A Dead Charlatan Walking

In the year or so since I last posted on this blog (for which I can only apologise to my committed and world beating supporters) it’s been a categorical yawnathon in British politics.

I mean yes, we’ve had the continuation of the pandemic, a catalogue of Covid rule breaking in Downing Street, resignations, the Sue Gray report, but it’s not like we’re on the brink of a third world war or anything.

Tasteful humour aside, the litany of scandals and sleaze that has continually bombarded Boris Johnson in the last year proves, to me, one thing: if Boris Johnson can still be in power after all that has happened, the great realignment of British politics may well be complete. Partisanship has taken a firm grip on the usually mild British senses and left us in continual want of a high octane, drama based politics.

To this end, despite over 40% of tory MP’s voting against the Prime Minister in the confidence vote, is there anything that can oust Boris Johnson?

The gloomy reality, for now at least, appears to be no. While over 40% of tory MP’s did, indeed, vote to remove Mr Johnson, nearly 60% voted to keep a law breaking charlatan in power. Not merely does this tell us of a shift in the Conservative Party to the even more degenerate right, it tells us that there is nothing Mr Johnson could now do that would merit removal from office, at least in the eyes of most within his party.

The descent into this type of politics did not, however, happen behind our backs. The signs were there as early as 1997 with the formation of the Referendum Party. From here, the rise of UKIP and Euroscepticism as easy solutions to the poverty and other such crises our nation faces swept up much of the electorate. This, in turn, has bred a tory party craving power at the cost of all decency and truth, all while many Brexit supporters continue to lap up the bowl of sour milk offered to them, all because that bowl is topped with a union jack.

The job for the left, then, is not a simple one. How do Labour win power within the context of such bitter national divisions? Will the steady leadership of Keir Starmer as a palatable alternative be enough? Is something else needed? Whatever the case may be, the biggest enemy of the lefts quest to power remains itself and broad church unity the likes of which have never been seen will be needed to kick out Boris Johnson and his cronies once and for all.