Not so much fun now

As I have written before, back in the 2000s it was highly entertaining to watch the infighting and back stabbing as the Tories regularly changed leaders. Back then this blood sport was harmless fun. They were in Opposition so the chaos didn’t have any impact on people’s day to day lives.

Would that this were still true.

Funny, yes, but, fuck me, what a nightmare for the poor public who are dealing with the fallout.

Pretty much the only thing Thatcher’s mini me talked about in her leadership bid was “tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts” as if giving the wealthy minority more money had ever benefited anyone other than the wealthy.

When her quasi Chancellor delivered on this promise in a minibudget that offered billions of unfunded pounds in tax cuts (oh, wait, the cuts will be funded with borrowing), the markets crashed, the pound took a nose dive and the Bank of England threw up its institutional hands in despair. What the fuck else did Truss expect to happen? Not surprisingly Kwasi was instructed to fall on his sword – as if he and he alone was responsible for this all too predictable mess. 

Jeremy Hunt, who, as I previously wrote, was the only sane candidate in the most recent leadership race (a fact that failed to get him past the first round of voting with the barking membership), is now Chancellor. Today he announced he will be axing pretty much everything his predecessor – at Truss’s behest – proposed. (Worth clicking on that link for the analysis of Tory backbench thinking.)

Several Tory MPs are publicly calling for Truss to step down. No doubt many, many more privately wish she’d piss off.

In theory, according to the rules, Truss is safe from a leadership challenge for a year, but, as commentators are pointing out, rules can be changed.

One such commentator said on the Beeb yesterday that, if Truss is ousted, she’ll be the fourth since David Cameron. For the record, Cameron was not ousted. Having called an entirely unnecessary referendum on EU membership and then (with the help of blatant liars like BoJo the clown and Fartface Farange, a gullible public and Vladimir Putin) losing, Cameron just ran away from the debacle. Prick.

If a general election was called tomorrow, Labour would win by a landslide. According to a recent poll conducted by Opinium, Jeremy Hunt is one of 10 cabinet members who should expect to lose their seats. Unfortunately the Tories can hold off until January 2025 before they absolutely must call an election. If, as Harold Wilson famously said, a week is a long time in politics, two years is far too long. 

It’s certainly far too long for the average Brit who is trying to figure out how to avoid freezing to death this winter while energy companies enjoy record profits. 

What a shit shower.