The Changing of the Guard.....or more of the same?

 

So the Serial Liar, the Rt.Hon. Alexander Boris dePfeffel Johnson, 80th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, has wandered off into the sunset of the Tory Back Benches.  Earlier this year he had stated a desire to serve further terms of office, remaining in power for perhaps another ten years - like so many things he has said, no-one was sure whether he was being serious or just having a laugh.  Given his childhood ambition of being "world king", I rather suspect he was serious.

As things turned out, his behaviour during his brief (less than three years, at least until his ignominious resignation, though he clung on for another three months until the Nasty Party found a new leader) term of office was riddled with lies, deceit, self-promotion, incompetence and general all-round crapness.  Despite this, his opinion of himself as a hero and the best PM in British history was been unwavering and on display at every opportunity - even as he delivered his valedictory leaving speech outside No.10 this morning.

The speech was a typical BoJo performance, riddled with nonsense about his achievements and those of his Party, glossing over the parlous state of the British economy, and opaque allusions to ancient Greek philosophers (or was it a Roman dictator?) that anyone lacking his Eton and Oxford University education - which is to say pretty much everyone else in the country (or world?) - could possibly understand.  Within half an hour, a number of videos popped up on You Tube highlighting at least 6 "lies" spoken during the lecture.  So par for the course, then.

Anyone expecting him to go quietly into an early retirement writing newspaper columns for the party's official news outlets (the Mail and the Telegraph) and anyone else prepared to swing a few grand into his (offshore?) bank accounts, or scribbling more historically inaccurate history books and biographies, or popping up on the odd tv show (Have I  Got News For You?  Strictly...?, that weird Jungle thing with Ant and Dec....?) are probably going to be disappointed.  He remains MP for Uxbridge & South Ruislip and shows no sign of letting that little earner go: expect him to continue spouting bollocks from the Back Benches for the foreseeable future.

-------------------------------------------------------------

His resignation gave the Party an ill-deserved chance of a policy re-set, an opportunity to restore public confidecne in politics generally and themselves more specifically by adopting policies that actually would benefit the ordinary man in the street.  But no, true to form, the Constervative and Unionist Party (a.k.a. the Nasty Party) ignored common sense and the public-at-large and went its own sweet way.

The leadership contest wound on its way as a motley crew of MPs vied for the job.  Only one was able to run on the ticket of  "I never served in the Cabinet under Johnson, so I really do offer something different".  Jeremy Hunt (for it was he, runner up to the Serial Liar in 2019) fell at the first hurdle.  Every other candidate was a Minister or ex-Minister in Johnson's Cabinets and hence paid to implement all the madcap legislation that he demanded (even those that were legally and constitutionally questionable). 

The final run off between "Ready for Rishi" Sunak and Liz "for Leader" Truss was a grubby and confused month's slog through hustings and local committee rooms between an uninspiring but at least half-way sensible Chancellor (Sunak) and a barely competent Foreign Sectretary who at least said all the rubbish that Johnson himself blabbered on about, only not so well (Truss).

The vote of Tory Party members - for they were the only ones with a say - came down in favour of Ms.Truss, by  around 20,000 votes of the 150,000-odd cast.  So that handul of people chose the new Prime Minister on behalf of the remaining 60-odd million British voters (most of whom would probably not agree with the choice).  That less-than-silent majority must now wait two years to deliver their own verdict, for that is when the next General Election is due.

Ain't democracy grand?

--------------------------------------------------------

So this evening, having flown to Balmoral so the Queen, bless her, could offer the job (and having spent several orbits of Aberdeen airport waiting for thick fog to clear), Liz the Leader arrived back in Downing Street......in a brief gap between monsoon rain showers.  As portents go, they are perhaps not the best.

She has a bad reputation when it comes to speechifying, being politely referred to as "a bit wooden", and tonight's opening four minutes was true to form.  But at least it was confident, and businesslike, if a bit light on detail when it came to delivering on her pledges (understandably after only about four hours into the job, I suppose).  

But it was Johnson Lite, and started with a few words of praise for her predecessor, quoting three tired old Johnsonian Lies:

"He delivered Brexit" - no, he didn't.  He negotiated and signed off on a legal Agreement with the EU to bring Britain out of the bloc, and reneged on crucial parts of it within a few weeks.  This triggered dispute proceedings that continue to this day, and Truss is due to meet the EU leaders in a couple of weeks to discuss.   If she continues her Brexiteer convictions (freshly minted when the Serial Liar appointed her to Cabinet, having voted Remain in the Referendum) the dispute proceedings may well escalate to legal proceedings - i.e. Britain sued in a Court of Law.  It seems to me Brexit is far from delivered yet.

"He delivered the Covid vaccine rollout" - no, he didn't.  The major pharmaceutical companies, not all of them British, delivered the vaccines, and the National Health Service nurses and doctors delivered their roll-out.  For which they were (eventually) rewarded by a grateful, Johnson-led government with a paltry pay rise not even sufficient to pay for their daily car parking fee and a cup of coffee from vending machines.

"He stood up to Putin's aggression" - no, he didn't.  Volodymyr Zelenski and the Ukrainian people are doing that.  A handful of flying visits to Kyiv to stand next to Zelensky and say all the right things in front of the press cameras is not standing up to anyone, let alone Putin.  Nor is sending some weapons to the country, and some troops to train the Ukrainians in their use standing up to Putin: it's simply what many other countries are also doing, a face saving gesture.  Making it diffuclt for Ukrainian refugees to enter the country, even those with relatives already in Britain, is not standing up to Putin either - it's just petty, but that's probably as much down to Pretty Priti as BoJo.

Frankly, I will have no respect for Truss or any other Tory politician until such time as they start admitting that these claims are perhaps not strictly true and simply repeating Johnson's bullshit.  I will be waiting a long time.

But for now, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.  She may surprise us all and be a very good Prime Minister and actually deliver on her promises and improve the country, solve the economic meltown and all the other stuff.  Much will depend on who she appoints to the Cabinet and the names being bandied about don't fill me with confidence (Chancellor Kwarteng?  Home Secretary Braverman??  Foreign Secretary Cleverly??? Ye Gods.....).

Time will tell, I suppose.