No. 26 - Charades: ‘The Alternative Arrangements Working Group’?
Dear James,
Forgive me for this intrusion into private grief, but assuming that beneath your MP’s status there lies a beating heart and something approaching the need for facts, yesterday’s projection of Tory Party unity on the steps of the Cabinet Office was quite frankly embarrassing. Who does Mrs May think she is kidding James? Certainly not the majority of the British public methinks!
To see Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Patterson, Theresa Villiers, Nicky Morgan and Damien Green professing their party unity on the basis of their membership of the ‘The Alternative Arrangements Working Group’ was a little like watching a pre-massacre reunion of Cosa Nostra families in New York. The smiles were flickeringly faint, the grimaces held back temporarily for the cameras and the rest of the body language shiftily awkward and painful. I genuinely felt a moment of compassion for you all. The blood letting has been delayed for yet another day.
On the same day, the Business Secretary, Greg Clarke had to appear before parliament to admit that his hidden £60m deal with Nissan two years ago had crashed at the first bend. Now Mr Clarke is one of the more thoughtful members of our government but all he showed was that he had learned the Tory Party confidence trick – sound certain, sound caring, square up to the audience and let them believe in you through sheer entitlement and awe. His stentorian voice and acquired hyperlect were only fleetingly betrayed by his flat northern vowels. I can hear the party bigwigs whispering, ‘Hasn’t he done well?’
The above instances are just the latest projection of your party’s rapidly diminishing credibility as a political force. Who can forget the image of David Davis sitting, sans papiers, sans stylos, sans idées opposite Michel Barnier, who with polite incredulity and a fully prepared brief, waits, longingly to hear anything that might sound like a plan or even a thought?
Or Boris Johnson, full of public school bluster and bonhomie, sounding off one of his journalistic one liners with the full weight of his privilege and the vacuity of his thinking. ‘My policy on cake is pro having it and pro eating it!’ At least Liam Fox and Michael Gove attempt to justify their claims with the appearance of thought and consideration.
Riven by faction and attitude, our country is every day diminished further in the international arena by the Great Pretence that the Tory party is acting in the national interest because its members were born to govern. When I look across at the EU I see thoughtful politicians who have the quiet demeanour of people who listen to experts and debate the issues carefully and responsibly. As the only adults in the room, they look upon us in dismay.
Please come off it James. Face the facts. Please abandon this great charade of Tory party unity and start working for the national interest. The country needs a single plan for everyone and the best starting point for that would be to put the big question back to the people.
Kind regards,
BH - Your Concerned Constituent