And so the procession of three grand limousines - the last of these, a product of the Volkswagen Group, being the only vehicle of the three trusted to carry the Queen and Prince Charles - wound its way from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster. We were about to hear The Queen’s Speech, the programme of legislation put forward by our new Government. This would seek to make law all those election promises.
That, at least, might have been expected. But all those gullible voters who put their faith in alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson to “get it done” just over a week ago soon realised that, like everyone else who has put their trust in him over the years, they had been taken for mugs. Their cupboard was bare. That of Bozo’s rich and greedy pals, on the other hand, was veritably full to bursting.
James Melville had, for instance, considered the legislation covering the UK’s exit from the EU. His conclusion should sound alarm bells. “The EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill 2019-20 has been published. There are three major amendments: MPs right to veto/vote over any extension: Gone … Parliament’s role to scrutinise the future relationship between the UK & EU: Gone … Workers/Employment rights protection: Gone”.
Hello all you workers who might depend on all those employment rights to ensure you have a safe workplace, less than oppressively onerous hours, and the right to unionise. You voted Bozo? You’ve been had. In fact, you’ve been had twice over: there was also that promise to raise the minimum wage. So where is that in The Queen’s Speech? Oh, it’s there all right. Except … Bozo had his fingers crossed behind his back.
Meaning what? Meaning that there will only be an increase in the minimum wage when economic conditions permit. Which is in the same category as Gordon Brown’s Euro convergence tests: designed so as to make it highly unlikely that it will happen any time soon. A pundit from the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance will be along soon to explain to the mugs who believed the promise that it’s “fair”, honestly.
Also in the category of Suckers for Bozo are all those new Tory MPs representing constituencies in the North of England. There they are, bless them, all male and very white, with their wish lists of spending commitments they want from the man they spent the General Election campaign eulogising. Billions and billions of commitments, all paid for by the mythical cash bucket munificently provided by the great Bozo.
But now the great Bozo has secured his overall majority, he need not humour the North of England any longer. Nor, as the SNP ratchets up its PR offensive in favour of a new independence referendum, need he humour the Scots. He no longer need pay attention to the DUP, or indeed any representation from Northern Ireland, and so he will not. What was all that about Labour being an out of touch London Metropolitan party?
You believed that? You, too, have been taken for mugs. The current incarnation of the Tory Party is not only a London-and-surrounding-areas-only party, it exists only for the rich and greedy. It cares not a jot for its less well off members, and even less for all those who thought that by supporting it, they would somehow “get it done”.
Millions of Brits never learn that lesson. And don’t the Tories know it.
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12 comments:
I believe it was always the case that DePfeffel was going to prevent MP's from voting to extend the transition, it pre-dated the general election and was part of the WA voted on last year if I'm not mistaken. It's a moot point though, once we leave the EU under A50, the ability of either side to extend becomes considerably more complicated given the absence of a mechanism for such things in article 218
As for the rest of the Brexit stuff, seriously, what did anyone expect. The Britannia Unchained mob are now in charge of the asylum, did you really think any meaningful protections or rights are going to survive the bonfire of regulations?
The cynicism of the minimum wage caveat is entirely in keeping with new Tory administrations, renege on your key promises to the plebs early in the hope that in 5 years time everyone's forgotten (remember that VAT increase). It appears to be a tactic that works very well, forget turkeys voting for Christmas, think instead of goldfish voting for a pay rise.
Welcome to Occupied Britain.
A nation now governed and owned by a tiny minority of people alien to everything that makes up human decency. Parliament has become a craven, jeering Reichstag.
Now we know how Europe felt in the years 1940-45. And like the Germany of that era we did it by our own hand, helped only by indigenous collaborators.
God help the coming generation.
Be interesting in about 12 months time, when all the new Johnson fan boys up North start losing their shit, when they realise they've been pimped.
This is going to sound harsh, but sod it: anyone who believed in Boris Johnson and voted Tory is not only stupid but they will have blood on their hands too. This is what they voted for, the complete and utter disregard for ordinary people.
Dear Zelo ,
In the spirit of Swift’s 1729 ‘Modest Proposal’ and in a probably mis-judged effort at gallows humour , how about the following address to Parliamentarians , linking the metaphorical and physical aspects of ‘being fucked’ :
‘A proposal especially addressed to those of an aristocratic and public school background : ‘As part of trickle down noblesse oblige , please petition Sir Mark Zuckerberg , ‘Duke’ Bezos and the other ‘robber barons’ to kindly pay their taxes , against an incentive of the reinstatement of ‘droit de seigneur’ , which if introduced sympathetically and retrospectfully will have the added bonus of removing any smudge of obloquy from the reputation of our own dear ‘Prince’ Andrew’,
Derek
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard" (H.L. Mencken)
If getting it 'good and hard' what is needed to stop people voting in elections and referendums as if they were voting someone off a celebrity game show, then bring it on; The pain might be instructive.
In the meantime, let them enjoy the sight of sick children sleeping on hospital floors while Lizze Drippping's best hat gets ferried around London in a limousine.
It's game over, we've gone Full on trump. It's interesting that the Jeremy Kyle show was cancelled, was it too similar to the new right wing politics, perhaps a competitor?
I'm.just waiting for our own 'pizzagate', the right has weaponised the thicko mob using Facebook. Their gollem may turn on them though.
Don't be crass.
The parliament versus the people. I wonder where they got the idea from?
Ok, I won't.
The new order don't approve of rhetorical questions that hint at unpalatable truths
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