What’s in a word? In
one of the most powerful and memorable political speeches of my lifetime –
perhaps of all time – a true giant of politics told
us, “I have a dream”. Today, in perhaps the most forgettable of a series
of eminently unmemorable press conferences, a tetchy and soon-to-be-forgotten politician
told
us, multiple times, “I have a plan”. Articulating the detail of the plan,
beyond putting the entire effort of the government machine into sending a tiny
number of people to Rwanda whether doing so is lawful or not, has, once again,
eluded him. His ‘plan’, such as it is, is so badly flawed that it would never
have passed were it not for the support of those who went to such lengths to
make it clear that they already know that it will fail.
He now fears that
the unelected House of Lords, an institution which has always been known as a
bastion of traditional conservatism which is why the Tory Party has long resisted reform (even if they're not all Conservatives in the party political sense),
might actually act in accordance with those traditional values and defend the
rule of law. The result is that he has been reduced to begging those conservatives
to follow him by ditching all that they have previously believed and
capitulating to the lawless right of his party. He seems blissfully unaware of
the fact that at least some of those ‘loyal’ MPs who did not rebel over the
last two days of debate voted for the final bill with a degree of confidence
that it would be well and truly mauled by their lordships with no need for said
MPs to put their own heads above the parapet. Cowardice comes in many forms.
Yesterday’s events
also revealed that there is a secret weapon which can deter at least some of
the extreme right-wingers who have so successfully cowed Sunak into submission. Giggling.
It seems that one of the self-styled leaders of the revolt backed down at the
last moment because Labour MPs were giggling and taking the mick as the
over-hyped rebellion turned into an impressive demonstration of the willingness
of Tories to vote in favour of that which they had so vigorously opposed just
hours previously. The only question is ‘who’s weapon is it?’. Whilst Starmer’s
ridicule of Sunak earlier in the afternoon proved to be effective against the PM,
Labour’s fit of the giggles seems to have worked to Sunak’s advantage. Perhaps
he should ask Starmer to organise more of the same the next time the certifiable
tendency of his party - a much more accurate description than the rather grandiose and self-important, 'five families' - threatens a revolt.
Posts
2 comments:
The expected battle with the Lords should be avoid.
The leader of the Labour Party – Mr Starman, should contact the socialist majority in the Lords and get them to put his Bill on a fast-track back to the Commons without a dot being changed. This will get the Bill into law and Little, little Risky Sunak will have to deliver, as this is the last card he has to play. He will be toast, as the courts will not allow the flights to happen. Risky’s, plan could be all along, no matter what he said, is to get the Lords to stop it dead and go into an election with an excuse that it was -those ghastly socialists that did it and if you want more of that vote for Mr Starman.
Spirit,
The two small elements of doubt that I have about that theory are: firstly, the assumption that there is (or ever could be) a 'socialist majority' in the Lords (Sunak saying it repeatedly doesn't make it so) and secondly, that it implies that Sunak is clever enough to have thought it up. The evidence for the latter isn't exactly strong.
Post a Comment