Decisions, decisions … who should be PM?

 

 

Appalling, isn’t it – those Frogs daring to upset our annual summer holiday migration! Well, that’s what the papers say (link), so it must be true. Allegedly, the French didn’t have sufficient numbers of border police while the French say the same of the Brits. The BBC summarises the FT’s report thus:

“The Financial Times says holidaymakers should expect more delays at Dover this weekend after a “ferocious Anglo-French row broke out over the management of post-Brexit border controls on the English Channel”. (link)

Now excuse me a second – Brexit didn’t happen only yesterday or last month, did it! Moreover, I seem to remember our dear friends and allies from across the Channel creating ‘post-Brexit border control rows’ from the get-go. Wasn’t there something about ham ’n cheese sandwiches not being permitted to be taken across the border?

This ‘border chaos’ has been picked up by La Truss, already acting as if she were PM:

“[She] told France it must stop the “avoidable and unacceptable” situation at the border that threatens to ruin British summer holidays. The Foreign Secretary blamed the “awful situation” at Dover, where ferry passengers were on Friday left stuck in six-hour queues, squarely on Paris for failing to man border posts. In the early hours of the first day of the summer holidays, French border guards opened as few as four out of 10 booths, leading to accusations that the disruption was deliberate.” (paywalled link)

The DT added a nice demolition piece about the French opposite number to Ms Patel, writing that he’s been a fierce anti-British, anti-Brexit Macron ally (paywalled link). This is accompanied by an article from the Dover ‘frontline’ where Port of Dover officials say that, after weeks of collaboration,  the French ‘dropped their resourcing plans for the weekend’ and ‘simply didn’t turn up’ (paywalled link). Well, I’m sure La Truss cracking the whip will make the Frogs change their ways immediately!

We find next that she is the self-proclaimed ‘insurgent candidate’, standing ‘for change’, and anyway, her campaign is run by her family, not by a slick PR team, according to an exclusive interview she gave to the DT (paywalled link). ‘Tis all so cosy, innit … but if you believe her then there are some things I’m happy to sell you. Perhaps some intrepid Tory Party members might like to ask her why she is ‘for change’ now, lamenting the rut the country has been in, but didn’t do anything about this while she was in Cabinet. It couldn’t be, could it, because her aim then was not to rock the boat and keep her lovely ministerial jobs? 

Speaking of Miz Liz stomping her feet, the Guardian has a piece according to which she is attempting “to position herself as the self-styled “Brexit-delivery prime minister”, promising “a “sunset” for all EU-derived laws within 15 months.” (link). Sounds a bit like ‘oven-ready Brexit deal’ to me, but what do I know … Of course, ‘experts’ are already warning, with Union leaders saying that “Truss’s proposals would be hugely difficult to achieve in the context of civil service cuts, with warnings it could end up becoming a “bonfire of rights”.” (link).

Well, this is the Guardian, so such warnings are to be expected. However, I found it interesting that this newspaper, always fighting for ‘rights’ and especially championing the NHS, made so little of a Sunak campaign promise which they mentioned in one sentence only: “Sunak announced a vaccine rollout-style scheme to reduce NHS backlogs.” (link). Surely our Sacred Cow and the health of the Nation is a most important issue, especially for the Guardian, no?

Today it looks as if the DT is coming out as a Truss-paper while The Times seems to throw their weight behind Sunak. They also have an interview, balancing Sunak with Truss. While Miz Liz seems to go for the fluffy but still somewhat ‘rebelly’ look, wanting to change everything which might produce good headlines, Sunak told The Times that:

“Britain is facing a national emergency over the economy, NHS backlogs and illegal migration, Rishi Sunak has said as he pledges to put the government on a “crisis footing” from day one if he becomes prime minister. In an interview with The Times, the former chancellor said the government was not “working as well as it should” and warned that a “business-as-usual mentality” was no longer enough. He said families were facing “enormous” costs from rising inflation, the NHS was under unsustainable pressure and the public believed the government had lost control of Britain’s borders.” (link, paywalled)

Oh really? As if we didn’t know! As if we haven’t told you, in our letters to your MPs, in petitions. So what did you do about this while you were Chancellor, Rishi? And what is this ‘crisis footing’? Something like the Krauts do, preparing legislation to make people turn down their heating, to open ‘warming halls’ for ‘Teh Poor’, to tell industries and offices to make people WFH so that said office don’t need to be heated? Something like that? Or will you scrap ‘green surcharges’ and VAT on fuel and home energy? What about your support for Net Zero, Rishi?

In his opinion piece in The Times Matthew Parris gives some rather ferocious advice to Sunak. Parris makes some pertinent points, e.g.:

“[…] it is MPs and not party members for whom “winning the next election” may be the most pressing thing. Lose it, and scores of them will lose their jobs, while all will lose the possibility of ministerial office. But the national membership […] care more about who will be able to lead an effective and successful government. I’ve already heard supporters expressing irritation that the media keep talking about choosing an election winner rather than a good prime minister.” (link, paywalled)

Well observed, Parris! There’s more, and this is where he turns ferocious (my emphasis):

“I sense a weak but nagging antipathy towards Sunak. The accusation that he “betrayed” his leader has registered. The charge is rebuttable, so on the positive side a Sunak charm offensive is called for. And on the negative side, he’ll need to dismantle Truss. […] With the national membership it’s now Truss’s to lose. Sunak is the challenger. Against his rather courteous instincts, he and his team will have to be merciless. Sunak will need to go for her: go for her with all guns blazing, burning bridges and destroying all hope of reconciliation. He must attack like there’s no tomorrow because if he loses then for him and for his kind of Tory there will be no tomorrow and he might as well pack his bags and move on.” (link, paywalled)

I don’t know if Parris’ slash-and-burn advice is based on a snobby anti-Liz feeling or on an equally snobby ‘anti-populism’ feeling where ‘populism’ is anything not fitting into the Westminster scheme of things, leaving Sunak as the default candidate to support. Next, words are certainly not being minced:

“This cannot avoid being personal. It may rip the Tories beyond healing, but the split is an unbridgeable gulf between conservatism and populism, and someone has to win. Sunak must forget all thoughts of the Clintonesque tactic, “triangulation” — trying to find a way of appealing to Truss’s supporters without confronting their beliefs. Her approach to economic management is daft and dangerous. There’s no triangulating that.” (link, paywalled)

I’ve quoted Parris at length even though I’m fed up with the various articles and essays in the MSM about who would be the ‘better’ PM. Parris at least wrote ‘fighting words’. However, he like all the others, always disregard the influence of Whitehall mandarins. There’s already a warning signal, indicating that these faceless string pullers are certainly involved. It’s a rumour mentioned in an aside in the Speccie’s email newsletter: Simon Case, the current Cabinet Secretary, will allegedly step down as Cabinet Secretary when the new prime minister enters No. 10 in September. That opens the way to a Mandarin from either the FO or the Treasury. Remember Mark Sedwell, Ms May’s beloved ‘helper’? Remember his influence on Brexit?

I’ve not minced words in my assessment that in the end it doesn’t matter who gets into No 10: Truss, Sunak, Starmer … it’s the mandarins who will govern. When will people realise that it’s the Westminster cabal who is in this together, for themselves, while keeping us peasants out in the cold? 



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