The most depressing, humiliating and confusing truth that Labour grapples with is that they are a staggering nine points behind the Conservatives. Yet they have convinced themselves that they were the real victors at the last election. That Britain is yearning for a Labour government, that Jeremy is their saviour. But despite the most formidable grass roots membership in Europe, they have learned that troops on the ground don’t win hearts and minds or votes. There has to be something more. Elections are won by reaching out to the middle ground.
Hardly a week passes without a real and present danger for the government. Dear Old David Davis, with the regularity of a cuckoo clock, presents an ultimatum, reads his latest resignation letter to anyone who will listen, caves in on a meaningless fudge of words and claims some sort of victory. The ghastly Mogg, high priest of the Cult of ERG, swears allegiance to Mrs May, whilst plotting her downfall. And that abomination that is Bozo, becomes outraged when his speech to a rag bag bunch of donor low life is leaked. Poor Boris has had his privacy ravished. He is feeling naked and unloved. Good.
But the most worrying thing about the Foreign Secretary’s stream of consciousness was not so much his well heralded economic illiteracy, but rather his amorality about the catastrophe that will soon engulf the United Kingdom. He nonchalantly speaks of bumps in the road, which is code for those poor devils who will be thrown onto the scrap heap of the dole queue when we Brexit. And then he casually warns of a meltdown, which is a metaphor for those bankers, car makers and investors who will flee the country when the balloon goes up.
Isn’t it depressing, but par for the course, that those who speak of these horrors as a ‘price worth paying’ are never the poor devils who have worked their guts out to create successful businesses and will lose everything? They tend to be the well upholstered and insulated against the shock waves that will put the economy into anaphylactic shock. Mogg will move his money around and Johnson will make a fortune writing articles and books about how the naysayers, traitors, civil servants and the wicked EU strangled the great project at birth. ‘If only they had done it my way all would be very different. Unicorns would have roamed our green and verdant pastures and fluffy bunnies would be hopping joyfully through beautiful rainbows!’he would thunder at a pound a word.
If these people weren’t so cynical the best thing that could be said of them is that they were deranged fantasists.And now they want to get rid of May. The only person showing any grit, guts and determination to try and reach a solution that is more painful than mortal. Is there no end to this dangerous coup d’twat gibberish? Apparently not.
It is as if the cult of ERG want us to stick rigidly to the Moonies play book. We give up our worldly possessions, live in a restricted community, deprived of facts until we are finally encouraged to drink hemlock on the promise of a better future. Faith through death.
But it’s not going to happen. The Tories have a primal sense of self preservation. A leadership election with no obvious leader as we are about to Brexit is electoral suicide. And most backbenchers are savvy enough to realise. The public will never forgive a party which takes a wrecking ball to the economy out of spite and political opportunism.
But the tectonic plates of our withdrawal have changed. There is no stomach nor a Parliamentary majority for a no deal crash out. We are nudging towards pragmatism. The Daily Mail will be taking a softer line since the ventilating of Paul Dacre and the appointment of moderate Remainer Geordie Greig as its editor.
Much will depend how the Commons votes on the Lords amendments next Tuesday and Wednesday. The trustys will warn that a vote to remain in the EEA will lead to a Labour government. Bollocks.
My message to backbenchers? Ignore the whips. Sovereignty means Sovereignty. It’s time for Parliament to take back control.