The drama of the news more exciting than the real thing .....
I haven't need to look into my rear view mirror these past few days what has been unfolding in front of us on the nightly news has been so riveting.
I haven't watched a movie on Netflix, I haven't watched East Enders, I haven't really watched TV at all other than News, News and more News.
It has been both unbelievable and utterly riveting to watch the end of an era being played out live on TV.
It seems that the triggers that have unleashed this political drama have been a mixture of Partygate and the associated untruths, the Chris Pincher affair and the loss of two by-elections.
Each on their own might have been survival but as each story has hit the headlines the growing wave of distrust in the personality and judgement of the Prime Minister has grown to represent what one MP interviewed on TV called a 'Tsunami'.
The culmination of the 24/7 news coverage, although by no means the final dramatic act was the speech at the podium in Downing Street which has already angered many Tory MP's not only for its lack of humility and its reference to herd mentality (echoes of herd immunity there) but because the decision to stay on in a caretaker capacity to the autumn means that the current dysfunctional government will continue in power, albeit a diminished and fast reducing power.
The decision to stay on in power, however reduced that power, has also angered the Labour Party who quite rightly, but possibly not quite so effectively, have drawn attention to the cost of living crisis, the eating and heating conundrum faced by so many families and the failure of the Government to address the crises facing the country.
The speech made great claims which bore little or no relationship to the issues facing the country, issues that link its policies and its failure to address the very real needs of people.
Comparisons have been made between The Prime Ministers repeated refusal to resign yesterday with Donald Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of the election. There was a sense that somehow the Prime Minister constant reference to his eighty seat majority resulted in a Presidential rather than a Prime Ministerial elevation to office.
I've always liked the possibly apocryphal story of Winston Churchill advising Stalin that he would not be at the next meeting of heads of state in the summits post 1945, and Stalin shaking his head and wondering what an election was and how you could lose it?
I am also wondering about the independence of the BBC.
Whilst the reporting of the events, as Harold McMillan observed, 'events dear boy, events' seem to be fairly accurate too many of the Vox Pop interviews were of people, whether from Don Valley, through Chichester to Whaley Bridge, who appeared to support not only the Prime Minister but the Conservative party.
I sat in real time, watching real time on TV as people declared themselves not only to be Conservative voters but happy with the performance of the PM and the good things he had done. I found that litany of support utterly depressing.
Still now that it has happened it is already possible to see the prime minister, the cabinet and the Conservative party disappearing in my rear view mirror and as we, hopefully turn a corner, I will not be able to see them for much longer.
Comments
Post a Comment