No. 194 – The American Nightmare is Over: Boris and his Government are Isolated.

Dear James,

Yesterday, on a bright, cold January Morning in Washington, America carried out a peaceful transition of power. Donald Trump left the White House at 08.00 and Joe Biden entered it at about 4pm. Just enough time to do a quick clean up, hoover the corridors, steam clean the carpets, clear out the ashtrays and open a few windows. America breathed a sigh of relief. As did much of the free world. 

By 6pm another kind of cleaning was happening. President Biden made a speech in which amongst other things, he said that the time of lies was over and that America would return to the search for truth. Then he signed a whole slew of Executive Orders rescinding those egregious orders of his predecessor. The Muslim ban was lifted, America would re-join the WHO and 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the border wall was stopped and the Keystone oil pipeline go-ahead between Canada and the USA was cancelled. Welcome back America. Your dalliance with populism is over. Joe Biden has a huge task ahead but he is probably the right man for the job. 

Meanwhile, over here, ‘Britain’s Trump’, Boris Johnson looked on and pretended that all would be well between his government and the new American administration. On the surface he’s right. When the two men meet for the first time it will be all smiles and talk of the special relationship. After that though, things will not be the same. Joe Biden and most of his team always believed that Brexit was a mistake, based upon lies told by Boris. They remember what Boris said about Barack Obama’s ‘part Kenyan’ ancestry and his ‘ancestral dislike of the British Empire’. No doubt too, Biden, a proud Irish American who reads Irish poetry, will have his own views of the British in Ireland. Not the best basis for future cooperation? 

It is possible James, that the election of Joe Biden hails the end of the  temporary madness the world knows as populism. A ‘normal’ American government has returned to the world leaving our own government of populist apologists isolated in a world returning to this new normalcy. Just a few days ago, your planning minister, Robert Jenrick, - a man who last year tried to overrule planning objections for the development of a site in East London in return for a £12,000 contribution to Tory party funds - refused to override the plans for the first deep coal mine in the UK for thirty years. And that in a country that is hosting November’s  COP26 Climate Conference in  Glasgow! What a contrast to Biden who yesterday stopped its American equivalent, the Keystone oil project. Poor Mr Jenrick! It seems that he cannot help revealing the true nature of this Tory government. He now intends to subject removal of historical monuments – something he claims is currently subject to the cultural committees of “town hall militants and woke worthies”. to planning permission with a ministerial veto over any decision made. Oh boy, here we go. A country that will not reviews its history is the next worst thing to a government that makes up its history. Look at Russia, look at Nazi Germany where distorted histories are and were just another form of ‘fake news’. 

 Yesterday Joe Biden said in his inaugural speech, “we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.” Are you listening Boris? Do you remember all those porkies you told during your ‘colourful’ career? Biden went on, ‘There is truth and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens, as Americans and especially as leaders. Leaders who are pledged to honour our Constitution to protect our nation. To defend the truth and defeat the lies’. Were Boris, Mr Gove and Nigel Farage listening I wonder? 

 Lies and false optimism continue to be the trademark of the populists everywhere. Government by Tweet is no government at all. It is usually a disguise for incompetence and chaos. Boris will be found out one day James. And yesterday, that day came one big step closer! 

Kind regards,

BH – Your Concerned Constituent