One last heave by desperate PM

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In his last-ditch attempt to ensure the success of Project Oblivion, the PM has apparently been sending out hourly tweets making increasingly fantastical claims about what Labour will do if they win, including the abolition of exams, the demolition of the green belt, and taxing people for driving their cars. About the only things he hasn’t so far accused Starmer of planning are the abolition of democracy and the installation of Starmer as PM for life. Which is something of a pity, because it takes much less deliberate misinterpretation of Starmer’s words to conclude that he wants to do both of those things.

Yesterday, Starmer told us that the UK will not rejoin the EU in his lifetime, one of the few definitive pledges he’s managed to give in a somewhat lacklustre campaign. Since no government can bind its successors, the only way he can deliver on that pledge is to remain in office until he dies. That, in turn, obviously means the abolition of democracy. It’s a silly extrapolation of a silly statement, of course – but no sillier than much of what Sunak has been saying about Labour’s plans.

But there is a real point here about democracy, and it doesn’t just apply to Starmer; it equally applies to Sunak (or whoever succeeds him as party leader). Ruling things out categorically clearly implies that public opinion has no role or place in decision-making. And nor is it just about the EU. Both parties have repeatedly made it clear for example that even if the SNP were to win every seat in Scotland on a manifesto pledging an independence referendum they would ‘never’ allow such a referendum to be held. They’ve gone further as well – they have claimed that a defeat for the SNP in today’s election, an outcome which is possible according to the polls, will kill the idea of independence for ever, as though those who argue for it have no right to continue promoting their views after a single electoral setback. It is a profoundly anti-democratic stance to take.

Whether the issue is the EU or Scottish independence, or whatever else, it is reasonable to suggest that the decision shouldn’t be revisited by an annual referendum, and to debate, in that case, how long is a reasonable period before re-assessing public opinion. It is not reasonable, and not the act of any democrat, to argue that it doesn’t matter what the public think (nor, in the case of Scotland, whether they vote for parties supporting such a proposition) and that the decision can and will be made by the PM of the day. It serves to underline how strongly both the main English parties are wedded to the idea of absolute sovereignty being vested in the crown-in-parliament rather than in the people. On the basis that you can’t abolish what you don’t have, they don’t really need to propose the abolition of democracy.

Loosing the hounds

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In the last two days before voting starts, Sunak has obviously decided that his Tory Oblivion Project needs yet another boost. The lies became even more fantastic and a whiff of antisemitism was deployed. Whilst the project received something of a setback with the Nigel Farage plc Party coming close to an implosion over racism and admiration for Putin, Sunak hadn’t yet played all his cards. Fresh from reminding us of the disaster which was Liz Truss, yesterday it was finally time to roll out her predecessor as another reminder of just how chaotic the last few years have been and how dishonest his party can be. That Johnson seems to have declined to be pictured with, let alone shake hands with, the current incumbent was a beautiful bonus.

But with the latest poll showing the Tories still retaining as many as 64 seats, it’s time for desperate measures if he is to get down to less than 50 and be certain of losing his own seat. Today, in a final roll of the dice, he’s let the dogs off the leash. First up in admitting that defeat on a huge scale is inevitable was Suella Braverman, who somewhat strangely seems to believe that making the wipeout even greater will aid her chances of becoming leader. But then, most of what she believes seems a little strange. She was rapidly followed by the ever-dependable poodle Mel Stride, always guaranteed to present the picture his leader wants presented. Just how many other outgoing cabinet ministers will be loyal enough to their leader to step up to the plate and concede defeat before the polls open tomorrow is as yet unclear. Perhaps Sunak has another card or two in the pack that he can play if they don’t, but it’s not obvious what they might be, and he’s leaving it very late. On the final day of the campaign, the success of the TOP is still on a knife-edge.

Might Sunak's message be a little too subtle?

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As Sunak’s Tory Oblivion project winds its way towards a long-awaited conclusion in a few days’ time, his rhetoric becomes ever more hyperbolic and alarmist. And desperate. Take his claim, for instance, that Labour will wreck the economy in 100 days. It was obviously a deliberate attempt to evoke the memory of 45-day prime minister Liz Truss for the benefit of those who were starting to forget her, because I surely can’t be the only one who had an immediate mental image of her shouting from the back of the room, “What do you mean, it will take them 100 days? Hold. My. Coat.” At a time when one of Labour’s key messages is that they are more competent than the Tories, he has seized on the only clear example of his own party’s competence and efficiency that came to his mind, namely the economy-wrecking business. Superficially presenting his own party as the more competent, whilst subtly reminding people how much damage they did. For the sake of a successful conclusion to the project, we can only hope that it wasn’t a little too subtle for the audience.