Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…
This won’t mean much to those of you who take no interest in UK Politics, but Nadine Dorries has finally resigned and metaphorically stuck the knife into Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s back in her resignation letter.
She was an MP who manifestly failed to represent her constituents in any meaningful manner and I am not sorry to see the back of her. Michael Spicer nails it:
The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has pulled the plug on his Cabinet and the government has fallen.
Rutte and his VVD party want to bring down the number of asylum seekers, so they went for a proposal to prevent families of asylum seekers fleeing a war zone from coming to the Netherlands for at least two years. Absolutely insane and morally contemptible – and two of the other parties (ChristianUnie and D66) in the coalition refused to accept the proposal – quite right.
So it looks like elections in November. Naturally, Wilders’ PVV will want to limit immigration on all fronts, and it looks like the VVD are going down the same route.
There’s also a question over whether the D66 party will be led again by Sigrid Kaag. Two of her (adult) children have said that they have misgivings over her safety in public, and Kaag is taking this seriously.
She’s a very interesting and capable woman; married to a Palestinian and has (had?) a home in Jerusalem as well as the Netherlands. Her Wikipedia entry is more than impressive. I wish more of our politicians had her experience.
Instead, we have politicians like the appalling Wilders and Baudet. Then there’s the newcomer Caroline van der Plas of the populist BBB party. She has a single seat in the Tweede Kamer (herself), but her party recently swept to power in the provincial elections. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that her people are inexperienced and chaos looks likely to ensue. As far as I can see, the BBB has the standpoint that the farmers can do no wrong, and to hell with nature and the climate crisis.
We live in interesting times…
We’re talking about Boris Johnson, of course. That quote is taken from today’s column by Rafael Behr in the Guardian. The column is headed: “Boris Johnson is gone, but his toxic Brexit myths will go on”. I’m afraid that is very true. Johnson has both damaged and trivialised British politics , perhaps irreparably.
Behr’s column is well worth reading.
I’m a couple of months younger than King Charles III. Since I’m not a monarchist, I won’t bother watching the coronation today – I’ll be doing something useful, like working in the garden. I suspect that the glory days of the British monarchy have passed with the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Yesterday was an interesting day in the life of UK Politics. There were two Select Committees sitting. One was hearing evidence from the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson claiming that he did not wilfully mislead Parliament and the other was Baroness Casey being questioned by MPs about her report on the Metropolitan Police.
Let’s look at the performance of Baroness Casey first.
She marshalls her evidence – note, evidence, not conjecture – and delivers it calmly and clearly. And what devastating evidence it was. The pause she makes before answering the question from Adam Holloway, the Conservative MP for Gravesham, is very telling and almost electrifying. It’s as though she cannot quite believe how stupid he is for not understanding what is meant by the term “institutional racism”.
Now contrast that with the performance of Johnson.
His defence appears to be be “I was told that the parties (some of which I attended in person) were not in conflict with the guidelines, so I didn’t mislead Parliament”. Or in other words “I am an idiot”. No, Mr. Johnson, you are not an idiot, but a narcissistic habitual liar with a huge sense of entitlement.
If there is any justice in the UK’s Parliamentary Democracy, he will be suspended from Parliament for wilful misleading of his fellow MPs.
John Major, in this interview with Andrew Marr a few weeks before the Brexit Referendum in 2016, has been proven right in every respect. Brexit has proved a disaster.
There are still a few wise Tories, but unfortunately they ain’t in the shower in power at the moment…
Thank heavens that Michael Spicer is on hand to pull aside the curtain.
I see that the Financial Times has at last weighed in with a film on the effects (mostly malign) of Brexit on the UK Economy. Well worth watching – but depressing as hell as an example of seeing a country indulging in an act of self-harm…
Turmoil in the UK Parliament. Matt Green sums it up very well and exaggerates the situation only slightly.
Now that Truss has resigned after only 44 days as PM, the competition is on to find her replacement. Frankly, none of the candidates give me much hope, and I see that the appalling Johnson is likely to throw his hat into the ring. Be afraid, be very afraid…
Addendum: and Michael Spicer illustrates just how hopeless Truss was…
Apparently, the ex-Chancellor of the UK was somewhat upset to (allegedly) receive a “rude gesture” from an estate agent in his home constituency.
Personally, I think he thoroughly deserved it… He tanked the UK economy with his “mini-budget” and caused a tsunami of problems in the property market.
And let us not forget that he went to a champagne reception with venture capitalists as soon as he had delivered the “mini-budget”.
I’m somewhat surprised that he hasn’t been pelted with something by now…
Of course, he is not alone in causing this disaster. There will be more Brexit chickens coming home to roost before too long, I think…
Elizabeth Windsor has died. Whilst I am no fan of the Monarchy, she served the country well. Jonathan Freedland has penned a fine elegy.
So Liz Truss has been anointed by a small bunch of elderly, well-off, white men as the next Prime Minister of the UK. The silver lining is that at least the disgraceful Boris Johnson no longer holds that office, after having consummately trashed its reputation.
The citizens of the UK, I fear, cannot afford to breathe a collective sigh of relief with the coming of Truss. If she puts into practice what she has promised with her views on economic policy, we are likely to see things in the UK getting worse, rather than better.
William Davies, in the Guardian, has a good analysis of the flaws in Trussonomics. He appears to hope that Truss will recant, but my fear is that she believes her ideology to the extent that it will not just destroy her, but the country as well. Beware the true believer.
A parade of shits, charlatans and shysters (hat-tip to John Crace for this all too accurate description of this bunch of idiots who have irreparably damaged the UK).
The Boris Johnson Farewell Special is a work of genius – Boris, sadly, is not. And he’s still around…
So Boris Johnson has finally decided to resign. As usual, even in his resignation speech, he blamed others for his manifest failings.
And even now, he wants to stay in office until the Autumn, until a new party leader is found. No thought of handing over the reins of power to his deputy. Given that the deputy is Dominic Raab, one might be forgiven for thinking that we would see little improvement in that eventuality.
Indeed, looking at the rest of the current government, there seems little hope that things will improve for the UK.
Still, at least the UK will eventually have got rid of their worst Prime Minister in living memory. Rachel Clarke sums up the legacy of this loathsome man very accurately.
Addendum 8 July 2022: I watched his resignation speech yesterday. I got as far as him uttering the words: “…I felt it was my job, my duty…” before turning off in disgust. Johnson never had, nor ever will have, a sense of duty, except to himself and his ego. The Guardian has a good analysis of what he said, and what he actually meant.
Addendum #2 8 July 2022: Marina Hyde in the Guardian is on fire. The second sentence sets the tone and the bar high, and it gets only better from then on…
Marina, I worship at thy feet…
“I couldn’t believe it when Prince Andrew announced he had Covid and therefore would not be attending today’s service at St Paul’s. That was the exact same excuse I was going to use to get out of writing a column on a bank holiday, but then I remembered that I’d had it in January, and also haven’t just paid £12m to an accuser in a sexual assault case. So here we are. And, indeed, here the Duke of York is not.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/03/kardashian-prince-harry-andrew-jubilee-royals
I remain a republican – and am with First Dog on the Moon on this one…
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