HP Source: Johnson Turns Left Whilst the People Yearn for Empire

‘Walk in silence

Don’t turn away, in silence

Your confusion

My illusion’

 

This week the column deliberately avoids tackling the Coronavirus situation or the economic impact of it, far better writers are already doing that hour-by-hour.

‘we consider what does Johnsons stand for? And what many of his supporters long for’

However, further down when we consider yesterday’s budget, we acknowledge that it was, in-part, influenced by the epidemic.

Instead, after the publication this week if his first budget as PM, we consider what does Johnsons stand for? And what many of his supporters long for. The latter I find especially distressing.

As a populist who, by nature have no fixed ideology, pinning down the what Johnson stands for is all but impossible, for example:

 

• He vows to be ‘the most pro-business prime minister in history’, when previously he had exclaimed ‘fuck business’.
• Today he promises billions for the north and the Midlands, whereas a few years ago he claimed: ‘A pound spent in Croydon is of far more value to the country than a pound spent in Strathclyde.’

 

‘Get out of the way ”cause I gotta get away

You never realize I take the piss out of you..’

 

As Tory leader he is, currently, a redistributionist, ‘everyone can get a fair share of future prosperity’ and pledging in his manifesto to bulldoze ‘arbitrary tax advantages for the wealthy in society’.

But, how does this sit with the party? Higher costs on pension savings?

A ‘moral disgrace … an economic farce’, harrumphed David Davis to Andrew Marr last month. Abolishing entrepreneurs’ relief?

Backbenchers immediately took to WhatsApp to protest, ‘If we aren’t backing entrepreneurs, then who are we for?’

These are traditional left-wing policies designed to benefit the masses at the expense of the few, and for Johnson they validate his recent capture of former Labour strongholds.

As the political scientist Matthew Goodwin said: ‘It is easier for the right to move left on economics.’ The party’s reputation for economic ruthlessness allows them to use tools such as nationalisation is far less controversial than if Labour put them forward.

‘traditional left-wing policies designed to benefit the masses at the expense of the few’

This was endorsed robustly by the Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his budget speech  on Wednesday with a complete U-turn on public borrowing, he said ‘investment and higher growth mean more jobs and higher wages’.

This is the beginning of the expanded role of government and suggests a significant change of ideological direction for the Tory party. If it is lasting this clearly throws down the gauntlet to the post-Corbyn Labour party.

It also explains why Sajid Javid had to go, this is not a budget he could have supported, Javid is a follower of austerity, a small-state man.

Whilst Sunak, in his opening, focussed on coronavirus, promising £30bn upfront on the NHS and measures to protect businesses and workers, it’s the investment in infrastructure that marks out this budget as something different from those that went before. An extra £175bn over five years.

It feels like the party is finally parting company with Thatcherism.

‘It feels like the party is finally parting company with Thatcherism’

However, as mentioned before, other that believing it is his right to be PM, Johnson remains uncertain about what he really believes in.

The party itself is divided between the primacy of economic interests and those of nationalism, between wallowing in nostalgia and focussing on the future, it is undecided on state intervention, and our post-Brexit role in the world.

This indecision, and the current control of the party held by the right-wing, helps explain why Pritti Patel hasn’t been sacked.

After all, she would have fallen foul of the former Home Secretary, Michael Howard, and his hard-line penal policy of ‘three strikes and you’re out’.

I addition, she isn’t a particularly good minister, her record is as thin as her reputation. A former colleague said that she manages to combine arrogance with stupidity.

‘A former colleague said that she manages to combine arrogance with stupidity’

Despite this, for both political and ideological reasons Johnson needs her.

Whereas David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson have all attempted to follow something they all called ‘one nation’ policies, Patel continues instead to emulate Thatcher’s distinctive and divisive combination of liberal possessive individualism and authoritarian social policy.

Mrs Thatcher she isn’t, but as Home Secretary she embodies the sentiment loved by the Tory right.

What the budget did demonstrate was that austerity was a political choice. The masses were punished for no reason and even less benefit, whist handing billions to large corporations.

This polarised the electorate and created the conditions for Brexit.

‘The masses were punished for no reason and even less benefit, whist handing billions to large corporations’

Cameron is often castigated for calling the Brexit referendum, his crime is much greater; he created the conditions that gave the Leave campaign the cause.

He stuck with austerity because it was politically convenient, the electorate believed they were punishing the bankers who caused the 2008 crisis, whereas Johnson has dumped it because the masses now realises the only losers were them!

Unfortunately for the masses this budget delivers little of the promised ‘levelling up’, Universal credit remains toxic, social services unloved, whilst the infrastructure spend benefits the big developers and civil engineering firms.

As for the environment; 4,000 miles of extra tarmac should be enough to further age young Ms Thunberg

 

‘The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive

Everybody’s out on the run tonight, but there’s no place left to hide…’

 

But what do the masses want? Well, it would seem a return to the days of the British Empire.

Almost one-third of people in the UK believe Britain’s colonies were better off for being part of an empire, a higher proportion than in any of the other major colonial powers, a global survey has revealed.

 

• This has inevitably led to claims that there are high levels of nationalism prevalent in the country: Conservative voters were almost twice as likely as Labour voters to yearn for Britain to still have an empire,
• While Brexit-supporting leave voters were more than twice as pro-empire than Remainers.

 

Table 1. More than 30% of British people are proud of the British empire

 

More something to be proud of	32%
Neither something to be proud nor ashamed of	37%
More something to be ashamed of	19%
Don’t know	12%

 

The results, predictably received a mixed reception; Oku Ekpenyon, who is leading a campaign for Britain to erect a new memorial to the transatlantic slave trade, described them as ‘alarming’, saying they raised questions about British education on colonial topics and highlighted the country’s tendency towards nostalgia.

Defenders of empire saw the figures differently.

Nigel Biggar, regius professor of moral and pastoral theology at Christ Church College, Oxford, said that the fact that only a minority of 32% said empire was something to be proud of meant that ‘if the post-colonialists really want to hound imperial flag-wavers, they should go after the Dutch’.

‘Public post-colonialists like to claim that we British suffer from selective amnesia over the British Empire: we remember the good bits and forget the bad bits,’ he said. ‘[But] are most Britons really not aware of our involvement in slavery during the 17th and 18th centuries? … When the largest segment (37%) report that they think it ‘neither something to be proud nor ashamed of’, they could mean that they’re perfectly aware of the Empire’s moral ambiguity.’

Oku Ekpenyon also pointed, correctly in this columns opinion, ‘There is nostalgia for empire. Britain still sees itself as a major force. It’s alarming that 33% think the colonised countries were better off.’

 

Table 2. A third of British people believe countries that were colonised by Britain are better off overall for being colonised

 

Better off	33%
Neither better nor worse off	21%
Worse off	17%
Don’t know	28%

 

Ekpenyon highlighted a speech made by Prince Charles on a visit to Accra in Ghana in 2018 in which he apologised for the ‘appalling atrocity of the slave trade’.

He said that while Britain led the abolition movement it has ‘a shared responsibility to ensure that the abject horror of slavery is never forgotten’.

Jon Wilson, professor of modern history at King’s College London, said the likelihood that a country believes it left its former colonies better off appeared to be correlated to the extent and openness of the national debate about empire.

 

• ‘[Some] have spoken about the violence of empire – Belgium in the Congo, France in Algeria, Italy in Ethiopia,’ he said. ‘The Netherlands, like Britain, has not had that debate.’
• In the UK, people aged over 64 were more than twice as likely to be proud of empire than those aged 18-24, the polling showed, which Wilson suggested may be linked to improved teaching

 

The final point was, ‘Would you like Britain to still have an empire?’

 

1. 66% of Remain voters said No, whereas 39% of Leave voter said Yes. (to avoid being partisan 40% of leave voters said No, likely because it would be full of foreigners!)
2. Of those aged between 18-24 46% said No, and of those aged 65+ 31% said yes (again, to avoid being partisan 53% of those aged 65+ said No, likely because it would be full of foreigners!)

 

And so it goes….Boris is a man of no fixed ideology, however he can see the political expedient of pandering to the masses that dismantled the ‘Red Wall’ and put him in number 10, by ending austerity.

‘a man of no fixed ideology, however he can see the political expedient of pandering to the masses’

Although, the question must be asked is this his policy or are his strings still being pulled by Cummings?

Was there a point to austerity?

No. It was simply a Tory tool to fool the massed into thinking it punished the bankers for the ‘bad behaviour’ when it only served to keep them in their place while Cameron’s mates got fatter.

Additionally, it sowed the seeds of disquiet that was to be his final humiliation outside number 10, and likely will lead to ‘lost years’ for all of us.

‘you would have been downstairs cooking, cleaning, and waiting on the table’

Not content with that revenge the masses now yearn for empire.

They don’t, all the report highlights are people wallowing in nostalgia; wanting Vera Lynn, Enid Blyton and jolly jaunts, all living life as if they were in Downtown Abbey.

Well, I have got news for you lot, you would have been downstairs cooking, cleaning, and waiting on the table. Instead of Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham, being the head of house its Boris and his ilk. Like it or not, he’s part of the establishment and we aint….

 

‘The lights are much brighter there

You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares..’

 

OK lyric spotters, we’ve got another real treat from Philip – a cracking article that gets to the nub of what’s going on, revisits some recurring themes, and leaves us wanting more because some of the shenanigans at face value appear to defy logic, or at the very least convention.

Ms Patel remains in the cross-hairs; the looming presence of Coronavirus is the backdrop to Mr Sunak’s first budget, but how much was down to Mr Cummings’ social conscience; just how far would the Leavers really like to go in recreating Empire; have we seen the end of Thatcherism – and austerity, what was the point of that?

Lyrically, I’m puffing my little chest out having trouble the scorer for the first time in a while; if you did too, entries in the normal way, but please remember to seal the envelope with a moist flannel.

First up ‘a favourite of this column, their last official song, but not the final release. Haunting and beautiful, 3 pts if you got to Joy Division and ‘Atmosphere’.

Next ‘another favourite and very apt, guaranteed to upset them all – just 1 pt for a ‘gimmie’ The Sex Pistols and ‘No Feelings’.

Thirdly ‘a newcomer this week, and not one you might expect from me’ – 2 pts if you fingered The Boss with ‘Born to Run’.

Lastly, not a drawer I usually look in, but Philip’s note had me cast my net a little wider – ‘It’s a classic, bit one you would never expect from me, proof that there is more than spit, gob, and vomit’ – fully five points if you, like me, got to Petula Clark and Downtown. 

Enjoy them all whilst you’re self-isolating and stay safe.

 

 

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

 

Click on the link to see all Brexit Bulletins: