When it emerged on Monday that
Liz Truss had been meeting the Chair of the 1922 for ‘routine discussions’, I’m
sure that I was not alone in assuming that this particular 'routine' was the one
where the PM was passed a figurative bottle of whisky and a loaded revolver. It’s certainly
starting to look like a routine occurrence. However, by the time she got to the
House of Commons, it looked like she’d drunk the entire bottle and then forgotten
to use the revolver. Or, given past performance, fired it and missed. Six
times.
As she then sat on the bench
surrounded by the circling sharks, wearing a fixed non-expression while a
standing Jeremy Hunt trashed everything she’d said, including things uttered
only in the previous few days as well as things she hasn't even said yet (past, present, future - all happen simultaneously in Trussland), the image from the past which came to mind was
of Yeltsin dictating terms to Gorbachev as the Soviet Union disintegrated. Like
Gorbachev, she retained the job title, but all power had already flowed out of
her grasp, even if the full realisation hadn’t quite sunk in.
Today, she is due to face the
House of Commons herself for Questions to the PM. Perhaps Starmer will have an
off day; perhaps he will struggle with some sort of strange internal sense of
kindness. But barring either of those (or a reloaded revolver being quietly
passed to her before she gets to her place), she is facing further utter and
very public humiliation over things she’s said and is still saying. It can
surely only be a serious deficiency in the functioning neuron department which
prevents her from understanding just how humiliated she has already been, and
just how pointless it is to continue the farce.
Closer to home, our very own First
Minister showed a very rare flash of anger yesterday. It has outraged the
Tories, of course, but they would probably be outraged if they discovered he
had dared to eat cornflakes for breakfast (unless he hadn't, in which case they'd be outraged at that). Outside the ranks of the perpetually
outraged, it will probably have done Drakeford more good than harm (although we
should probably also exclude those who are opposed to cruelty to dumb animals).
The Tory ship, as badly holed as it is, can surely not continue floating for
much longer. Expelling vast clouds of faux outrage through the ever-increasing number of holes in an
attempt to keep the water out is necessarily a time-limited operation - even RT's apparently limitless supply of the stuff must come to an end at some point.
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2 comments:
ARTD's question was very appropriate given the state of various parts of the Welsh NHS. However he failed, again, to acknowledge his own party's contribution to the current state of affairs. Indeed if the Tories remain in power at Westminster by some miracle the medium term prospects for additional funding for NHS looks very grim indeed. Only the military/industrial and financial sectors look like they'll do well out of the new wave of austerity. Will Drakeford's tantrum clear his head and make him realise that his beloved Union ain't such a good insurance policy after all? Or does he remain addled enough to believe that planting Starmer into the P.M role will deliver lasting remedies for Wales?
Do't worry Liz people will still remember you in the future as you will be the answer for many pub-quis questions for many years to come.
Gwyn
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