Heroes: 10-Yrs to Save the World 

 

‘Look out, honey, ’cause I’m using technology 

Ain’t got time to make no apology’ 

 
This week the column will go one better than Liz Truss, who is only able to save the West we, will be global! Ha, ha! 

Joking aside, and let’s face it, she is a joke, Liz’s ego is without bounds. This is the lady who blew-up the economy, whose time as PM cost roughly £1bn per day, and was outlasted by a lettuce! 

But, we were all wrong. After all what do a few pesky economists in the Treasury, BoE, and OBR know. Then those City traders – idiots! So what if a few million people had to pay for the mortgage, didn’t they know they were in presence of greatness?   

Aside from being a failed PM Truss is little more than an exercise in self-belief. She entered parliament in the golden Tory era of 2010, and prospered despite…..according to her book Theresa May wanted to sack her but didn’t feel strong enough; Boris Johnson’s allies have long suspected he promoted her to crowd the pitch for others he considered more of a serious threat. In addition, she was backed by the Tory media.  
 

‘This is the lady who blew-up the economy, whose time as PM cost roughly £1bn per day, and was outlasted by a lettuce!’ 

 
The formative event of her career was Brexit, she had been ‘remain’, concluding that leaving was too risky. Leave’s success convinced her of the needs to take risks, especially in the post–Brexit world, when it seemed that more outlandish the idea, the more some of her parliamentary colleagues, the right-wing press and a percentage of the electorate supported it. Whilst her despised ‘deep state, the so-called establishment, might think ideas were madness, Trump’s rise to power showed they could be overcome provided that you were popular.  

It’s the will of the people, and experts just have to get on with it, or failing that, they could be sacked, as Truss considered doing to the OBR. 

Whilst others saw the opportunities offered for the hard-right post-Breit, Truss was the one with the energy and ideological tunnel vision to really push it to the limit. 

She likely thought that, if Johnson could become and remain PM despite his obvious flaws, anyone could.  

There are fears within sections of the party that continual outbursts from Truss, Johnson, and Braverman will signal Sunaks’ inability to restore authority in the months before the general election. One senior Tory said it was a sign of No 10 not having ‘the authority that it needs’, risking a downward spiral as the election approached. ‘Authority is so weak, we’re so close to the end of the parliament, people think that tilting towards Reform might save their seats. Discipline breaks down because discipline breaks down. It’s a feedback loop.’ 

This week’s ban on smoking vote saw Truss criticise the proposal as a nanny-state measure that is unconservative. Johnson also criticised the idea, describing it as ‘absolutely nuts‘. 

One senior MP said the former PM remained a ‘bitter, twisted and vengeful‘ figure after Johnson attacked the foreign secretary, David Cameron, for failing to rule out banning arms sales to Israel. 
 

‘the former PM remained a ‘bitter, twisted and vengeful‘ figure after Johnson attacked the foreign secretary, David Cameron, for failing to rule out banning arms sales to Israel’

 
Braverman, who has been a central plotter against the PM is, this week, a keynote speakers at the National Conservatism (NatCon) conference in Brussels, alongside Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and a key ally of Russian president Vladamir Putin. In 2020, Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski was reprimanded during Boris Johnson’s Conservative leadership for attending the NatCon event in Rome, where Orbán was also a speaker. 

Others attending the conference include Rod Dreher, an American writer who argued that the Christchurch mosque gunman who killed 51 people in 2019 did have ‘legitimate, realistic concerns‘ about ‘declining numbers of ethnic Europeans’; Ryszard Legutko, a Polish politician who has said he does not ‘understand why anyone should want to be proud of being a homosexual’; and Uzay Bulut, a Turkish political analyst who said that London ‘appears to be a striking case of the Islamisation of a major western capital through mass migration’.  

In response to Braverman keeping such unseemly company, Labour’s shadow paymaster general, Jonathan Ashworth, reminded the PM that, ‘Last month, you recognised that extremist groups were ‘trying to tear us [the UK] apart’ in an unprecedented address outside Downing Street, accusing both Islamist and far right groups of ‘spreading a poison, that poison is extremism’. 

‘Now, by giving oxygen to these divisive and dangerous individuals, Suella Braverman is legitimising fringe far-right elements that threaten our cohesion and democracy. You must have the courage of your convictions and block her from attending.’ 
 

‘by giving oxygen to these divisive and dangerous individuals, Suella Braverman is legitimising fringe far-right elements that threaten our cohesion and democracy’

 
Much to my amusement the first day of the rally was halted as Emir Kir, the mayor of the Brussels district of Saint-Josse where the rally was taking place, confirmed on Facebook he had issued a ban in order to ‘ensure public security’. He said the far right – which is predicted to surge in EU-wide elections taking place in June – was ‘not welcome‘ in the city. 

Unfortunately, this was overturned as an infringement of free-speech, but the memory of a bucolic Farage, replete with an embarrassingly awful tie, will linger long in the memory. 

As we know, hard-right politicians are big on free-speech as any political prisoner will concur!  

Interestingly, it appears that Europe’s far-right have learned from the folly that was Brexit. 

The right-wing Dutch ‘firebrand‘ Geert Wilders, had been a fan and campaigner for ‘Nexit’ – the Netherlands leaving the EU. However, the obvious damage wreaked by Brexit is now manifest to all, and Wilders has apparently dropped his campaign to leave the union and prefers to alter it ‘from within‘.  

Whilst many Tories also know what a disaster it is, they prefer to leave unsaid, at least in public, the notable exception is Jacob Rees-Mogg, who claims: ‘There is no doubt that leaving the EU was the best decision we could have made for our economy.’ 

Perhaps, the mess caused by Brexit and 14-yrs of Tory mis-government explains why, in a recent YouGov poll, for the first time, Reform UK edged ahead of the Conservatives among male voters. Overall, Tory support has dwindled to levels not witnessed since Liz Truss’s tenure, with fewer than one in five voters inclined to vote for them. 
 

‘Tory support has dwindled to levels not witnessed since Liz Truss’s tenure, with fewer than one in five voters inclined to vote for them’

 
This shift, while unique in the UK, mirrors trends across the Channel, as in a growing number of European countries, such as France, Italy and Sweden, the far right has eclipsed the mainstream right. However, it is back to Holland we go to see what this could mean for us. 

In July 2023, the centre-right Volkspartij voor Vrijheid (VVD) of the outgoing prime minister, Mark Rutte,  dismantled its governing coalition, citing insurmountable conflicts over policies aimed at managing and deterring asylum seekers. Soon after, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, the new party leader, declared an end to ‘murky compromises‘ on immigration and proclaimed the lifting of the decade-old cordon sanitaire with the far-right Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) in order to reinforce her pledge. 

Immigration became the linchpin of the VVD party manifesto, which included a large number of proposals specifically targeting asylum seekers, ranging from invasive phone checks to a move towards providing even more austere accommodation. In dong so, the VVD was making the fatal but age-old mistake of legitimising far-right ideologies, giving them the credibility associated with mainstream politics. 

The rational for doing so is always the same, it will stop disengaged voters turning to populist parties. However, as history shows, this approach often  backfires. 

The far-right PVV secured an unparalleled triumph in November’s Dutch elections, more than doubling its vote share, while the VVD, after 13-years in government, fell to third place. With immigration pushed to the forefront, voters chose the party with the original anti-asylum policies rather than the copycat. 

The actions of the VVD are little different to the route trodden by Rishi Sunak and his vow to ‘stop the boats‘, and putting sending asylum seekers to Rwanda at the top of his agenda. In December, the home secretary, James Cleverly, announced a five-point immigration reduction plan. Now the government reportedly wants to achieve the biggest reduction in immigration figures ever recorded before the election. 
 

‘Sunak appears to be doubling down on ‘tough‘ immigration policies in a bid to woo back voters’

 
As Reform gains ground, Sunak appears to be doubling down on ‘tough‘ immigration policies in a bid to woo back voters. However, as we saw in Holland, research suggests that when mainstream parties shift to the right on immigration, it does nothing to reduce support for the far right. If anything, the far right is the winner because its position and rhetoric becomes normalised.  

In addition, when mainstream parties normalise the far right, other factors become more important. For example, in Holland Wilders skilfully used his 25-yrs experience as an MP to manipulate issues around immigration and housing to his advantage against the novice Yeşilgöz-Zegerius. This could be echoed in the UK by Nigel Farage who, with his experience as an MEP, appears ready to exploit any misstep by Sunak. A scenario where Farage returns – possibly before the next general election – would be particularly threatening for the Tories. 

Britain’s first past the post system has always counted against smaller parties, but the presence of Reform could amplify Labour’s margin of victory. Such a scenario is already being shown in a number of polls, and could lead to the near-eradication of the Tories. 

This presents a clear, but largely unseen danger, as a vanquished Tory party falling prey to Farage-like figures from within the party, as happened in the US with the Republican party being taken over by Trump and his acolytes. 

There are, however, young voters, who could hold the back the rise of the right in the UK. 

In recent weeks, a new organisation calling itself Youth Demand has hit the headlines after spray painting the Labour party headquarters and the Ministry of Defence,  

More noticeably, in a protest outside Keir Starmer’s home in Kentish Town, north London, rows of children’s shoes were laid at his front door, alongside a banner surrounded by red handprints was hung outside the house, with the words: ‘Starmer stop the killing’. 

Youth Demand was created in January, when a meeting was held at the Old Print Works in Birmingham by some of those involved in direct action group Just Stop Oil. There was, they felt the need for action across a range of issues, in addition to the climate crisis. 

Four sub-groups set up an umbrella coordinating group, entitled simply Umbrella. These four sub-groups are Just Stop Oil, Assemble, which will seek to organise local groups of people to discuss how to fix the ‘broken system‘; Robin Hood, the purposes of which are yet to be determined but which will engage in ‘civil resistance‘ in relation to socioeconomic challenges, possibly relating to food poverty or rents; and Youth Demand. 

The group claims to have between 5,000 and 10,000 people on a mailing list, and it is said to be represented at 17 universities.  

A spokesperson for Youth Demand, Chiara Sarti, 24, a PhD student at King’s College, Cambridge, said: ‘Obviously there will be a party there afterwards. We’ve seen just the massive influence, that massive amount of power, that we can exercise when we put our bodies on the gears of the machine, when we step in to subvert systems, dominating the political narrative. From zero to being in the media conversations. We are just getting started. We are going to be mobilising when we go back to our cities.’ 
 

‘revolutions are basically coming down the road, whether we like it or not, because the current political system is broken beyond repair’

 
The group believes a major change in British politics will come. Sarti said: ‘The way we see it is that revolutions are basically coming down the road, whether we like it or not, because the current political system is broken beyond repair. 

 

‘The question now is not whether Labour or the Tories are going to be the next government. The question is: are we going to get a fascist type of revolution or are we going to get something better, get a democratic revolution based on nonviolence? We believe we’ve seen a glimmer of what’s coming down the road.’ 

As this column has written before there is an underbelly who feels left-out by mainstream politics. It is refreshing to see youth stepping-up rather than moaning, reactionary, oldies. Its high time Farage and his Dambuster’s tune was put to bed! 

‘Ah, here it comes 

I know it’s someone I knew 

Teenage riot in a public station 

Gonna fight and tear it up in a hypernation for you’ 

 

A pretty dismal obituary to a government in meltdown and a party beyond parody; whoever thought it could get this ridiculous?

‘This really is the last days in the bunker syndrome. Sunak is leading, or trying to, manage a government out-of-control, out-of-time, and out-of-ideas.

This week we have seen the proposal of smoking bans banning smartphones for children (good luck with that one!), clamping down on sick notes, and the madness that is offshoring to Rwanda.

Events just happen around the government. It’s as if they are in la, la, land.

Rishi Sunak’s future doesn’t look much better than the average lettuce. His would-be successors are openly jockeying for advantage in the next leadership contest, with Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt and Priti Patel all but declared as likely candidates.

Liz Truss is raising her standard of revolt yet again, whilst Boris Johnson fantasises about a recall to the colours too. Meanwhile, Tim Loughton’s recent decision not to stand again as a Conservative MP brought the list of prospective backbench retirees to 64 and counting.

The data that sums up just what a mess the Tories are in, is the fact that 18 Conservatives in this parliament who have had to resign the party whip, been suspended from it, or who have had it withdrawn altogether. MPs from other parties have lost their whips too, but none can match the Conservative’s.

The latest is Fylde MP, Mark Menzies, who is accused of misusing campaign funds and demanding thousands of pounds from an aide in what he called “a matter of life and death” to pay off “bad people” who had allegedly locked him in a flat.

Worse still is the fact that the chief whip, Simon Hart, was told about the allegations at the start of January, but only took action this week as the story was about to be made public in the Times.

Trust in politicians needs to be re-established, but it won’t happen whilst a half-crazed, disintegrating party is in government.

Their time is clearly over.

Lyrically, we start with Iggy and the Stooges “Search and Destroy”, a fitting tribute to Liz Truss. We finish with the celebration of youth power that is Sonic Youth’s “Teenage Riot”. Enjoy!

 

@coldwarsteve
 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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