“Can someone please tell the Labour Party that they won the election?” asks William Keegan in observerHe criticises Rachel Reeves for her continued adherence to the previous government’s budget rules and her acceptance of austerity as a political tool.
If we were to ask the man or woman on the street now, we would find that they don’t give a damn about Mrs. Reeves’ household rules. They just want life to be better. This is hardly surprising. But Mrs. Reeves tells us that we cannot have a better life without her household rules, only it turns out that we cannot have that life even if with neither do they. And it is neither naive nor unrealistic for the public to ask what is so special about these damn rules and whether there could be other rules?
There are many economists who would tell us that. But they are not the Chancellor of the Exchequer. There is a kind of freemasonry that comes with that role. The worst sin of a Chancellor is to break with orthodoxy, and to be considered a good Chancellor you have to conform.
So here we are, among the dead, and where is the optimism? Is a little hope too much to ask? Without it, some will ask, what was the point of voting Labour?
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JB Priestley described politicians as “a bunch of dwarves trying to grill a whale”, which is an overly unkind term – although Brexit unfortunately suggests that Mr Priestley may the right words.
On Wednesday, The times quoted an unnamed government source as saying: “Nobody will say it publicly at this stage, but there is agreement that we need to move in this area. If we are serious about rebalancing relations with the EU, we need to be prepared to give them some of the things they want.”
However, the official government spokesman was appalled by the idea, saying: “We are not considering this, there are no plans and no work on this. Our negotiating team has very clear red lines and none of the preparatory work concerns this.”
So what is going on here (apart from the government having its head stuck in its own rectum, of course)?
Before the election, some Labour shadow ministers complained anonymously about the party’s untenable position. We can assume that this concern has not diminished. But the government is trapped in a position it desperately put itself in when Brexit sympathies took over. It was designed to cloak its fears of public antipathy to immigration, but gradually that fear has become the core of party policy, unquestioned or even mentioned.
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Polls show that Keir Starmer’s popularity has fallen back to the level he reached as opposition leader immediately after the election. On the other hand, most people support his actions against the rioters or think he should have gone further.
This is a disappointment for the injured and outraged right wing. The rioters had been made to use “Stop the boats” as their Cause Famebut these patriotic neophytes, looting and throwing bricks at police, have put their political and media supporters in a difficult position. As one social media post points out, “Nothing says ‘Stop the boats!’ louder or clearer than stealing a load of overpriced soap.”
In the far right’s personal mythology, the public is one with them in their outrage at the arrests, even though all the evidence contradicts this. So, not for the first time, the Tories have conjured up a mythical land of lost contentment in the face of reality. The difference is that they are no longer in power and so their delusions have become irrelevant. Until they face reality – and that seems a long way off – they cannot reemerge as a serious political party.
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We can only hope that the Labour Party strategy team will take note of such revelations as that the race riots were “undoubtedly” (according to a well-connected commentator and former MI6 agent) caused by the involvement of the Russian state. The bewildered rioters claim that a Art Patriotism, no matter how far one stretches it, simply could not accept the reality that the country is being undermined at the whim of Vladimir Putin.
Of course, the unredacted Russia report is still pending, the publication of which was blocked by the same Prime Minister who, while Foreign Minister, evaded his security forces and flew to an Italian castle to attend a salacious party thrown by the son of a known KGB agent who also happened to be there, and with whom the same Foreign Minister subsequently had a secret conversation.
We must hope that No. 10 has added “Russian sabotage and treason” to the long list of Tory scandals to be exposed at some point, or when the new government gets into trouble for something else. As dead cats go, that would be a real blast.
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After 14 years of waiting, we are naturally impatient for the Labour government to finally show what it can do. When they arrive, they have a few ‘flagship’ policies to boast about, followed by initial, anxious criticism of things that are missing but which we hope will soon appear. But distrust of the government remains, particularly on the left, and what we fear most is the prospect of it drifting into policies that look like business as usual.
So there was a lot of excitement this week over claims that the government wants to renew badger hunting licences. The Minister for Agriculture also happens to be Daniel Drawerthe Member for Cambridge.
Of course there is a powerful agricultural lobby, but we know that the slaughter of badgers is not the desired goal and that an effective vaccination programme is expected to be introduced in the medium term. However, this is one of the issues that is still not being addressed in the centres of power and is unlikely to be a high priority. Until the vaccination programme is introduced, the battle between badger advocates and farmers will continue.
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The lack of Nigel Farage from his Clacton constituency has of course not gone unnoticed. He always seemed to be the most unlikely MP. While Jaywick Burns, Mr Farage is about to make his third trip to the US since the election. So far Mr Farage has offered two excuses for his absence and both seem to be based on the fact that his voters have a much more globalist outlook than we might have assumed they do. His first reason for his absence was that he wanted – as he claims his voters are demanding – to save the planet from World War III. His most recent excuse is that he wanted to “represent Clacton on the world stage”.
What could this mean? Game of the mind immediately paints a picture of Mr Farage as a kind of duck-billed Butlins redcoat greeting Johnny Foreigner at the end of the pier. Does he intend to impress an unsuspecting world with the obvious Beautiful world of life in Clacton? Invite a lot of visitors to visit? After all, the customers voted for him in the expectation that he would actually save them from having to meet foreigners and not attract more of them to the country.
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To the deepest regret of this diarist, Nigel Garage has already taken over from Liz Truss as the ever-present figure in these doodles. He also had trouble this week over his earnings, which readers will no doubt have heard are in addition to his parliamentary salary as an absentee MP for Clacton.
But what does he actually do for all that money? He says he works 72 hours a month, plus 64 hours of one-off work. A large part of his income comes from his appearances at GBTVfor which he will probably have to fly back to this country. He is therefore booked for about 35 hours of extra-parliamentary work per week, although this does not include travel. He could be in Southend Airport, convenient for Clacton, although readers may be surprised to learn there is no evidence of this.
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Once again we are reminded of Samuel Johnson’s remark about one of his contemporaries: “The more he talked of his honour, the more we counted the spoons.” But it is clear that many Clacton residents are prepared to give their new MP considerable leeway in how he intends to represent them. A possible loss of cutlery is of little consequence when you eat your fish and chips with your fingers. There are those whose forgiveness of their MP for any negligence outweighs any criticism. One respondent on a local social media page explains: “I think Farage is doing exactly what the people who voted for him wanted. That is, he just carries on being Nigel. I don’t think they have any interest in constituency office hours.”
Not even in Jaywick?
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Just a word about the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party, which will continue for weeks. From the candidates Kemi Badenoch (NW Essex) is a woman who holds strong views on other people’s moral principles while seemingly having little interest in exploring the trackless wilderness of what passes for her own. She displays a desperate lack of empathy with those she is supposed to serve, except those with extravagant amounts of money and a firm determination to hold on to it.
So she supports every attack on carbon neutrality and cheers contracts for new fossil fuel drilling. Only someone who is completely uninterested in what happens outside her own little world could hold that view, but to prove she means business she is prepared to put other people’s money to work. She has accepted a £10,000 donation to her campaign from a Tufton Street-based climate denial group, Net Zero Watch.
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George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) gives the impression of a man who takes himself seriously. He seems self-satisfied, almost relieved, like a character in an ad for a constipation remedy. But then again, knowing that you’re going to pocket $300,000 this year would probably produce the same feeling of well-being.
Mr Freeman recently complained that he could not live on a ministerial salary of £123,026 plus expenses, so it is possible that he will have something to say if, as expected, the Government imposes strict restrictions on MPs’ extra income, possibly banning it altogether.
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Thanks to Jess Knopp
More from Author lines from East Anglia
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