Behold The New Entitled Elite

One word that endures, whoever is in power, is Entitlement. It was on display throughout the tenure of disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson; this, sadly, continued through the blessedly brief interregnum of batshit and utterly inept Liz Truss, and has been maintained by the self-promoting failure that is Rishi Sunak.

The New Elite 1 - Luke Akehurst ...

What has become clear, furthermore, is that, in its own way, entitlement will be the name of the game for Labour when, as now seems inevitable, the Party clears out the Tories tomorrow and takes power for the first time since 2010. The new entitled elite will not be Something In The City, and nor will they have a berth in or near 55 Tufton Street. But they will still be entitled.

And they will still be elite, although in a different way. Not for the up-and-coming Labour entitled elite the moonlighting on Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”). Not for them the column in the Mail, Telegraph, Express, or indeed the Spectator, the latter’s summer parties about to become a sad irrelevance, and deservedly so.

No, the new Entitled Elite of Labour will show their entitlement through their hold on power, on the party, controlling who is in, who is out, who is to be praised, and who has incurred their displeasure. Availability of directorships is out. Ennoblement may only be temporary, unlike the Tories. Seats in the Commons, SpAd appointments, vacancies for backroom plotters, are in.

They will be featured in the Guardian (BTDTGTTS), or in some cases, they already have been, such is the swaggering confidence bordering on downright arrogance. We’ve seen Spreadsheet Shitlord Extraordinaire Luke “Arthur Putey” Akehurst described in almost fawning terms - “Really Nice Guy” - before he was imposed on the constituency of North Durham.

Also given a fawning write-up in the same paper has been Morgan McSweeney, readers told how he is supposedly considering only allowing sitting MPs to vote on a new Labour leader, should the need arise between General Elections. Which sounds like a reduction in democracy. So does the implication that General Election manifestos be effectively imposed.

... The New Elite 2 - Morgan McSweeney

He, the Guardian feature suggests, will be entitled to A Big Job, come the expected victory. After all, he and Uncool Hand Luke stayed and fought the dastardly Rotten Lefties™. One sincerely hopes that staying and fighting also included backing the party in the 2017 and 2019 General Elections. Because it is all too clear that some others did not. And that is beyond unforgivable.

This may induce in some readers a sense of Déjà Vu, that we have been here before. So we have. It was a baffling attribute of the New Labour project that the control freakery extended to imposing Their Selected People on electorates such as those in Wales, and Greater London.

Hence the digging in of heels to stop Rhodri Morgan becoming First Minister of Wales. This did not go well, Ron Davies embroiled in a scandal, and Alun Michael departing before a no confidence vote. Also not going well was Frank Dobson’s candidacy for Mayor of London. After Ken Livingstone left Labour and stood as an independent, he won. Dobson came third, behind Tory hopeful “Shagger” Norris. Control freakery has a record of not working.

What is also clear is that the new Entitled Elite has no problem with the bouts of flat-out lying that have come with Starmer’s leadership. The current leader made all manner of promises to get the job, and has since reneged on every one of them. But this does not concern the new Entitled Elite, for the same reason that right-wing lobbyists don’t care that they lied too.

That reason is that, as with Vote Leave and subsequent Brexit negotiations, too many people in that party bubble see it all as a game. Lying to secure the EU referendum vote? It’s only a game, we won, you lost, tee hee hee. So it is with the new Entitled Elite. Candidates kicked out in favour of loyal bag carriers? We won, you lost, tee hee hee. But here a problem enters.

It’s not a game for tens of millions of screwed over voters. Just a thought.

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