Letters

Take me to your leader – political chaos in the UK

A realignment of British politics

Sat Oct 22 2022 - 00:06

Sir, – Is Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, the most important and influential politician in the UK? – Yours, etc,

GERRY KIERANS,

Athgarvan,

Co Kildare.

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Sir, – Observing events in Westminster, I am reminded of the Cumann na nGaedheal minister for justice Kevin O’Higgins’s 1924 address to the Irish Society at the University of Oxford, entitled “Seven Years’ Hard Labour”.

Having extolled his government’s achievement in stabilising the Free State after the tumult of the Civil War, he reflected sardonically that he had “shaken hands with four English prime ministers” within two years of taking office and was “shocked” at the level of “political instability” in Britain.

His remark was clearly intended to impress upon his audience an image of the Irish nation as possessed of the same capacity for mature, stable governance as the British elite and manifested, therefore, the guiding ambition of Cumann na nGaedheal’s political project.

No doubt he’d have plenty more material for such sardonic quips presently. – Yours, etc,

SEÁN DONNELLY,

Warszawa,

Poland.

Sir, – The Tory party, including the DUP, I thought, cynically, were strict adherents to the Peter Principle, which suggests that people in an organisation are promoted, based on their competence in one area, to a level where they demonstrate their incompetence.

I was wrong. The last three leaders seem to have demonstrated their incompetence in their previous positions, but despite this, all were promoted, all failed miserably, and all were succeeded by more incompetents.

To date, that is. – Yours, etc,

PAT QUINN,

Inchicore,

Dublin 8.

Sir, – The disarray in UK politics is unprecedented and seems to demand that something changes dramatically. The rationale for a new political party seems particularly compelling. The current chaos is largely traceable to Brexit, fealty to which has become a matter of faith for both parties. Meanwhile surveys suggest that the majority of the public now believe it was a mistake. The parliamentary strength of the Conservatives is largely attributable to the fact that, in recent elections, they haven’t looked as bad as Labour. That is now changing but not because of any major improvement in the latter party. It is incomprehensible that the majority of the population should hold a view on so important a matter as EU membership which is irreconcilable with either party’s viewpoint.

Given one issue upon which to build a platform, and add other matters of basic competence, honesty and accountability, the extraordinary levels of poverty, inequality and inflation and the challenges of how to negotiate a credible foreign policy, the situation would seem to offer a new party an open goal. Before Emmanuel Macron did so in France, it might have seemed impossible for a new organisation to win an election in a developed European country. In the UK presently, it’s hard to see how any sensible centrist party could lose. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN O’BRIEN,

Kinsale,

Co Cork.

Sir, – “There is nothing as ex as an ex-MP.” So stated Conservative backbencher Charles Walker in his extraordinary interview on Tuesday’s Newsnight, as he predicted the loss of up to 200 Tory seats in the next general election. No pretence about public service, this is all about personal electoral survival. Through this cracked and distorted lens, we can see the untidy figure of Boris Johnson emerging from the political wilderness to rescue not the nation, which may be now beyond help, but the Conservative parliamentary party. – Yours, etc,

RONAN McDERMOTT,

Rathgar,

Dublin 6W.

Sir, – The MPs electing the next British prime minister should seriously consider Boris as there are big savings to be made, provided Liz has not had time to change the wallpaper in No 10! – Yours, etc,

MICHEÁL Ó BROIN,

Limerick.

Sir, – Liz Truss served twice as many monarchs as 13 of her immediate predecessors. And she did it in record time! – Yours, etc,

JOE DUNNE,

Shanakiel,

Cork.

Sir, – A Penny for their thoughts? – Yours, etc,

TOM GILSENAN,

Beaumont,

Dublin 9.

Sir, – The defenestration of Liz Truss makes it glaringly obvious that Britain should ditch the electoral system of first past the post for general elections and embrace proportional representation.

It is increasingly clear that the Tories and Labour are deeply uncomfortable coalitions, both containing at least two different parties. In the Tory party, the dominant competing strains are One Nation Conservatives (centre-right) and Brexiteers (libertarian free-market nationalists). Labour is split between Starmerites (centre-left) and Corbynites (“proper” socialists).

The 2016 Brexit referendum was David Cameron’s generational (and spectacularly unsuccessful) attempt to lance the boil of the split in the Conservative Party. The surprise rise of Jeremy Corbyn saw shocked neo-Blairites predictably launch a sustained (and successful) campaign of obstruction to undermine the briefly ascendant Labour left.

Certainly, in these turbulent times, the internal contradictions inside the UK’s two main political parties will continue to grow. Indeed, the introduction of PR is the only way to fundamentally resolve the divisions within them.

The Tories and Labour could then divide into at least four parties; thereby creating new political entities that would more accurately reflect their respective adherents’ true ideologies, giving voters a clearer choice. – Yours, etc,

JOE McCARTHY,

Arbour Hill,

Dublin 7.

Sir, – Boris Johnson is “oven ready”! –Yours, etc,

TONY O’CONNOR,

Malahide,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – The threat of Boris Johnson returning to the centre of his downfall recalls to mind the words of the late David Ervine (leader of the Popular Unionist Party), “We’re on the hamster wheel to hell.”

While uttered in the context of dysfunctional politics in Northern Ireland, they as just as apt for today’s Westminster circus. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL WILSON,

Belfast.

Sir, – My concern is for Larry, the Downing Street cat. Research tells us that too many changes of owners can result in considerable stress among the feline fraternity.

We shouldn’t be too surprised if Larry decides he’s had enough and strolls across to Buckingham Palace, where the longevity of its inhabitants makes it a safer, more appealing place to rest one’s paws. – Yours, etc,

EITHNE MacFADDEN,

Carrigart,

Co Donegal.

Sir, – How appropriate that the stand of the Downing Street lectern should bear such a remarkable resemblance to a Jenga tower! – Yours, etc,

DEAGLÁN

MacGIOLLA PHÁDRAIG,

Castlemacadam,

Avoca,

Co Wicklow.

Sir, – The Tory leadership soap opera is a proxy for deeper problems. The party split in two over Brexit. The sides have been cohabiting rather chaotically ever since and the row has become a feud; everyone involved now prefers to fixate upon personalities and upon tangential slights and differences. The leadership spectacle we are witnessing today is really just the sublimation of a bigger dilemma. Is the Tory party a single coherent functioning political party? It appears not. Maybe it is time they all filed for divorce. The only certainty is change, and when something cannot go on forever, it doesn’t. Meanwhile 67 million people in Britain await the resumption of coherent government via the obvious simple and respectable expedient of a general election. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL DEASY,

Bandon,

Co Cork.

Sir , – It’s just a thought. But do you think that Number 10 Downing Street should charge its name to Number 10 Coronation Street? They could have an election every week. The TV ratings would go through the roof. – Yours, etc,

DIARMUID HARRINGTON,

San Francisco,

California.