It’s hard to imagine that it is less than a week since President Trump had his historic meeting with Kim Yong Un the bloodied dictator of North Korea. Nobody believed for more than one moment that this was going to be anything other than a glorified photo opportunity.
Both these men are predictably unpredictable. They shoot from the lip.
They threaten, charm, flatter with mood and policy changes as forecastable as the weather at a British seaside resort.
Yet somehow there was a chemistry. Whether is was out of Trump’s desire for his footnote in history or Kim’s not to be strung from a lamp post or dragged in chains to the war crimes court in The Hague, we will never know.
But we have the beginnings of a deal on denuclearisation of the Peninsular. So lets be at least cautiously optimistic. Best give it a chance before condemning it out of hand just because we find both leaders less than attractive. Oh, and in case you are wondering why denuclearisation will take place by 2021 let me enlighten you. It’s when the Presidential election is. So delightfully cynical.
The next day it was business as usual back home in Britain. The government was in crisis over Brexit and in particular the House of Lords amendments concerning remaining in the EEA and giving Parliament a meaningful say in the final deal if we ever get that far.
And if we don’t get that far, for Parliament to take over.
Needless to say that the government’s response give headless chickens a bad name.
The Brexiteers bit the carpet more than usual. And the Remainers threatened to defeat the government.
The usual threats from the Whips followed. This would lead to a general election and the wicked Corbyn and his Stalinist henchmen would occupy No 10 and every first born Tory baby boy would be put to the sword.
Then a fellow called Philip Lee, not even a household name in his own household, resigned on a matter of principle from an opaque ministerial job which allowed him to share a medium sized family saloon once a month with one of the door staff at the Ministry of Justice. Oh, and he could keep his sandwiches in a shiny red box.
So that big red button emblazoned with the legend Something Must Be done was pressed. Klaxons, sirens blared and flashing lights lit up the room as civil servants rushed in chanting,’something must be done’.
And it was. Grieve, Soubry and a scoundrel of Remainers cut a deal with May. A new fluffy bunny, rainbow coated, amendment would be put before the lords provided they didn’t vote with the government.
The Brexiteers thought they had been betrayed and threw their toys out of the pram with the usual screams shouts and threats of beheading the PM and replacing her with General Pinochet, Imelda Marcus or whatever right wing nut case who is neither dead or in an asylum.
This clearly touched a raw nerve in No 10 as you could smell the burning rubber as they did a U turn and went back on their deal with the remainers.
The government won the vote but at a considerable price. They were always despised by the Brexiteers for not having their hearts in the project and now are mistrusted by the Remainers. A lethal combination.
And the whole mess comes back to the Lords for another vote. Nobody has a clue what will happen. Today some are threatening the Lords with abolition.
Nobody having a clue seems to be the hallmark of both the government and the opposition.
However, on Saturday there was an exception. Sajid Javid, our new Home Secretary, did something sensible. He granted Billy Caldwell, the the poor little boy who will die of convulsions unless he receives his illegal cannabis oil medication which was confiscated by the Home Office, an emergency licence to be treated by it. And the day before that he lifted the insane immigrant cap on foreign doctors wanting to fill the massive in the NHS.
It’s good to see somebody doing something right.
We may be seeing the first sightings of someone who might just be up to the job. Of Prime Minister.
But then suddenly Jeremy Hunt appears victorious from a battle with the Treasury. Soon the NHS will be awash with cash and our problems will be solved. I have never met Hunt but he does seem a genuinely pleasant man with a safe pair of hands. In every sense.
He has the sense to realise that this is merely a quick fix and won’t solve the underlying problems. But it is a get out of jail card. And he has been shrewd enough to go along with the utterly bonkers line that somehow this is a Brexit dividend and vindicates the the metal lie that was the Boris bus. It shows he has a sense of humour.
Probably more impressive is that he understands the real problems with the NHS. The Lansley legacy, which he is steadily unpicking and bed blocking due to a crumbling care system. The idea of recovery villages is a good one. In the old days we used to call it convalescence.
Isn’t it strange? Potential prime ministers are like buses. You wait and wait then suddenly two come along at once.
