LAST Friday in London an unseemly mob, many in pin-stripe suits, some incongruously in blue T-shirts, marched along the footpath towards parliament.
They were chanting, ‘Who do we want?’ ‘Leadsom for leader’ was the answer. The Guardian described them as “The Walking Dead on the Countryside Alliance March”. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, it was the unspeakable in pursuit of the unelectable.
With them but not of them, demonstrating her unerring political judgment, walked our remote, clueless proconsul looking vacant and embarrassed. She wasn’t chanting, you’ll not be surprised to learn, but she was there. It tells you a lot.
Walking with that lot, the far right of the Tory party, lamenting the slaughter of the dreadful treacherous Gove and arch liar Johnson, dreaming of a return to a Little England of social conservatism and lack of diversity meant supporting the unlamented Leadsom.
In what little she revealed of her ideas she told us she wanted to abolish maternity rights for women in small companies and any obligation for SMEs to establish pension schemes for employees.
Of course she was also in favour of fox-hunting and opposed to same-sex marriage and was anxious to wear her Christianity and knowledge of the Bible on her sleeve.
That was a near shave. She could easily have been elected, given the average age and social conservatism of Conservative Party members and their concentration in salubrious rural parts of England opposed to the arrival of the 21st century.
However, from our point of view it explains why our proconsul’s default position is to support the DUP. If she went along with half Leadsom’s views she’s actually more extreme than the DUP.
Still, it’s history. Theresa May will be prime minister tonight. It was some achievement for Leadsom that the prospect of her in Downing Street was so frightening it made even Labour supporters begin to pray for May.
That would be a mistake. May was the least worst of a horrible slate of candidates but she’s also very right wing, far more so than Cameron whose views were pretty elastic.
May’s long period at the Home Office is likely to have made her more hard-line on matters concerning MI5 and MI6 and police and surveillance powers.
We know she has no patience with the European Convention on Human Rights. Indeed almost the only policy of hers people here are aware of is her desire to abolish the convention.
Unfortunately May’s elevation to prime minister comes at a time when the Irish government is at sixes and sevens.
There was a rumour that half a dozen Fine Gael TDs were to put down a no-confidence motion in a party meeting tonight.
Unlikely, but nevertheless a straw in the wind. At the very time when there is need for a strong stable government in Dublin the only talk is when will Kenny go: this summer or after the Budget in October?
The fact is there’s a policy void in Dublin but worse, we know from last week that not only can Kenny not push anything through the Dáil without Fianna Fáil approval, he can’t even push anything controversial through his Cabinet without some of the Independent TD ministers rebelling.
An election in the Republic will be at the time of Fianna Fáil’s choosing and perhaps before Kenny goes and a new leader can be elected.
Meanwhile, in Britain there will be a new prime minister who has had the summer to read herself in, look at new plans for Brexit and set a course.
After a wobbly fortnight the Conservatives will hang together, may even call an election May is sure to win because the Labour party has gone missing.
It’s an unprecedented set of circumstances which means that for both governments the north will be at the bottom of the in-tray.
In the short term what the change in Britain means is that we might have a new proconsul who will need a couple of months to get on top of the issues here.
Don’t get your hopes up. Given the lurch to the right by the Conservative Party it could be someone who makes Marine Le Pen look like Nelson Mandela.
