I hardly know where to start. A totally astonishing three
weeks of UK politics has just passed – the historic Brexit referendum vote, the
resignation of David Cameron, a sharp Tory leadership contest with Michael Gove
turning against Boris Johnson, the elimination of Gove, the brief elevation of
Andrea Leadsom, her withdrawal, ending with the crowning apotheosis of Theresa
May. Theresa is now in charge and her cabinet (with Boris as Foreign Secretary)
suggests we are in for a refreshingly radical administration. All this happens
in a period including the terror attack in Nice, an abortive military coup in
Turkey and tragi-comic leadership convulsions in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.
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| New Prime Minister Theresa May |
Theresa is the final victor but first a word about the
vanquished. David Cameron has gone and the dignified manner of his departure
did him much credit. Well-liked, articulate and immaculate, Cameron fatally
misjudged the Brexit Referendum, not at all helped by an unbending and hostile
European Union. Cameron lived within the Westminster bubble, well-off,
metropolitan, maybe never wholly convincing, largely unaware of the frustrations
of so many of his compatriots. He is a decent man nonetheless who will be
missed by many.
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| A sad end for decent David Cameron |
The Brexiteers, of which I was one, savoured their victory
but failed to secure the top job, neither Boris, Gove nor Leadsom measuring up.
Most Tory Remainers accepted defeat on this great issue with resigned grace but
the Remainers of the Centre-Left went into paroxysms of apoplectic fury,
launching hopeless campaigns for Grand Petitions, Supreme Court Challenges and
Parliamentary Shenanigans, all certain to fail. This clique simply could not
accept the democratic verdict of the people and their sense of entitlement,
their belief that the Peasants must not be allowed to prevail over their will
was supported by organs like the BBC and The
Guardian. They have made swallowing the Brexit pill unnecessarily bitter
for themselves.
The “Cameroons”, or at least the Notting Hill set, fared
badly when Theresa May came to select her cabinet. No place was found for heavy
hitters George Osborne and Michael Gove, and lesser lights Nicky Morgan, Oliver
Letwin, Steven Crabb, Theresa Villiers and John Whittingdale were consigned to
outer darkness. Osborne has talent but he needed to move from the Exchequer
after 6 years; he had eyed the Foreign office but he was thwarted by Boris on
whom Theresa took a punt. Boris is indiscreet and not good at detail but he has
real wit, charm and charisma: he is clever and well-travelled: I think he could
work out very well. I am a fan of cerebral arch-Brexiteer Michael Gove but his
knifing of Boris, however justified, was unattractive and undermined trust in
him. Theresa may too have wanted to extract her revenge for reputedly abrasive
turf wars between her Home Office and the Department of Justice under Gove. I
hope Gove soon enough returns to office.
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| George Osborne and Michael Gove, victims of the Theresa May Purge |
The field now belongs to Theresa May, Home Secretary for 6
years and a largely silent Remainer. She remains an enigma to me; she is said
to be determined and effective but the sharp rise in net immigration happened
on her watch. She did negotiate deals to extradite two notorious Islamic
extremist preachers but our obstructive judiciary is largely to blame for this
problem. In her 6 years she did well to survive in the notorious political
graveyard of the Home Office but she has few positive measures to her credit
compared to say, Rab Butler or Roy Jenkins. Theresa does have experience and
knows the modish ways of her predecessor. Apparently she asked about “all the
green crap” and duly abolished the Department of Climate Change – well played!
She entered Downing Street delivering a resounding speech
about the importance of the Union and “the time of great national change we
face” after Brexit. She talked of the injustices suffered by the poor, by
blacks, by white working-class boys, by those educated by the state, by women,
by mental health patients and by the young. Life was much harder for these
groups than MPs realised and she pledged to improve their lives and the lives
of all who are “just managing”. These were the words of a Tory radical and I
hope they are not just rhetorical hot air. If she means what she says, I cry
Hurrah!
Her government will be dominated by the Brexit negotiation
and I like her team of David Davis and Liam Fox, solid citizens both,
supplemented by Philip Hammond and Boris Johnson. There is a huge job to be
done and we will see how her administration copes. No doubt Theresa will cast a
beady eye over any backsliders.
With the departure of Cameron (Politics, Philosophy and
Economics, Brasenose) I was worried that the modern Oxonian intellectual edge
of the government might be blunted. There is no need to worry as we have Philip
Hammond (PPE, University College), Liz Truss (PPE, Merton) and Jeremy Hunt (PPE,
Magdalen). They will surely enlighten and leaven the Tory lump, says I, (PPE,
St Edmund Hall)!
SMD
17.07.16
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2016
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