Let nobody say that the Westminster denizens don’t love a good piece of theatre! It beats politics, i.e. actually making far-reaching decisions which will affect the Nation for decades. That’s why this morning’s print editions have only one ‘news’ item on their front pages: BJ.

Al Beeb’s ‘staff’ must have been delighted to produce today’s headline “​​Newspaper headlines: ‘Johnson in peril’ as he ‘fights for his future’” (link). Any bets that some champagne bottles are still rolling around on the floors of the Westminster newsrooms?

That piffling vote on the piffling Windsor thingie? Boring. Who cares. Who cares that some Tories ‘rebelled’. They’re only the Johnson-Truss relics, life goes on, innit like. For the record:

“The prime minister won a Commons endorsement for the Windsor framework after MPs voted by 515 to 29 to endorse a key element of the plan with the support of Labour. The 22 Tory MPs who defied a three-line whip to vote against the government included Johnson, Truss and the former home secretary Priti Patel. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Simon Clarke and Jake Berry, who all served in the cabinet under Truss, voted against the deal, as did the former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.” (link, paywalled)

For the record: Steve Baker didn’t rebel. Also for the record: Labour voted for this thing. The commentariat in the Westminster MSM gave a collective sigh of relief. There were two opinion pieces on this vote. One shows what these pundits really think of us peasants. It is of course in Remain Central, under the headline: 

“Rejoice, the Brexit wars are finally over – The usual suspects failed to scupper Rishi Sunak’s compromise — now we can develop an adult relationship with the EU” (link, paywalled)

See – the Leave-voting part of the Nation were only unruly kids who’ve now finally been shown the error of their ways by ‘the adults’. There’s more, of course, demonstrating again how divorced from real life the Westminster press is:

“[…] this is finally the end, or the beginning of the end, of a truly terrible period of politics. Johnson’s appearance, the retro rebellion, the strutting, being held hostage by acronyms, the whole ridiculous circus, all of it looks dated and doomed. A weary country with more to worry about is moving on. Wednesday was the death rattle of Brexit impossibilism.” (link, paywalled)

This country is weary indeed – of the incessant ‘wars’ and ‘fights’, the hot air and propaganda our elected representatives produce, in concert with Whitehall and their ‘sources’ whispering into the ears of ‘authors’. Weary because all this hot air doesn’t address, never mind alleviate, the problems we face. These problems won’t go away because the alleged ‘Brexit wars’ are now over.

The author rejoices because the ‘adults’ Sunak and Starmer – stop laughing, you uncouth lot! – are allegedly in charge. He does however raise a spectre should Sunak’s policies fail, leaving: 

“[…]  a vacuum for an insurgent force by offering too little choice, on economics or reform. A fringe party may be reactivated by Nigel Farage before the general election. Or if Sunak’s policy on stopping small boats is judged a failure, Farage may run candidates in English coastal seats and complicate the election. Farage is one of the most consequential politicians in the post-Thatcher era. He so terrified the then Tory leadership that it offered and lost a referendum on leaving the EU.” (link, paywalled)

It’s Farage ante portas again, producing a shiver down the spines of all Remainers. It’s the spectre of Farage daring to ‘complicate’ the election. It’s as if Westminster cannot conceive of us plebs actually thinking for ourselves, as if we only follow ‘a leader’. And then there’s the final paragraph, meant to scare the ‘adults’:

“There is also the dreadful thought of another hung parliament at the next general election. If the polls narrow, as some flickers suggest, the next election could yet be close. An official raised the prospect with me this week: what an irony if the Tories end up as the largest party and for confidence and supply have to call for support from the disgruntled DUP. That can wait. Until then, let’s enjoy the new dispensation and the blessed end of the Brexit wars.” (link, paywalled)

Would that be because a Farage would ‘complicate’ the election? How extraordinary! in an unsurprising contrast, Allister Heath in the DT tries to give a positive spin to this vote. The headline reads more like someone trying to convince themselves and us that things aren’t as bad as they really are:

“The Brexit revolt against the Remain establishment has only just begun – A failed rebellion won’t reverse the Tory party’s inevitable shift towards anti-elite politics” (paywalled link)

What ‘revolt’? What ‘Tory Party’? Who has Mr Heath been talking with? He apparently discerns “vital forces” in yon Party into which BJ tapped and which are “bubbling as strongly as ever, desperate for a new hero to empower the disgruntled majority.” Looking at the current crop of Tory MPs I beg to differ, especially since it’s alleged that most of them hadn’t even read the NI thingie which they voted for.

Mr Heath next writes an ‘analysis’ which is straight from a socio-political lecture. He describes two camps in British politics, one being the ‘experts’, i.e. ‘adults’ who believe in their own superiority, giving them the right to ‘rule. The second camp:

“[…] believes that power flows upwards, that we should listen to and respect the values, voices and opinions of ordinary people of all ethnicities and creeds who play by the rules, work hard, love their country and seek to improve their families’ lives. The Tories must once again be the voice of this second group, or they are finished.” (paywalled link)

Does Mr Heath not see that this ‘second camp’ is done, trussed up and oven-ready? That we peasants have learned that there are no ‘leaders’ leading us into the golden future? We’ve learned instead that those we vote for forget their commitments as soon as their trotters are in the trough. 

Most of us are indeed weary – weary of battering our heads against the wall of vested interests, strengthened by the self-proclaimed ‘adults’ in Whitehall and Westminster. We’re weary because we, the tax-paying plebs, are fighting for our individual survival in the face of inflation and ever higher taxes.

We’re weary because we know we’re not heard. Our letters – how quaint! – to MPs are disregarded or, at best, answered by what looks like parliamentary ChatBots. We’re weary of the continuous contempt and disdain with which the ruling classes disregard us.

Welcome in the new, ‘post-Brexit-wars’ paradise where Westminster looks more like the court at Versailles before the revolution, where some ‘intellectuals’ preach ‘revolt’ while the rest agrees with the modern-day equivalent of yon queen, asking why we can’t do as they do and go on spiffing holidays. Will the sans-culottes turn out to be the guests we’re receiving on a daily basis?

That’s all I have for today. No mugs were thrown against the wall: I can’t afford to buy new ones. Like so many of us, I’m also weary: weary of being an ‘Auntie Toldja’. Have a good day.