Another New Prime Minister
It is difficult to write about the state of UK politics with any degree of intellectual rigour when the entire situation has become so utterly farcical. My initial reaction to the recent departure of Liz Truss after just 45 days in office, was to laugh with abject scorn and derision. She was destined to fail due to utter lack of ability. However, there is still the outstanding matter of the country lacking a credible and functional government to address inflation, the cost of living crisis and resolve all the issues stemming from Brexit. There are problematic national and international events taking place that need addressing. A united, pragmatic and empathetic government is required to solve both these short term and long term needs. Sadly, the governing party is riven with opposing factions and there is no commonly held policy or underlying ideology. The PM may well have changed but the underlying flaws remain.
The new incumbent of No 10 Downing Street, Rishi Sunak, has achieved one major milestone. He is the first British Asian Prime Minister and that is certainly noteworthy. However, beyond this I see no other reason to celebrate his appointment. He may have calmed the markets by representing the traditional face of Conservative fiscal prudence but he has no new policy announcements. Effectively, he intends to carry on with the conspicuously nebulous manifesto promises of 2019 and will no doubt usher in “Austerity 2.0” after his predecessor left a gaping hole in the nation’s finances and undermined our capacity to borrow cheaply. He has said nothing to allay the immediate fears of those on middle or low incomes. Furthermore, after promising to bring “integrity and accountability” back to UK politics he re-appointed Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, after she resigned for breaching the ministerial code 6 days earlier.
We are still two years away from a General Election and even if there was one announced tomorrow, I would still struggle to find a political party that came anywhere near representing what I consider to be the nation’s political and economic needs. I would vote Labour only to remove the current administration and not because I am overly enthused by the party. Ultimately I and many other voters are politically homeless and the current “First Past the Post” voting system does not favour new parties. Furthermore, over the course of my lifetime the UK electorate has become increasingly politically illiterate and increasingly impatient, resulting in certain socio-economic groups voting against their own interests. It raises the question as to how much responsibility do the electorate bear for the iniquities they inflict on themselves and others by their political choices? Overall I am not optimistic about the immediate future and I am reminded of that line from Gremlins 2 about “put everything you've got into canned food and shotguns”.
