No.69 - Time for a Rethink, James?
Dear James,
The body language said it all. On Monday night, on the steps of Downing Street, Boris had to force his boisterousness upon us. His enthusiasm had lost its energy and his jerky hand movements had lost whatever authenticity they ever had. Every recent Prime Minister, speaking from that rostrum outside Downing Street, has devalued the currency of the UK government. On Monday the process continued. Boris’s rapid turn and flight through the No.10 door was not the confident exit of the all-powerful. It was the coward’s retreat to safety. Yesterday in the Commons the body language reached a crescendo. As Boris made another poor speech for a no-deal option, the faces behind him were glum. The eyes were trying to believe in what their new leader was saying but they were over eager eyes and disappointment shone through the eagerness. No one believes him any more. It is all bullshit. Everyone knew that Boris was yet again blagging.
The dictionary definition of ‘blagger’ is ’someone who gets something they want by lying to people in a clever way.’ The problem is that the cleverness in Boris has never been more than the odd reference to long departed classical personalities like Pericles and a good memory does not mean that he is clever.
The real ‘cleverness’ in Boris’s blaggardry’ is provided by Mr Cummings, he who, three years ago, invented the ‘phrase ‘Take back Control’. For this Boris awarded this strange man, the epithet of ‘genius’. Unfortunately Mr Cummings is not so very clever. He is a monomaniac who apparently doesn’t even belong to the Tory party. He is quoted as saying that the only route to reform of a system is to break the current system first. He is also said to believe that he admires military strategists rather than political pundits. The combination of these two characteristics lead him last week to sack Sonia Kahn, a Downing Street adviser to Sajid Javid, for speaking socially to a friend who once worked for Phillip Hammond. He even called in armed police to remove Sonia in front of her shocked colleagues. Very military. Very mould breaking. But not the signs of a clever man. They are the signature of a dork, the dictionary definition of which is “Someone who has odd interests, and is often silly at times. A dork is also someone who can be themselves and not care what anyone thinks.”
Yesterday morning Dominic Raab, programmed according to the Cummings military manual, laboured to say, "We’re making good progress with Europe! A deal is in sight!” And, again, everyone knew that it was bullshit. Europe is being polite to the Tories but they spin it to suggest that the EU is weakening. The Tories, those past masters of hypocrisy, refuse to see genuine politeness and concern when it is staring them in the face.
But back to the body language James. Before last night’s defeat (328-301), William Rees-Mogg put on an unconvincing show of Roman oratory that in effect was the usual Tory list of false justifications for the recent coup. When he had finished he had the effrontery to drape his body over the front bench in the louche and disdainful style of the Oxford Union and accompanied this with the superior sneer of the entitled classes. The insult to the Commons and to all thinking people was obvious. Body language gives the game away. Even for those public schoolboys who are tutored from birth in its finer arts.
So there you have it James. Yesterday, you voted for this new band of brothers who have split your party, conspired to grab power and who wish to expose our nation to the calamity of a no-deal Brexit. Your vote is disappointing if not unexpected. You are now effectively marching under the orders of one man, a non-Tory fanatic called, Dominic Cummings. What remains of your party is under his orders but their body language says it all. They are uncomfortable and unhappy. Many of them must be squirming with embarrassment. Mr Cummings has become the problem. He will not last. And neither will Mr Johnson.
Time for a rethink James?
Kind Regards,
BH - Your Concerned Constituent