocking early gossip that David Davis - the Brexit Secretary who has made such heavy weather of a simple job, so far - has suggested that in the summer of 2019 he will retire and leave to Boris Johnson the task of implementing whatever Brexit deal the UK ends up with at the March deadline. The one reassuring thought to which this gives rise is that it is probably Johnson's destiny to lead the Tory party to a defeat of greater proportions than that of 1945.
The prospect of two dangerous Marxists leading a cosmetically-rational Labour majority in the Commons down a road to ruin is not enough to scare anybody sensible into voting for Boris, who seems anxious to display his complete failure to understand either the crazy orthodox Economics of the 'free market' school or the realities of economic existence. I have not heard his comment on the scandal of the botched roll-out of the Single Benefit, and suspect that he has not made one. I don't suppose that he would understand even as little as does the Prime Minister of the situation of people who are faced with the prospect of having no income for an average period of six weeks. Most Conservative MPs seem mollified by the assurance that these desperate individuals can get a loan of half the level of benefit that they can expect ultimately to get, on strict payback terms. So little do most recipients trust the system to treat them fairly that they suspect that if they took up the offer of the loan they would be under even more intense scrutiny than they already have been. The disconnect between the 'hard Brexiteer' minority in the Commons and the grassroots of the electorate - including traditional Tory voters - has become greater than one could have forecast even a year ago.
In the 2017 General Election Mrs May got a greater Conservative vote than did her predecessor in either 2010 or 2015: but that did not translate into a majority of Commons seats: just as happened when Hillary Clinton's three million vote lead in the election failed to translate into Electoral College votes in the USA. Mrs May's largely zombie-like performance since her wining defeat is comprehensible, but it is desperately bad for the country. Her most egregious error was to hire a hall in Florence in which to make a statement to some of her ministers and to the British press [and a handful of local Italian politicians] that she should have made in more precise terms to the House of Commons six months earlier. That would have obviated the 'need' for any election in the UK, and made it possible for M Barnier to say: "Ah, now I begin to understand where she is coming from: let's start the serious talking."
Mrs May could, possibly, have been a competent prime minister: had she possessed the one essential quality that she conspicuously lacks: confidence in her own instincts. This seems increasingly to be derived from the circumstances of her upbringing an early career. A nice home in the home counties, a nice school in the home counties, an easy passage into an easy degree at a top university, a comfortable partnership with a slightly younger man, a job in the Bank of England and an easy passage to a safe parliamentary seat. There has been no need in that life to struggle: no hardship; not even experience of work in a competitive business: and how all that now shows!
The same goes for Boris, of course; his troubles have come from his lies and his lusts. Jeremy Corbyn's origins in the family manor house and his career on the champagne socialist circuit have kept him carefully isolated from the harsh realities of life. Here we have three of a kind; and there are more of their kind all around.
It is good to have practical builders like Philip Hammond and successful competitive investment managers like the egregious Mr Mogg to bring balance to our political life!
Showing posts with label Conservative MPs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conservative MPs. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Thursday, 20 October 2011
One Day to Go
President Sarkozy missed the birth of his daughter yesterday in order to try again to persuade Chancellor Merkel to release German wealth to support something close to the present situation in the eurozone. All the signs are that he has failed: though Mrs Merkel again said that they would reach an agreement by Friday evening; which is likely to mean that the French will have to accept something close to the German position.
Meanwhile the streets of Greek cities have been defaced by increasingly violent protests against the relatively low-key measures that the Greek government has so far announced to meet some of the demands that have been made by their partners as the price of subsidising them. Many Greeks have already experienced real hardship, and the idea that the worst they have experienced is just a first tranche of the misery to come is infuriating.
Germans who read about it in the papers or watch the television pictures of the Greek riots could well feel that the Greek situation is irresolvable on the terms that have been offered by the eurozone countries, and that a more draconian solution - Greek default on their debts, probably accompanied by their withdrawal from the euro - is the only available resort.So the Germans' position could well harden against any thought of compromise.
The French and the Germans have promised to bring proposals for consideration by the other EU Finance Ministers [not just the eurozone seventeen] this weekend. The portents as to what they will agree upon are doom-laden; which scares the US Administration and has caused the Chinese to make it clear that they would be unwilling to contribute to any bail-out in Europe in the absence of some credible comprehensive provision [with the implication that China's Sovereign Wealth Fund would buy EU bonds if the context had been stabilised]. The overwhelming probability is that there will be a blatant fudge, followed by panic-as-usual. The medium-term outlook is stormy.
In the distant background to the Grand Continental Eurodrama is a delightful vignette of the fundamental rottenness of British politics. The 2010 intake of Conservative MPs are predominantly 'Eurosceptic' to various degrees, meaning that a majority of the Parliamentary Conservative Party is now of that mindset. They have used some of the Commons timetable that is allocated for Members' own motions [as distinct from Government time and time granted for formal Opposition motions] to propose that there should be a Referendum in the UK offering people various options. First, do they want Britain to stay in the EU, or to leave it? Second, should there not be a total breach with the EU, would they want Britain to be able to re-negotiate its relationship with the EU, including the repatriation of significant powers that have been ceded to
or arrogated by EU institutions? Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have in the past indicated that they favour renegotiation; but in the Coalition agreement the Tories were committed to keep the issue off the agenda because their Lib-Dem partners are abjectly pro-EU. The vote has been brought forward to Monday so that the Prime Minister can quell the 'revolt' himself before he flies off to Perth [Western Australia] for the Commonwealth Summit Meeting. If he succeeds in whipping the great majority of the Tories into betrayal of a strong and often fervently-held position the shredded credibility of the political class will be further damaged; and Cameron's chances of winning a majority of seats in the next General Election will recede even further.
The Lib-Dems' treachery on student fees, and the Tories' betrayal of their Eurosceptic rhetoric will not be forgotten: and so the puerile Labour Party could form a government by default, in or before 2015. So much for integrity. 'Democracy' entails no integrity. Millions will see their options as lying between support for minority parties or abstention - staying away from the poll.
The next election will, however, be the occasion when millions of voters could bestir themselves to go to their Polling Stations, get their ballot forms and mark them with bold writing 'NONE OF THESE'. If the 'spoilt' forms represent an overall majority of all the votes cast, the knell of the stinking corpse will at last be sounded.
Meanwhile the streets of Greek cities have been defaced by increasingly violent protests against the relatively low-key measures that the Greek government has so far announced to meet some of the demands that have been made by their partners as the price of subsidising them. Many Greeks have already experienced real hardship, and the idea that the worst they have experienced is just a first tranche of the misery to come is infuriating.
Germans who read about it in the papers or watch the television pictures of the Greek riots could well feel that the Greek situation is irresolvable on the terms that have been offered by the eurozone countries, and that a more draconian solution - Greek default on their debts, probably accompanied by their withdrawal from the euro - is the only available resort.So the Germans' position could well harden against any thought of compromise.
The French and the Germans have promised to bring proposals for consideration by the other EU Finance Ministers [not just the eurozone seventeen] this weekend. The portents as to what they will agree upon are doom-laden; which scares the US Administration and has caused the Chinese to make it clear that they would be unwilling to contribute to any bail-out in Europe in the absence of some credible comprehensive provision [with the implication that China's Sovereign Wealth Fund would buy EU bonds if the context had been stabilised]. The overwhelming probability is that there will be a blatant fudge, followed by panic-as-usual. The medium-term outlook is stormy.
In the distant background to the Grand Continental Eurodrama is a delightful vignette of the fundamental rottenness of British politics. The 2010 intake of Conservative MPs are predominantly 'Eurosceptic' to various degrees, meaning that a majority of the Parliamentary Conservative Party is now of that mindset. They have used some of the Commons timetable that is allocated for Members' own motions [as distinct from Government time and time granted for formal Opposition motions] to propose that there should be a Referendum in the UK offering people various options. First, do they want Britain to stay in the EU, or to leave it? Second, should there not be a total breach with the EU, would they want Britain to be able to re-negotiate its relationship with the EU, including the repatriation of significant powers that have been ceded to
or arrogated by EU institutions? Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have in the past indicated that they favour renegotiation; but in the Coalition agreement the Tories were committed to keep the issue off the agenda because their Lib-Dem partners are abjectly pro-EU. The vote has been brought forward to Monday so that the Prime Minister can quell the 'revolt' himself before he flies off to Perth [Western Australia] for the Commonwealth Summit Meeting. If he succeeds in whipping the great majority of the Tories into betrayal of a strong and often fervently-held position the shredded credibility of the political class will be further damaged; and Cameron's chances of winning a majority of seats in the next General Election will recede even further.
The Lib-Dems' treachery on student fees, and the Tories' betrayal of their Eurosceptic rhetoric will not be forgotten: and so the puerile Labour Party could form a government by default, in or before 2015. So much for integrity. 'Democracy' entails no integrity. Millions will see their options as lying between support for minority parties or abstention - staying away from the poll.
The next election will, however, be the occasion when millions of voters could bestir themselves to go to their Polling Stations, get their ballot forms and mark them with bold writing 'NONE OF THESE'. If the 'spoilt' forms represent an overall majority of all the votes cast, the knell of the stinking corpse will at last be sounded.
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