No.43 - Out of the Bunker and into the Light?
Dear James,
It must have been quite a scene in the 1922 Committee last night with Mrs May offering her head in return for your voting for her deal. I would like to say this was a noble gesture. Unfortunately, it was an act of desperation. The deal was her scalp in return for her awful Withdrawal Agreement. Apparently tears were shed but otherwise, there was none of the usual table thumping and sworn claims of loyalty. Only the silence of the tomb. It must have been like those last hours in the Berlin bunker with those final flashes of forlorn hope ‘Roosevelt is dead’, or ‘Busse’s about to break out’ evaporating into thin air. So Mrs May, shortly after emerging from the bunker, heard that the DUP was not going to support the deal. At least one group of diehards was willing to stick to their principles. Messers Rees-Mogg and Johnson must be feeling quite dejected this morning. Having to rely on that old canard, ’We have to choose the least worst option’, must be one of the most craven surrender statements of all times. Whatever happened to those charges of ‘vassalage to the EU’ or the promises of ‘Sunlit Uplands’? Surely it is the ultimate humiliation for a nation to choose its destiny on the basis of the principle of ‘the least worst option.’ We are not at war, we are not surrounded by hostile armies, we are already within a situation which is far superior to the least worst option. It is our current membership of the European Union. Only the Tory yearning for ’the good old days’ is holding us back.
Today the SMMT, THE CBI, and the British Chambers of Commerce are venting their frustration and anger at parliament’s impotence. They are facing the real world impacts while parliament fiddles and the government writhes in its death throes. Last Saturday a million marched through London to ask for a second vote. Simultaneously almost 6 million signed a petition to revoke Article 50 while Farage’s march to London seems to have only about 100 people in its ranks. The picture is staring you in the face James.
The problem is that parliament and the government are trying to make decisions on the basis of a voting landscape that is no longer there. That is the problem with a referendum. It is a snap shot vision of a particular time and has no escape clause. It is the political equivalent of a shotgun marriage. You and Mrs May are stuck on the mantra of the People’s Will version 2016. If you were a true democrat you would know that the People’s Will has changed. It is now People’s Will Version 2019. And, by the way, any Second Referendum, necessary in this case to cancel the last, must be the final use of this alien device.
Meanwhile Mrs May will probably still want to go down burning. Tomorrow she may put forwards Meaningful Vote 3. Even if she won it she would be guilty of winning through bullying and threatening her troops and every General will tell her that that is no way to win a battle, let alone a war. It is certainly no way to run a country. Of course, before she can submit it, she would still have to convince the Speaker, Mr. Bercow, that MV3 is substantively different from MV2 and M1. Thank God that someone still believes that a principle held is a principle enhanced!
Last night Margaret Beckett’s Motion for a Second Referendum was one of the closest – at 268 for and 295 against - of the indicative votes. That makes a margin of 27 votes. You will be voting again on Monday so please listen to the electorate James. Listen to business. Try to keep up with current opinions outside the Westminster bubble. It is time to realise that everything has changed and only the electorate can restore legitimacy to the current parliament.
So come out of the bunker James. Let the light of the people shine once more into the chamber of the House of Commons.
Next Monday, please give us the vote!
Kind regards,
BH - Your Concerned Constituent