Friday 15 July 2022

Now that the Dust has (almost) Settled.

 


There is no question that the one thing all opposition parties fear the most, is a popular and successful ruling party. If that success has been focussed on one person; then get rid of him or her at all costs, and by any means possible. Constant criticising is the easiest method.

The Tory Party in the UK has always been the 'one nation party'; it looks after the interests of the rich and poor alike. Its aims are always to lower unemployment, and to increase employment; making UK plc into a successful 'business' which would attract serious foreign investment. The current Tory government has achieved most of this, whilst at the same time coping with Brexit, Covid, and Putin.

Unemployment figures are at their lowest since around 1979, and the figures of those in Employment are the highest since the early 70's. Funding for the NHS is at an all time high at approx £180 Billion; plus there has been extra funding to cope with the ravages of Covid. 

All in all this current government was doing pretty well. It was also the first country to help fund Ukraine in fighting-off the vile attack from Russia. 

So, what went wrong? In my mind it all started with the unnecessary refurbishment of the Prime Minister's apartment at No 10. Boris and wife's ridiculous spending, and choice of furnishings, was viewed as wasteful, if not pompous; this caused ill-feeling. There have been too many public rows (Cummings comes immediately to mind). Too many "do what I say, not what I do" situations. Too many dodgy explanations. And too many cover-ups. However, very few of these peccadillos were 'politics' related; they were side-events that luckily didn't affect the smooth running of the country. He was eventually dethroned following the sexual antics of some drunken MP.

Sir Keir's endless hounding of Boris at the weekly PMQ's has finally succeeded, but maybe not for the better, or even to Starmer's advantage; that remains to be seen.

In politics you savage the most popular and most successful. Churchill suffered it, Mrs Thatcher suffered it, and now Boris has suffered it. No-one ordered the character assassination of Alec Douglas-Home, John Major, or Theresa May; they represented no real political threat.

The left are cheering. An intellectual Eton and Balliol 'toff' has been toppled, and nothing pleases them more. Too much charisma, too much brain, and far too much success.

Boris will probably quit politics quite soon, and be in HUGE demand globally as an 'after dinner speaker', where he'll probably make even more millions than Blair. He'll certainly be laughing all the way to the bank.

Boris was a major political figure on the world stage, but when your own parliamentary party start to side with the opposition; you have to go. I just hope his successor will be as worthy of the position as Boris was. The last thing we now need is a weak PM, or (heaven forbid) a radical Marxist government.

I'm already beginning to notice a certain sadness amongst the more logical thinkers that Boris is going. He was a real character, and a good politician.

As Joni Mitchell reminded us 'You don't know what you've got till it's gone'.

My £5 is still on Penny Mordaunt to replace Boris, although I now see she's slipped into second place.

26 comments:

  1. Your analysis is thoughtful and helpful to me way across the pond in the US.

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    1. Some politicians are simply ineffectual, but Boris was a 'doer'. He has a very good understanding of international affairs, and has always been a powerful speaker. In fact he has everything to make an opposition party hate him.

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  2. Sad though that the next prime minister will be chosen by less than 1% of the population... 95% of whom are white older males from the Southern Counties . Doesn't really feel representative of even the Conservative party.
    Roll on the General Election

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    1. The party should chose its own leader, and this will be the case.

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    2. GZ, I don't even want to think about those "95 %" you mention.

      Leaving aside the "leader", the voting system (GE) needs to change. Bring on proportional representation. Then we may see something like "democracy" - representing the many not the few.

      U

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    3. What you really mean is that it's the only way to get the 'also rans' into power.

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    4. Exactly U..it is one thing when the government is elected by over 50% of the electorate..but when it is barely a third...

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    5. At least the Conservatives don't allow Union Block Votes to control them. They leave it to the members.

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  3. If BoJo was an intellectual, he did very well to hide it. I've come to expect the worst from our leaders and I am seldom disappointed. I don't know enough about British politics to really comment but perhaps his time in government wasn't so bad for the country, but his personal and leader behaviour was disgraceful. Such a shocking waste of political capital.

    Sanuk is in front. Bad. Mordaunt will have less closet skeletons.

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    1. A PM should be judged by what he achieves for the country, not by comments made by the opposition. Boris was a good Mayor of London, and has been doing good things as PM. As I keep saying, the more success the more hatred.

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  4. Johnson was a disaster. Disorganised. Changed rules that did not suit him. Scorned the ordinary working people of this country and lied, lied, lied. Shamefully, he claimed that he was leaving with his "head held high". However, I accept that you and I sing from different hymn sheets and that won't change so there's little point in arguing.

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    1. Just be grateful YP that your 'possible' choice of Corbyn, Rayner, Abbott, and Co, weren't elected. The country would now be on its knees, instead of having had the fastest growing economy in the G7.

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    2. To say Johnson scorned the ordinary working people sums up the total ignorance of YP. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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  5. BJ accomplished a fair amount. That said, he generally underestimated people. His very visible unwise antics did him in. He felt, in his position, he could do whatever he fancied. Flawed thinking

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    1. Yes, it was the non-political side of his tenure that eventually floored him; it all came thick and fast. I've just been looking at his Wiki page, he has an amazing history. Not many others around to match him.

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  6. We'll get what we get. One thing I can guarantee is that whoever it is won't be working for me or you. My guess he/she/it will be fully endorsed by the WEF.

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    1. As long as they work FOR the UK and not AGAINST it, as Labour would traditionally do, then all will will be OK. We really don't want more unemployment which is all that the unions offer.

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  7. Personally, I think that BJ made some bad decisions - he should have stopped HS2 before it wasted any more money and destroyed any more countryside, and committed resources to upgrading the much wider rail network. He should have committed to a fast expansion of nuclear power instead of buying into the renewables crap, and he should have appointed a genuinely low tax chancellor. He also has repeatedly bottled ripping up the NI protocol, leaving NI in a no-man's-land.

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    1. Will, they all do as they are told to do. Western World leaders all sing from the same hymn sheet. Build Back Better. Get vaxed. Lockdown the populace. Etc.

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    2. I totally agree with you, especially with the silly HS2. Renewables sound very 'eco', but in fact they're not. We need tried and trusted solutions,

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  8. I think covid placed the government in a very awkward situation as they would have been criticised no matter what stance they took - strict lockdown vs " business as usual". I have to say though that I really do not like this goverment but have no faith in the oposition. I am a disillusioned lefty who can sympathises with" righties" more and more but can never completely leave off leftism. Of the conservatives- my choices for leader would be none of the above- I like IDS, Theresa May and Rory the Tory

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    1. Unfortunately Tory Rory has left politics. I had him down as a future PM; I don't know what went wrong. Disillusioned maybe! He, like Boris, was a very bright boy.

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  9. But perhaps Penny Morduant would be a good choice...She has raised the bar for disabled children

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    1. Her book has a forward by Bill Gates. That makes me think her very strange, that and wasting parliamentary time talking about cocks. I suspect she is another May and one that is not averse to pie eating. Not that that makes her any worse than the others.

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    2. I don't know a huge amount about her. Of course I've read her Wiki page, and I've seen her performing. Her very easy put-down of Angela Rayner is one of the best videos around. One almost feels sorry for Rayner!

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