To Hell With The Country, Party Poltical Power Politics Rule

To Hell With The Country, Party Political Power Politics Rule

The news that Theresa May has taken personal charge of the Brexit negotiations I take to be a good sign, in as far as anything concerned with Brexit can be termed good. It hadn't occurred to me before but a possible reason that negotiations with the EU have been going nowhere is that that is precisely what the hard-line Brexiteers intended: a no-deal exit. That, as is generally acknowledged, would be catastrophic for British commerce and industry, traditional supporters of the Conservative party, in the short to medium term (20-50 years even in the estimation of arch-Brexiteer Rees-Mogg?) and Theresa May is unwilling to lose that support. Hence her take-over of the negotiations. What then happens, as some kind of deal acceptable to the EU makes its appearance in Parliament, is anyone's guess. Much will depend on the attitude of Labour's Corbyn to any proposed deal, and since he is off with fairies on a cloud somewhere above his ivory tower, that too has to be anyone's guess. The eventual result, no doubt the crux of the negotiations here on in, is what can be presumed to obtain a majority approval in the British Parliament and be acceptable to the EU.

What should be abundantly clear in all this is that the welfare of Britain is the least of concerns of anyone in power in the UK. Prognosticators on all sides seem to agree that Brexit will damage the UK and that is OK with both of the main political parties. All previous appeals to patriotism, sovereignty, taking control, etc, can now been seen as in truth the window-dressing they always were. What is at stake for the politicians is not the country but their power in the party political battle. With the British public presented with a choice between political extremes of right and left, and no one of significance in the middle, moderate ground, the interests of the country can go hang.

I find that very sad. In practical terms, it may (or may not, depending on the eventual outcome), matter to me very much, but our children and grandchildren will have to live with the result of a purely temporary, sordid little party political power struggle. And it looks as though nobody in political power in the UK, the guardians of the country's welfare, cares.

Brexit Update

Brexit Update

Oh the irony of it! Cameron promised a referendum on the EU in 2016 to avoid a split in the Conservative party and the referendum has become the cause of that split. The circus clowns were going to have their day anyway and now they are having it. Boris Johnson is right in one respect: May's Brexit proposals please no one, neither those who voted Remain nor a considerable proportion of those who voted Leave. It must be obvious to a blind man that there is now no real desire on the part of the British people for any realistic form of Brexit. The right-wing fantasies, given sway by chicanery and probable electoral fraud, have been exposed as such. So what poliician now can, with a straight face, call the referendum result «the will of the people»?

It is very difficult not to conclude that the will of the people now is, albeit perhaps reluctantly, to stay in the EU. Politicians rightly say that they should represent the will of the people but how many of them will represnt that will now? How many of them will have the courage to put the welfare of the country and its peoples' wishes before their own political ambitions? We will see over the coming weeks.