Parliament is in recess, Tory MPs  have gone back home – to rebel, perchance?

 

Today is the by-election which will decide Johnson’s and therefore the Nation’s fate. No, I’m not over-dramatic when I say this. Depending on the result the men in grey suits will try to topple Johnson and, depending on who his successor will be, the current covid regime just might be revised (yes, I’m always hopeful …).

The sharks, as one MSM editor writes, are circling, but not just in the Tory Party. They’re also circling in the newsrooms and editorial offices where a Labour government is already being talked about as the ‘best’ solution. The editorial by David Aaronovitch in this morning’s Times has the stunning headlines:

“Labour now look like the adults in the room – By putting public health before politics, the party is rising in the polls and may be shedding the toxic legacy of Corbyn” (link, paywalled)

I nearly spewed my coffee over my laptop and cold shivers ran down my spine. Btw – cold shivers running down one’s spine isn’t yet another symptom of some new, undetected covid variant, so no worries! Isn’t it wonderful how Remainers always find something equally wonderful to admire in Labour. These are the same Westminster opinion makers who deplore the lack of personalities, expertise and intellectual power in the Tory ranks but seem to be perfectly fine with seeing those Labour wimmin at the helm of power. Ah well, why not: the more intellectually challenged a new Labour Minister is, the more easily she or he will be domesticated by the Whitehall Mandarins. 

Back to Johnson and Whitty and the rest of the doom mongers. They told us yesterday that we better not meet people at Christmas because this Omicron is racing through the nation and might overwhelm all of us, NHS included. The total discrepancy between that imagery and the numbers, wonky as they are, is astonishing. There were 78,610 ‘covid cases’ yesterday, we’re told. That’s ‘covid’, not, well, ‘Omicron’.

I wonder how many tests had to be done to achieve that number, given that “we” have run out of test kits. I also wonder how many of those ‘cases’ were double~ or triple~jabbed. I’ve given up wondering why the Whitty’s and MSM never tell us how many ‘cases’ are actually in ICUs suffering from, not with covid, never mind Omicron … Still, people have taken the hint and are cancelling their Christmas Parties everywhere (link).

I wonder if these are all good, compliant covid lemmings or if these are ordinary people who’ve had enough of being hectored and told to show their papers, ahem: covid passports and have decided they’d rather stay at home than demonstrate that they comply with this unbritish measure. Perhaps they’re also sending a message to all those pub and shop owners, those venue and West End theatre managers that they won’t support their compliance with government covid restrictions any longer: let their ‘trade associations’ lobby government to stop and get back to normal rather than wail about needing more money from us, via Sunak.

Back now to that other doom – the doom for Johnson. There are two indicators showing that this doom (I love that word – it has such dire ring to it!) is imminent. They also show that the backbenchers are not going to vanish silently back home to their constituencies. Parliament is in recess from today onwards. ‘Tis a clever ploy to prevent MPS or indeed the HoC debating today’s by-election result, or to plot and sharpen knives in the corridors of  Parliament. It won’t help shore up Johnson though, as the DT observes:

“The entire leadership of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs joined the rebellion over Boris Johnson’s plan for Covid passports, it emerged on Wednesday. It came as Tory MPs were told they can email letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson over Christmas, in a blow to allies who hoped the festive break might ease the pressure on the Prime Minister.” (link, paywalled)

The machinations inside the Tory Party are highly entertaining but all of the 1922 Committee leadership rebelling – that is significant. Also interesting is this:

“There had been a presumption in Westminster that only letters that were physically handed to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, would be counted to avoid the risk of forgeries. This would have meant that letters would need to be submitted to him before the Commons rises on Thursday, or else wait until the House returns three weeks later in January. However, Sir Graham has privately made clear that he will accept letters that are emailed and followed up by a phone call. One source said that emailed no confidence letters would count “as long as they are verified”.” (link, paywalled)

Heh – isn’t modern technology wonderful! I wonder if it was JRM who ‘presumed’  that actual letters would be needed – preferably written with a goose feather on parchment.  Regrettably -for him – MPs who got to grips with zoom have now also learned how to us email. And then there’s this:

“The news means that Tory MPs will be able to register their unhappiness with Mr Johnson as Tory leader in the days following the result of Thursday’s North Shropshire by-election, rather than wait until Parliament is expected to return on January 5.” (link, paywalled)

This also means that constituents can ‘register their unhappiness’ with their Tory MPs over Christmas and email them to make clear that they’d better work on getting rid of that impossible PM. 

It gives a whole new meaning to writing Thank-You letters after Christmas … 

 

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