LOVING A LORD

 

  

Now that we are embraced by the new Labour Paradise (aka Nirvana) we can be sure that an early and easy constitutional change will be the expulsion of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords. The hereditaries’ privileges cannot be defended but their final departure should not proceed without some tribute and nostalgic regret.           

   As it happens, I am currently re-reading the delightful anthology The Library Looking-Glass by Lord David Cecil, not a hereditary peer himself, but a sibling of the 5^th Marquess of Salisbury, entitled to a courtesy title, and a sprig of a powerful aristocratic family. Lord David (1902-1986) was an author, critic and Oxford Professor of Literature. He made an early reputation with his study of the poet William Cowper The Stricken Deer (1929) and was an expert on 19^th century writers and poets like Scott, Austen, Pater and Bridges. His biography of Lord Melbourne, Lord M, (1954) was widely admired.

 

Lord David Cecil

He neglected his tutorial duties and one of his undergraduates, Kingsley Amis, was enraged when Lord David took 1 ½ terms to contact him, promptly to disappear to Italy again! He was a public figure and was familiar to the public for his machine-gun staccato verbal delivery. I think he sometimes appeared on the BBC TV Brains Trust programme on a Sunday afternoon in the late 1950s. Remember that? Chaired urbanely by Norman Fisher, its discussions contained the wisdom of the likes of Isaiah Berlin, Noel Annan, Barbara Wootton and Jacob Bronowski – light years away from the pap served up by the BBC these days!

Lord David’s brother, “Bobbety” Cranbourne, later 5^th Marquess of Salisbury was a sterner figure. After the classic Eton, Oxford and The Guards, Cranbourne became a Tory stalwart, winning pre-war minor office and he developed a particular knowledge of Africa. Befriended by Churchill, he joined the war-time cabinet, becoming Dominions Secretary and leader of the House of Lords when he inherited the Salisbury title. A power in the post-war Churchill and Eden ministries, he famously interviewed the Eden cabinet to establish who should succeed when Eden’s health broke down in 1957. The contest to “emerge” (nothing so vulgar as a leadership election in those days!) was between Rab Butler, the favourite, and Harold MacMillan. Bobbety, with his peculiar speech impediment, shot the same question at all the ministers: Well, is it Wab or Hawold? Harold won.     

Bobbety, 5th Marquess of Salisbury

Bobbety’s opinions were Imperialist, not to say reactionary. When MacMillan sought a way out of the inter-communal bloodshed and terrorism in Cyprus, by recalling Archbishop Makarios from exile in the Seychelles, Bobbety resigned in a huff. He later defended Apartheid in South Africa, became chairman of the right-wing Monday Club, supporting Rhodesia and Roy Welensky. His racial opinions would be unrepeatable in polite society today. In short Bobbety was an anachronism, ultimately damaging the reputation of his beloved native country.

Boofy Gore, Earl of Arran

Boofy was a harmless aristocrat of no great distinction who wrote a lively column in the Daily Mail. He was persuaded in 1965 to sponsor a private member’s bill in the Lords to decriminalise homosexual acts between 2 consenting adults, as recommended in the Wolfenden report of 1957. Boofy’s bill sailed through the Lords although Leo Abse’s Commons equivalent encountered stiff opposition. “A Buggers’ Charter, it was dubbed. Wilson’s government refused to handle this hot potato but eventually this liberal step became law in 1967.

Boofy’s other passion was the protection of badgers but his attempts to legislate against badger culls failed miserably.

In his dotage, he claimed not to understand why his homosexual bill triumphed while his badger bill failed. A friend gently observed “Boofy, perhaps there are not many badgers in the House of Lords…”

So, after centuries of dominance it will be time soon to say farewell to the famous names of Cecil, Cavendish, Gore and Spencer.

We can only echo the eloquent words of Lord Chief Justice Crewe in the De Vere Oxford peerage case of 1626;

Time hath his revolutions. There must be a period and an end of all temporal things, finis rerum, an end of names and dignities and whatsoever is terrene; and why not of De Vere? For where is Bohun; where is Mowbray; where is Mortimer; nay, which is more and most of all, where is Plantagenet? They are entombed in the urns and sepulchres of mortality.

 

SMD

15.9.24

Text copyright© Sidney Donald 2024

DESPERATELY SEEKING CELEBRITY

 

As one reaches certainly the Sixth and quite possibly the Seventh Age of Man, I find myself scratching around in a desperate search for something to add distinction to the name Sidney D - my ancestors, my native town or my achievements. Alas, I have drawn a blank – no Sidney D charged heroically at Waterloo, nor made the serene streets of stolid Aberdeen tremble with excitement and my modest achievements do not echo and resound through the years. I stretched a point and researched what momentous events coincided with my Birthday -31 July – and even there the pickings are pretty thin. But I will have to make the best with what history records!

1.       31 July 1689. The relief of besieged Londonderry by the forces of William of Orange against those of James II.

2.       31 July 1956. Jim Laker spins out Australia 10 for 53 in the second innings of the Test match. His deceptive bowling completely bamboozled the visiting Aussies.

3.       31 July 1959. Cliff Richard’s song Living Doll gives him his first UK Top of the Pops.

4.       31 July 1970. Black Tot Day. The Royal Navy ends the daily rum ration for sailors, a custom operating since 1740.

The Relief of Derry 1689 

1.       The Relief of Derry, as described in a memorable passage by Macaulay, with the Apprentice Boys and so on, is a seminal event for Protestant Ireland and the subsequent Ascendancy. Modern Ireland, both North and South, have since taken some astonishing turns. The South can hardly be proud of de Valera, Haughey or Leo Varadkar, irrelevant grandstanders of world events while the stiff-backed Leaders of the old Northern Ireland, Carson, Craigavon and Brookeborough, have given way to more dubious figures like Faulkner, Ian Paisley and the newly disgraced Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. The much-vaunted Good Friday Agreement and the devolved Stormont are not working well with Sinn Fein and its often-revered gunmen steadily gaining ground.

Mind you, devolution is not working well anywhere. In Scotland, the sinisterly secretive SNP regime imploded with the 2023 departure under a financial cloud of Nicola Sturgeon only to be succeeded by clueless Humza Yousaf, keen to donate Scottish taxpayers’ treasure to help his ancestors in Gaza. Humza’s brother-in-law has recently been charged with extortion, and his alleged victim died in a defenestration in Dundee, normally a Czech or Russian speciality to my dystopian mind. The poor Scots are stuck with SNP rule until new Assembly elections in May 2026. Send an aid convoy pronto!

                         Scotland’s heavy Handicap: Hamza Yousaf

2.       Turning now to Jim Laker, he was a low-profile cricketer of the old school. His off-spinning achievements in that remarkable test series in 1956 ensure his place in sporting history. In those days, with players like Denis Compton, Godfrey Evans or later Ted Dexter, flamboyance was tolerated but not encouraged, but consistent performances were cherished. Sportsmen have moved on since then – they are now “celebrities” and we are told more than we need to know about their wealth, lifestyle, dark pasts, wives, girlfriends and political views. We are in the world of sport as showbiz, maniacally following the lives of Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Tiger Woods, David Beckham or Novak Djokovic although sadly some fall off the high-wire like Oscar Pretorius, Boris Becker and O J Simpson. I do wish we could revert to the earlier order and simply give warm thanks if England won the Ashes, Arsenal won the League and Scotland won the 6 Nations!

                                                      Remember Jim Laker spinning his magic

3.       Cliff Richard is still going strong at age 83. His Living Doll was a catchy ditty but no more and generally his output is rather bland and middle-ranking. His long career has been remarkably successful. He is moreover a personable fellow, a born-again Christian, respectable and conservative in his attitudes, atypical of most in the pop world. Some record companies and DJs have shunned him and ridiculed him openly as being too old-fashioned.

Cliff has competed in Eurovision (he came 3rd) and the contrast is stark with 2024’s UK representative Olly Alexander, a tattooed militant LGBT+ campaigner and noisy critic of Israel. Alexander is a recognised actor and pop singer. I predict the dreaded “nul points” for him

           

Conforming Cliff Richard

 

                                                   Olly Alexander – “Woke” personified

4.       Black Tot Day was indeed a black day for the Royal Navy. What, no rum ration? Is nothing sacred? Alas, since 1970 quite a few traditional customs and institutions have changed. Oxbridge is now run by left-wingers, determined to pin opprobrium upon the great universities as supporters of Slavery; violent louts roam our streets untouched by the feeble Metropolitan Police paid to defend our citizens; our schools and hospitals are wracked by strikes, when once they were led by dedicated professional staff; our armed forces are cut back, no longer dependably capable of deterring our many enemies; Parliament itself is wracked by scandal after scandal as members on all sides loot their constituents and betray all trust.

Yet all is not lost. Our people have an abundance of talent supported by a glorious history. Our economy is on the mend. There are leaders of goodwill in all parties. Total Consensus is not possible, but a vigorous programme pursued by determined leaders can harness the national spirit in unity and shake off mediocrity and sloth. “Once more unto the breach, dear Friends!”

 

SMD

12.4.24

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2024

SIX SOLID CITIZENS

     Politicians are deeply unpopular these days throughout the democratic world, as our economies struggle and the pace of change demands rapid action - not easy for most systems. Britain is much affected by this malaise and admittedly the political talent-pool is not deep; but I here pay tribute to 6 politicians who are by no means universally cherished, but who are “consequential” in that they have got things done and have influenced the lives of many of their fellow-citizens in a positive fashion. My selection is fairly wide and I have tried to suppress my personal prejudices!

1.     Michael Gove

 

 

I do not cite Michael Gove, now 56, just because he is Scottish or that, like me, he was born into the purple of the Aberdeen commercial classes. He is the adopted son of an ultimately struggling Aberdeen fish processor, but he has the Protestant work-ethic to a marked degree and has marked out a varied and fruitful political career. He won a scholarship at Robert Gordon’s College and then read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Moving from Labour to the Conservatives, he developed his eloquence at the Oxford Union and succeeded Boris Johnson as President of the Union in 1988, a pinnacle of undergraduate achievement.

Rejected when applying for a job at Conservative Central Office, he worked in Fleet Street rather obscurely before joining the Aberdeen Press and Journal (275 years old now) honing his skills before finding his niche as a leader writer and later columnist at The Times. He married the well-known journalist Sarah Vine in 2001, divorcing in 2022.

Entering Parliament in 2005, he quickly climbed the greasy pole, becoming a friend of David Cameron and his set, shadowing Ed Balls. He has had a succession of Cabinet offices, Education Secretary, Chief Whip, Justice Secretary, Environment Secretary, Duchy of Lancaster and Cabinet Office, and finally Levelling-Up Secretary. The portfolios hardly matter as Gove developed into a kind of Pooh-Bah without the arrogance, the Tory fixer who would get things done. In education he broke the dead hand of local authorities over state schools, by introducing independent Academies and other free schools and he drastically revised syllabuses, concentrating on traditional basics, much to the ire of the educational establishment. At the tricky Levelling-Up ministry he has subsidised local businesses and infrastructure projects, created several free-ports and even pushed the ENO to move to Manchester.

Yet to me, Gove’s finest hour was as one of the 3 Brexit leaders with Johnson and Farage. Gove and Dominic Cummings led a brilliant campaign in 2016 outwitting Cameron and the hopelessly Eurofanatic Establishment – who can forget Sunderland declaring for Brexit and the die being cast? Moreover, he snookered Boris’ candidature for Tory Leader – had he penetrated Boris’ bluster and realised he did not have the requisite prime ministerial qualities?   

Uneasy political allies, but winners all. Gove, Johnson and Farage.

I rate Gove very highly and pay tribute to his talent and integrity in the rough old game of politics.

2.     Sir Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer is not really my cup of tea, but he is likely to be our next Prime Minister and he has some real merits. He is 61 years old and was born into a Labour-supporting family (father a toolmaker, mother a nurse) in Surrey; indeed, he was named Keir after Labour Party founder Keir Hardie – what a suffocating legacy for a child!

                            Keir Starmer

After education at one-time state school Reigate Grammar, now independent and fee-paying, he read law at Leeds and took a postgraduate DCL at St Edmund Hall, Oxford (my college 60 years ago, so he must be a good egg!). Admitted to the Bar, he specialised in criminal and human rights cases and rose in the legal profession being appointed Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008-13, for which he was awarded his knighthood. In 2013 he was wooed inevitably by the Labour Party, then under the leadership of uninspiring Ed Miliband and soon to be defeated in the polls by a resurgent David Cameron. Starmer became the MP for the safe Labour seat Holborn St Pancras in the general election of 2015.

The advent of the Jeremy Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party in 2016 ushered in a violent move to the hard Left (Corbyn a lifetime admirer of the former East Germany!), Wokery unbounded, shameful obeisance to the BLM agitation and all the insanity of utopian crypto-communism. Corbyn even got a boost from Theresa May’s misjudged snap general election in 2017. Starmer dutifully fulfilled Shadow roles, whatever he privately thought of Corbyn.

Corbyn’s Labour Party was duly thrashed by Boris Johnson’s Tories in December 2019 and Corbyn resigned as Leader. Starmer comfortably won the ensuing leadership election 2020. There was a purge of Corbynites and their dogmas, who had so damaged the Party and Starmer began to rebuild Labour into an electable entity. Starmer is a sensible barrister, without much political guile, who is successfully re-aligning Labour policy and rhetoric in a centrist direction. The inept weakness of the Tories under Johnson, Truss and Sunak has eased his path.

But Starmer has spoken out strongly against Labour’s bouts of anti-Semitism (his 2 children are being brought up in the Jewish religion by his wife Victoria), against tax and spend fantasies, against uncontrolled immigration, against Russia’s war in Ukraine and against the barbarity of Hamas. He even broke a Party hoodoo with some kind words for the blessed Margaret Thatcher’s attitudes. A promising omen for the future! He has done the country a service by bringing Labour back into the mainstream.

I will be much briefer with the remain 4 solid citizens!

3.     Suella Braverman

 

Suella has had a meteoric career, serving as Home Secretary 2022-23, after being Boris’ Attorney-General. She has an exotic background with a Hindu Indian father and a Mauritian Christian mother, who was a Tory councillor. She is married to an Israeli-born Jew and is herself a Buddhist, brought up in Wembley. Her rise to high office underlines the “inclusiveness” of our nation.

Suella is no respecter of convention and expresses her views with refreshing clarity and candour. She has challenged the pro-immigration lobby, favours deportation of boat people to Rwanda, supports pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights (“all that Woke nonsense”), believes legal immigration is far too high and, no doubt like her erstwhile colleague Robert Jenrick, considers the Sunak government weak and indecisive on this vital issue.

She is a doughty and admirable right-wing Tory.

4.     Rachel Reeves

                                                                       Rachel Reeves

Starmer had the good sense to promote clever Rachel Reeves to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Now resident in Leeds (Bramley), Rachel is the daughter of two teachers and her sister Ellie is also an MP. Born in Lewisham, Rachel read PPE at New College, Oxford and after a spell at HBOS, became an economist at the Bank of England.

She has identified herself as a believer in “securonomics” an airy Bidenesque concept, involving an interventionist state, strict control of government spending and taxes, and stimulants to business. Coupled with Rachel’s promise not to raise any personal taxes, this sounds quite promising. But politicians easily renege on promises, so we will probably see in time what substance underlies her professions of fiscal virtue.

5.     Penny Mordaunt

                           Penny holds the Sword of State at the Coronation in May 2023

Penny Mordaunt, aged 50, entered Parliament in 2010 and is now Lord President of the (Privy) Council, a Tory pin-up, who handles herself with commendable dignity. She has had a succession of ministerial positions and was briefly Liz Truss’ Defence Secretary. She is a socially liberal Brexiteer and is much identified with support for the armed forces and their charities. She represents a Portsmouth constituency and was herself in the Royal Naval Reserve. She has stood twice for the Tory Party leadership, probably a bridge too far. She is a quintessential modern Tory, wholly resistant to wokery, despite being a constant target of hostile social media.

6.     Frank Field.

                                                 A younger Frank Field

I have to be quick to fit in a tribute to Frank Field as the poor man is suffering from terminal cancer and is in hospice care. Frank was MP for Birkenhead for 40 years from 1979 to 2019 and then became a life peer on the crossbenches after leaving the Labour Party in 2018. Born in London of Tory working-class parents, he was originally a conservative but moved to Labour in 1960 due to Tory equivocation about opposing apartheid in South Africa.

He long championed Birkenhead (where my parents were married oddly enough) and Merseyside. Most of his political life has been devoted to the alleviation of poverty fortified by his Anglican Christian faith. He remained socially conservative, even as a minister, deploring the payment of benefits without any contributions and advocating a small state. He was a long-time friend of Margaret Thatcher. He was respected in Labour circles for his expertise in the minutiae of social policy and his energetic advocacy but his support for Brexit and opposition to immigration made him many enemies. Field resigned the Labour whip in 2018 protesting about “intolerance, nastiness and intimidation.”

Our system should be able better to nurture independent, maverick characters like Frank Field who contribute much to public life.

 

SMD

10.12.23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

NEEDS SORTING

Our great nation is going through some kind of collective mental and moral breakdown and we need to shake ourselves out of negative attitudes and of what our French friends call Nostalgie de la Boue, the attraction to low-life culture, experience and degradation. How else can we have actually honoured or promoted the careers of such flawed characters as Prince Andrew, Boris Johnson (alas!), Jimmy Savile, Russell Brand or Ghislaine Maxwell – none of them role-models, for sure.

Prince Andrew

Boris Johnson

                                 

                                                            Russell Brand

Behind the personalities, there are serious issues and leadership challenges which need sorting and I list 5 – others will have much longer lists.

(1)    Political Behaviour. Westminster is an undignified bear-garden – far too many MPs (radical boundary changes required) and respect for the neutrality of The Speaker has been greatly damaged by Bercow’s tenure. The adversarial tradition should be modified with different seating arrangements and stronger cross-party committees. The unwritten UK constitution should be respected – prorogation of parliament, for example, to suit the party in power cannot be tolerated. PM’s Question Time needs to be remodelled, as it is uninformative in content and artificial in concept. Government must always be accountable to parliament, but it does not need a bogusly dramatic accompaniment. Perhaps the worst legacy of Boris is that the veracity and integrity of the Prime Minister is no longer a given assumption. Some of the time-honoured flummery of parliament, including The Lords, deserves the too long-delayed dustbin.

 

(2)    The National Health Service. Said to be the 5^th largest employer in the world with a payroll of 1.7m people, the NHS is a revered institution, once hardly ever criticized. When Covid struck we were encouraged to give it a clap every week and clang pots and pans in appreciation. But the obvious waste and incompetence displayed eroded confidence and the retreat of GPs from the front line and opportunistic strikes by nurses, junior doctors and senior consultants did not impress the public. The use of unqualified receptionists as gate-keepers, shielding the doctors, was scandalous and the whole edifice is too expensive and bureaucratic to survive without urgent reform. The staff union leaders, mostly extreme Lefties, have destroyed public goodwill. Tales of mis-diagnoses, appallingly bad care in certain hospitals, the Lucy Letby scandal and the past calamity of polluted blood administered to patients (£26bn compensation estimated) further undermines the NHS’s reputation. Vigorous management and focused financial plans would reignite public affection for the NHS.

 

(3)    The Media. Britain has always suffered from her “gutter press”, but now with a Woke-rampant BBC / ITV and rancid social media, the smell from the media drains is overpowering. The lowest common denominator holds sway, with a deeply moronic output and opinions expressed as facts, to which only a tiny minority subscribe. Toxic cancel-culture is everywhere and bias partout. The current Russell Brand imbroglio is a case in point. Brand may well be an insufferable twit and was given too much latitude, but he is not yet a criminal. There must be at this stage a presumption of innocence and still the laws of defamation and contempt of court probably need strengthening (and enforcing, by our abject Police and Judiciary.)

 

                                    

                                                             

               Rupert Murdoch (92), ruthless arch-agitator                Piers Morgan, his cheerleader

(4)    Devolution and Local Government. If the last 20 years have shown us anything, it is evident that if you give a politician an inch, he will take a mile. The well-meaning devolution experiment has been a disaster and somehow the political clock will have to be put back and devolved powers and privileges drastically reduced. In Scotland, a once proud nation has seen its home reduced to a crime-ridden, drug-guzzling, squalid slum by fanatical leaders obsessed with absurd dreams of “Independence”, when it is one of the most neighbour-dependent states in the world. Wales is another political slum, where nothing works well, while the obtuseness and ignorance of Northern Ireland’s crew are legendary. England itself is not much better with Birmingham going bust and cosmopolitan London rocked by its ill-conceived but woke ULEZ scheme. When local authorities are charged with real responsibility, like the regulation of care homes, they make a spectacular mess of it, employing low-lives who abuse vulnerable patients. Let’s face it, the UK talent pool of competent managers and administrators is alarmingly shallow.

 

(5)    The Watchdogs. A classic solution for the control of powerful institutions is the appointment of an overseeing watchdog, who has the ability to rectify abuses and omissions, and has the power to challenge and monitor those institutions. But these watchdogs are fallible and the question is soon asked: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen?). Such watchdogs hover over the City, Education, the Health Service and many other government departments. Their effectiveness is questionable, and while they provide well-paid billets for experienced old hands, they are often far too close to their erstwhile friends and colleagues. Thus recently, charged with investigating whether “de-banking” banking customers for political reasons was widespread, the City watchdog, the FCA, pronounced that they had asked 34 banks and found no evidence that anyone had been “primarily” de-banked for political reasons. This flies in the face of widespread publicity given to the struggle of Brexiteer Nigel Farage to retain his Coutts Bank account and the subsequent resignation of the CEO of NatWest, the owner of Coutts, when clear evidence emerged. Another mess – as we Scotsmen say, “There’s none so deaf as those who do not want to hear!”

A heavy agenda of Reform is suggested in this piece, unlikely to be completed in my lifetime. But I suggest that the powers-that-be start down the hard and treacherous road now!

 

SMD

21.09.23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

FAREWELL TO BORIS

 

I was and remain an enthusiastic supporter of Brexit and have awaited good news on that vital front since 2016. The good news pickings have been sadly sparse and yet advocated by Boris, supported by Boris in governments in which he has held high office, and finally a central pillar in his own government from 2019 to 2022, “getting Brexit done” has been Boris’ repeated mantra ever since. An imperfect Brexit deal was eventually done with a botched Northern Ireland protocol, but Boris’ government lost its momentum, and later Boris blotted his copybook with misleading Covid statements and it has all turned to ashes. He long ago was eased out of the Tory Leadership following various scandals and a mass resignation of his ministers.  Boris has now resigned his parliamentary seat amid complaints of a “witch-hunt” (à la Trump). He talks of returning but, frankly, I think that highly unlikely. I have no stomach for kicking a former hero when he is down. Mind you, his own hero Winston Churchill was in the wilderness for 8 years - so you never quite know.

             Boris at bay

His rise and fall embrace a sad story of inspiration, apotheosis, failure and arrogance. Born into a rather exotic well-connected liberal family then resident in the US, Boris thrived at Eton and Balliol, Oxford, reading Classics (he got a 2^nd) becoming President of the Union. He was not universally popular or admired but on coming down in 1986, he became a Times and later Telegraph correspondent, based in Brussels. Re-reading his journalistic anthology Have I got Views for You, reminded me of how amusing, thought-provoking and (that much misused word) “brilliant” Boris’ writing could be. Although most of it was written in his bantering manner, he certainly got about, meeting the principal actors in the Middle East, the EU, Yugoslavia and the USA, building up a reputation and a following. He often quarrelled with his editors and his enemies thought him superficial and even racialist, but I found him exuberant.

Inevitably Boris entered politics, winning a seat in 2001, editing The Spectator and entering the shadow cabinet. In 2008 he won the London mayoralty from Labour and had two terms until 2016. London had been considered hostile to Tories but Boris’ populist approach had much appeal. He was always controversial and his eye for the ladies had become notorious, but broadly his London stint was a major success (he had the good luck to host the Olympics in 2012).

On returning to Westminster, he decided to defy David Cameron and support the Brexit cause. Boris, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage were the leading lights in the “Yes” Campaign though Dominic Cummings dominated the backroom. On the resignation of Cameron, Boris was expected to succeed him, but Gove suddenly withdrew his support saying Boris was unfit for the Tory leadership. Boris withdrew and the baleful Theresa May became Prime Minister for almost 3 years. May made Boris Foreign Secretary, later she lost seats in a snap election and there was a hung parliament with the Tory government frustrated by its lack of a reliable majority, a solid pro-Europe SNP bloc, a feeble Labour party under appalling Jeremy Corbyn and a highly partisan and hostile Speaker in John Bercow. Theresa May was eased out and Boris won the leadership in Spring 2019, followed by many parliamentary manoeuvres of dubious legality. A general election took place in December 2019 resulting in an 80-seat majority for the Tories, a rich reward for Boris’ vigorous campaigning. The UK formally left the EU, warming the hearts of many Eurosceptic Tories like me.

Boris was triumphant but almost immediately his luck turned for the worse. A Covid epidemic, bubbling about in China for some months smashed into an unprepared UK and Europe. With no vaccine many died, and Boris himself was struck down, and only narrowly survived. The first of 4 national lockdowns were announced soon after, which remain highly controversial. The early 2 lockdowns had draconian limits on personal movements, badly affecting business gatherings, industrial working, children, teaching and leisure pursuits including spectator sports. They were imposed on the recommendation of the “expert” Sage committee. Industry and the economy were curbed mercilessly. Economic activity dwindled and ruinously expensive subsidy schemes had to be cobbled together; “work from home”, a poor substitute for “working with your peers”, was the fate of schoolchildren, students, new entrants to the jobs market, most office workers and even medical professionals. Many careers were completely derailed. Without much thought for his bourgeois electoral base, Boris enforced petty regulations with some severity; family life was made difficult and there was suffering and unhappiness. This would be bearable if everyone pulled together, but it later emerged that Boris and his retinue, and many senior Whitehall figures, often ignored the new legal rules. This was the origin of “Partygate”.

Which brings us to Boris’ character. His motto seemed to echo Rhett Butler’s words from Gone with the Wind; “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” That is all very well in a chippy new member but it is not ministerial language nor the idiom of a prime minister. Boris is of course a privileged toff but his voters do not care for senior politicians who bed-hop blatantly, who dress like an unmade bed, who ignore hallowed custom and tradition, favour their cronies and denigrate the House of Commons.

His government was also blown off course by the Russian invasion of Ukraine (where at least he helped resist evil) and by the subsequent energy dislocations, followed by rampant inflation (which even the Bank of England failed to foresee). The Partygate inquest took a long time to mature, but all the time Boris had blustered that he was faultless, statements which many realised were Porkie Pies (aka lies). It all surfaced and came to a crisis in June 2022 when he hopelessly defended a groping Tory whip called Pincher, and his cabinet and other supporters could not support him any longer. He lingered on the back benches but The Privileges Committee produced a scathing report in June 2023 finding that he had indeed repeatedly lied to the House and tried to undermine committee members. Before any punishment was meted out, Boris fled ignominiously to civilian life.

A mea culpa from me. For some time, I have supported Boris in my blogs, often in a very partisan fashion. I was deceived and now feel let down. My critical faculties did not work logically and I maintained my support for Boris much too long. I should have spotted “a bad ‘un” much earlier. I unreservedly apologise to all my friends and readers.

 

SMD

17.06.23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

OUT OF STEP

  

My generation, the wartime and early post-war generation, is of course largely retired, economically inactive and slowly but surely diminishing in number. We are not a key constituency but take pride in our traditions, our achievements, our human contributions and our wider families. We try to take a mellow view of the behaviour of our younger successors, although we are not always in sympathy with, or in understanding of, the modern world. We prefer not to talk of alienation nor isolation but the fact is we find ourselves living in a hectic, noisy, mad-house cosmos beyond parody, stretching our tolerance and critical faculties to the utmost limit.

                The Finnish Eurovision entry – Cha-cha-cha

To set the scene, this year’s Eurovision in grim Liverpool, upon which vast treasure is expended, was won by a Swedish (actually a Berber Moroccan) chanteuse called Loreen caged in a box whose tortured “song” was supplemented by gestures from her hideously elongated finger-nails. Worse, in second place was the Finnish effort, fronted by a kinky-looking gentleman with lurid green sleeves who ululated his tongue in a disgusting fashion. The UK entry, screamed by Britain-hating activist Mae Muller, was deservedly second last, only just surpassing the truly dismal German entry. All the songs were of the thumping Euro-technopop genus, their connection with real music totally inaudible. What rubbish and yet how many column inches and TV hours were devoted to this dystopian, freak-show spectacle!

The second-rate-farce theatre of Westminster politics is in equal turmoil. I am a Brexit-supporting Conservative, much influenced by the transformational Margaret Thatcher governments of the 1980s. We are supposedly enjoying a Tory regime, but where are the Tories? Our Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has piled tax upon tax, regulation upon regulation as if he wanted to outdo unlamented Brussels. The economy creaks forward by a tiny fraction a month, robotically controlled by Jeremy Hunt and less internationally competitive by the day. There are occasional flashes of common sense from Michael Gove, Suella Braverman and Jacob Rees-Mogg but we see no consistent vision for the future and nothing remotely inspirational. Some blame inflation, the Ukraine war and Covid for the malaise, but actually the basic problem is a Tory lack of grip and political cunning – a government needs to be 5 steps ahead of its political adversaries, not 3 steps behind. But who on earth will follow these inept, burnt-out has-beens?

 

Most people believe Sir Keir Starmer and Labour are in pole position to sweep into power at the next election. That is not a mouth-watering prospect, to say the least. Starmer is an unreconstructed Woke Leftie, who swallowed every idiocy pronounced by the appalling erstwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, without demur. The image most associated with Starmer is he (accompanied by his crass deputy Angela Rayner) piously “taking the knee” in respect towards the dubious and violent Black Lives Matter cause. His principles blow with the wind – Brexiteer one day, Remainer the next – today he promises to ‘renegotiate” Brexit. He denounces crime, while failing to mention he was Director of Public Prosecutions 2008-13, and took no relevant initiatives. He says he would give the vote to working- resident EU citizens, but flip-flops today when the obviousness of this gerrymandering became plain. He is a man of straw. There are no principles he would not bend in the search for power and none he would defend if seriously challenged. He has no spine and Churchill’s 1931 description of Ramsay Macdonald would resonate, –“The boneless wonder sitting on the Treasury bench”

             Keir Starmer and friends

Starmer’s party, his members and activists, are a talentless rabble, mad, bad and dangerous to know. They are bad because they have turned their backs on key principles of liberal democracy, like free speech (supporting the cancellation of dissenting voices in universities). Their attitude towards Russia and China is at best ambivalent, so we certainly cannot sleep easily in our beds, as the Left has no respect for our hard-won freedoms or the principle of national defence. Their traditional pay-masters, the trades unions, are re-asserting themselves and openly preach communist claptrap, such as the imminent destruction of capitalism. They may well fool many in the moronic reaches of the electorate, but we can only pray that enough sensible voters have survived to stem their toxic flow.

Currently, there is not much to encourage us. The Civil Service is infiltrated by the Woke, doctors and nurses strike for absurd pay rises, the NHS is near collapse, school staff strike at the drop of a hat. It is not just the public sector either. Bank workers “work from home”, businesses suffer huge absenteeism, the entire work-force is often idle and work-shy. Can it ever be turned round?

My generation needs some good news. In the existing atmosphere, we are returning to our shell and not surrendering anything. We are not sending the Elgin Marbles back to Greece, we are not apologising for the sins of the past like Slavery (Arabs and black African rulers were much worse than we were) or Colonialism (that impertinent US Declaration in 1776 was a robbery for which we should be richly compensated! Maybe that is a long shot!?). Just say No! to adversaries and not be an easy touch for anyone.

SMD

17.5.23

EXPECTING THE WORST

 

With the Coronation a matter of days away, we should now be in a cheerfully relaxed frame of mind, stocking up on bubbly, canapés and tasty picnic fare, rehearsing patriotic songs, preparing rousing orations for every generation and keenly anticipating this rare and convivial event, perhaps even composing an ode or a celebratory sonnet. Instead, I have dire forebodings that May will bring us violence and civil conflict at worst and at best a torrent of cynicism and disparagement from deluded politicians, media and overseas enemies of our great country. Prepare for an ugly onslaught!

                       King Charles and the errant Prince Harry

The most immediate threat to the peace of the Coronation comes from Prince Harry (aka The Ginger Whinger), who has kept up a chorus of moans about his family victimhood since disappearing in 2020 to California and deluxe exile. King Charles, typically benignly (but perhaps unwisely) has half-forgiven the prodigal and invited him to come. Harry is bubbling over with malevolence and could easily stage a stunt, say, a noisy walk-out when Camilla is crowned, just to spoil the occasion. I hope the London crowds give him a resounding raspberry and he takes a one-way ticket back to America pronto. What a plonker!

But there will be plenty other crackpots in London on the great day. Anti-monarchical sentiment is strong on the disaffected Left although many mainstream Labour voters are happily loyal. London is ethnically very diverse and support for royalty is a minority stance in several communities. Bomb-making, terrorism and suicide attacks can easily emanate from these elements. In the past, we could depend on the Metropolitan Police and MI5 to keep tabs on resident and arriving troublemakers, but confidence in the abilities of the Met is at a low level at present. Naturally we feel uneasy.

We can be sure that street-agitation will be prominent. Starry-eyed groups like Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop oil and the Liberal Democrats will tie themselves to, glue themselves against or drape themselves over some public monument in their desperate search for relevance and publicity. The sweet sound of rejoicing choral music will be drowned out by the ravings of Diane Abbott and the burbling grand-standing of Ed Davey.

Diane Abbott 

 

                                                                Sir Ed Davey

Others will ignore the Coronation. The SNP is fundamentally republican and is in the midst of an internal civil war, with nose-diving support. Nicola Sturgeon’s bequest to her nation is a party of failure as far as independence is concerned, chaotic finances exuding a stink of corruption, secrecy over its processes and governance and an ugly leading group comprising Humza Yousaf, Stephen Flynn and Ian Blackford bickering among themselves. They shame my native Scotland, eheu.

No doubt the Coronation will elicit patronising comment from the US. It is true that Charles and Camilla are crowned carrying heavy baggage from their pasts, as you might expect with a couple in their mid-70s. But remember that the UK monarchy is mainly ceremonial and has minimal political clout. Contrast that with the Head of State in the USA, the President, who combines the heaviest political duties with substantial ceremonial ones. The US presidential election in 2024 promises to be a dreary re-run of 2020 with an 81-year-old Joe Biden challenged by 77-year-old Donald Trump. Biden is manifestly unfit for office thanks to age and his distracted brain while Donald Trump had a disastrous term and disgraced himself with idiotic conspiracy theories on losing office. Where is the vaunted hidden talent in political America and why have the Republican and Democratic parties allowed themselves to be manoeuvred into this odious corner?  

6 May 2023 will be an auspicious day for the UK. Close our eyes to the tendentious coverage from the BBC and The Guardian, ignore the cat-calls from the disaffected, suffuse ourselves with goodwill towards friends and neighbours and stay faithful to the values of our beloved Britain.

SMD

26.4 23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023