BORIS, FREEDOM FIGHTER AND LIBERATOR

It has clearly been a torrid week or so for Boris’ new Conservative government, reeling under many a set-back, and there has been much unseemly gloating from the Remain camp. We have been told that Boris is “a busted flush” and “finished” – but these obsequies are premature – Boris has plenty of ammunition left in his locker and will bounce back with his own inimitable brand of populist panache. At last, we have had a Damascus moment and the scales have fallen from our eyes. The accepted narrative needs to be utterly overhauled. Boris is not simply a Tory Radical but he is something far more relevant to our age. Boris is our Freedom Fighter and our Liberator from Imperialism!

Boris takes the reins

Europe has been a target and hotbed for Imperial ambitions for centuries. The Counter-Reformation Popes planned religious subjection; Louis XIV thought France must be the dominant power: Napoleon played the same tune and conquered almost all: Metternich sought to condemn huge swathes of Europe to Habsburg influence: Bismarck expanded the dark militaristic aims of Prussia, by defeating the Habsburgs and France. The Great War destroyed at least 3 Empires and severely wounded 2 others: Nazi Germany under Hitler held sway over Europe for 5 horrendous years. A later promising detente between de Gaulle and Adenauer, creating the EEC, then deteriorated into an Imperialist adventure under Delors and later Juncker – a headlong rush towards a unitary state in Europe – which Britain had supinely joined and quickly regretted. Boris wants us to leave (as 52% of voters instructed Parliament to do in the 2016 referendum) and faces a cocky EU, a recalcitrant Parliament and a hostile Establishment.

Merkel and Macron: United in enmity to the UK

In resisting this array of enemies, Boris joins a select company of British freedom fighters.  The legendary figures of Hereward the Wake and Robin Hood are joined by iconic hero Robert the Bruce (remember the spider in his cave – if at first you don’t succeed try, try and try again?) and formidable Oliver Cromwell who made short work of Parliaments who ignore public opinion – “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately ... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!” Cromwell’s words will resonate with Boris and with the bulk of the UK electorate. Most of all, let us recall Boris’ hero Winston Churchill, who defied the world after Dunkirk, epitomised by Low’s Evening Standard cartoon of 18.06.1940:

The enemies of Brexit now have a slim majority in Parliament, boosted by many of the 21 Tory MPs and malcontents disciplined by Boris after they teamed up with the Opposition in backing legislation outlawing No Deal. They deserved that disciplining – Theresa May gave them far too much latitude to be disloyal. Britain’s Brexit is not within the gift of the EU – if Britain wishes to leave and no acceptable deal is offered by the EU, Britain simply leaves. That was always the likely scenario, if not the preferred scenario.

The EU is a secretive, anti-democratic and grasping institution. Why the Remainers persist in their uncritical admiration, despite all the evidence, beats me as the EU is falling behind its main competitors, thanks to its inward-looking attitudes and stifling bureaucracy. Many UK Establishment figures have of course fed well on the EU’s pickings with expat salary packages, lavish pensions and endless jobs for the boys. Big businesses hate any change as it needs them to adapt and think, instead of counting their money. The EU in its crass indifference allows politicians to forget about “those who barely manage” or “the huddled masses yearning to be free”. Parliament is even frustrating a general election, which Boris wishes to call (and would probably win with the Remainers facing meltdown).

Worst of all, Parliament insists that, if no deal is forthcoming, Boris requests an extension of the Brexit deadline to after 31 October, vociferously rejected by Boris who said he would rather be dead in a ditch. It is wholly improper for Parliament to micro-manage government business and any such law will surely be challenged in the highest court of the land. The arrogant assertion of the Remainers that Parliament can dictate to the Executive in such matters is contrary to all conventions, as Jacob Rees-Mogg eloquently pointed out in defending the government in the Commons.

The Remainers work hand-in-glove with Brussels and plot a so-called “Government of National Unity” to supplant Boris. In other words, they seek to install an unelected Quisling Collaborationist Government on the lines of the Vichy Regime in France 1940-44. Kenneth Clarke, once a good Health Minister and an adequate Chancellor of the Exchequer, but now a vain 79-year-old, is to be the British Pétain. Clarke lolls about in his Nottingham redoubt – we all know what happened to the Sheriff of Nottingham!  No doubt slippery lawyer Dominic Grieve will be cast as his Pierre Laval although historical analogies are seldom exact.

Ken Clarke

Philippe Petain

Dominic Grieve

Pierre Laval

                    

The Conservatives are often painted as reactionary but that is a travesty of the truth. Their domestic progressive achievements are impressive:

1828 Catholic Emancipation Act righted a grievous wrong to a religious minority. Wellington PM

1846 Repeal of the Corn Laws ended agricultural privilege and enabled cheap food, Peel PM

1867 Second Reform Act greatly extended the franchise. Disraeli PM

1944 Butler’s Education Act reformed educational provision. Churchill PM

1980s Trades Unions constrained, utilities privatised, City competition opened up. Thatcher PM

2019? Achieving Brexit will be yet another liberating Conservative triumph. Johnson PM

Yet we can put Boris’ heroic struggle in an international context. He is our George Washington, our Simon Bolivar, our Garibaldi, our Nehru, our Deng Xiaoping, our Nelson Mandela! He can deliver Brexit and then deliver Peace and Reconciliation!

Three Cheers for Boris!!

Johnson and Mandela, the Peacemakers

                                    

SMD

09.09.19

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2019