The former Labour MP and socialist firebrand Dennis Skinner was known for his acid tongue. He once got thrown out of the House of Commons for referring to then Prime Minister David Cameron as “dodgy Dave”.
Whatever about being “dodgy”, the rot at the centre of the Tory party definitely began with Cameron.
The combination of Cameron and his Bullingdon playmates George Osborne and Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson started a political stench at the heart of the British body politic which still lingers.
Between them they sowed the seeds of bitterness and mistrust which ultimately broke a country. Rich, self-entitled and privileged, they toyed with the future of the UK by playing politics as they would with tin soldiers in their nursery. It was all a game.
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Johnson was for a time the single least trustworthy and unprincipled politician in Britain. He could well have competition for the accolade amongst the current Tory hierarchy.
Osborne and Cameron were both guilty of political cowardice, sleeking away having set in motion the landmine which was the Brexit referendum.
Skinner was once attributed (though unsubstantiated) as saying “Half of the Tories opposite are crooks”. When asked to retract, the Beast of Bolsover allegedly replied: “Half the Tories opposite are not crooks”. True or not, it fits with the feisty vocabulary of the former MP.
If Skinner was still in Westminster, he probably would use more colourful language about those opposite. The current Tory administration isn’t simply out of touch, it’s moribund.
The recent Conservative conference may as well have been a blue rinse and tweed version of a far-right movement.
They appear to be fuelling themselves up for an election built on hate, untruth and fear. A bit like much of the country, they are running on empty.
Sunak is perhaps the richest prime minister since the Duke of Wellington. The fact that he is of Indian decent should be a mark of celebration/achievement and in some ways it is, but it’s social class and economic inequality which makes Sunak and his ilk so out of step with the lives of ordinary voters.
During the conference fringe circuit, Lord Frost (he of protocol fame) suggested that the pension age could rise to 75. On what silver-lined planet is this man living?
The average life expectancy for a male in the UK is 79 and here it’s a year less. Imagine working and contributing to a state pension for nearly 60 years only to receive the benefit for three. The UK pension is already amongst the worst in Europe.
These extreme ideas are usually floated to test the waters for harsh incoming policies. Mind you, looking at the make-up of the Tory grassroots, attacking pensioners seems like a massive own goal.
The current government likes to highlight the ethnic diversity of its front bench but this matters for little if the harsh social and economic policies it espouses have a greater negative impact on the lowest, underpaid socio-economic groups in society often dominated by ethnic minorities.
Just as Margaret Thatcher pulled up the equality ladder and did little for women’s rights, Braverman, Badenoch and Cleverly are unlikely and uninspiring role models for ethnic communities in the UK whose actual day-to-day life experiences are light years away from these privileged ministers.
Egged on by their jabbering vice chairman, the belligerent ex-miner Lee Anderson, the Tories appear to see electoral advantage in waging a culture war. Their targets as usual will be vulnerable minorities. They will feed off unfounded fears about immigration and portray asylum seekers as leeches.
This is a government without a moral compass. It’s a valueless vacuum except for a wretched desire to cling onto power by any means. Despite the mimicking of Trumpian rhetoric, the tide is out for the Tories. And I for one can’t wait to see the back of them.
