House Of Cards

House Of Cards: A Conspiracy Theory

We live in interesting times, particularly in the political sphere. As I've said before, I regard the referendum result as an opportunistic extreme right-wing coup. If that is indeed so, for how long has it been going on? Think: House Of Cards, that wonderful TV series of yesteryear in the UK and book by Michael Dobbs.

After the 2008 crash everybody accepted the need for a period of austerity, even if the degree of severity was debatable and not everybody swallowed the easy catch-phrase «we're all in this ttogether». As it happened, the UK embarked on more severe austerity than any EU country other than Greece and, well, the rich didn't suffer quite as much as the rest of us; theywere given a few tax breaks. What almost inevitably suffered most were public services: the NHS, of course, care servies, the police, fire services, etc. At around the same time the UK government omitted to sign off EU directive 2004/38/EC, which placed controls on intra-EU immigration.

Now, consider that you are a member of very rich, extreme right-wing cabal angling for power. How can the ground be prepared? Given the target of the UK as an offshore tax haven, austerity is good. It guts public services, which an offshore tax haven doesn't noticeably have; so austerity has to be continued, even increased (we can always promise that it is necessary so that conditions can be better tomorrow). What about the EC directive? Implementing it would require increasing the number of Border Agency staff, currently being cut. Not implementing it means we can continue cutting Border Agency staff and control of immigration will be aggravated as an issue, which is what we want. What we now need is a referendum on EU membership. We have virtually all the popular media under our control, what else do we need?

It's pure speculation of course but not beyond a House Of Cards.

The problem, of course, is to know what to do if the grand plan gets a bloody nose, as it did in the last general election. Except that it is not really a problem for the cabal; the plot failed so they simply walk away and try elsewhere. It follows inevitably that there is no plan B, as is blindingly obvious now. Any kind of compomise is of no interest; that is simply politics as usual. So what happens next? Who knows? Except that Brexit is now looking to be a tired issue; is it really worth all the expense, fuss and bother? What does a soft Brexit achieve for anyone? And public services are now at the forefront of the political agenda.