In the final stage of Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister, I told Conservative MP John Biffen: “I think Mrs. Thatcher must be in pain.”
This is surprising, coming from someone like me who has long criticized Thatcherism, but so is Biffin’s answer. Biffin was a member of her former cabinet and has been the leader of her House of Commons for many years. “Yes,” he replied, “but has she had enough?”
Biffin strongly opposed the poll tax—a proposal to impose a tax on local authorities to apply the same tax rate to the rich and the poor—generally opposed to that which eventually led to Thatcher’s resignation in 1990.
Biffen was also a member of the Oswestry constituency, which later became North Shropshire. North Shropshire is in the news. A solid conservative party seat, due to Owen Paterson’s “scandal” forcing (if reluctantly) to resign, there will be a by-election on Thursday, but according to the latest odds, Liberal Democrats may winConsidering that the public seems to have finally caught up with a shocking government, Boris Johnson’s way of getting them into trouble-of course, Johnson is leading the way in lowering modern British political standards.
Now, I have not reached today’s level by making political predictions, let alone follow betting. However, the by-election may bring surprises. There was an interesting way in 1985, when my colleague Adam Rafael was reporting on the Brecon and Radnor by-elections, when Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock clearly wanted his candidate to win. Neal and Adam placed a £10 bet on the result. However, the Labor Party’s support was weakened by the inflammatory speech by the leader of the National Miners’ Union, Arthur Scargill, and the seat was narrowly defeated by the Liberal Party.
Neal paid a check for £10. Adam did not cash it, but made this check for future generations. Alas, it turns out that the handwriting on the check has completely disappeared. Future generations will have to believe their words.
If the North Shropshire by-election does cause dissatisfaction, it may well be the last nail in Johnson’s troubled Premier League coffin. But whether this might benefit the Labour Party is an open question. Kinnock and his deputy Roy Hartsley had reasonable hopes that they would defeat Thatcher in the general election, but by relentlessly abandoning her to support John Major, the Conservative Party gained a new life.
The good news is that Sir Keir Starmer, the current leader of the Labour Party, has been reborn in a forensic attack on this terrible government. But we must wait and see to see if he and the Labour Party can heat up in this disaster. Brexit.
I am disappointed to read An article by Lionel Barber, Former editor Financial TimesIn it, he stated that he and some outstanding colleagues of the newly established Independent Commission on Anglo-Europe Relations agreed that “there is no issue of opposing the Brexit referendum or reopening the issue of EU membership. The war is over, and those who leave have won. “
This is a desperate defeatist. They acknowledged that “Brexit will not work” and then said that “the committee’s task is to help resolve it.”
But Brexit cannot be “fixed”.As Kinnock recently observed: “You can’t fix a flat tire.” The news is getting worse every day: our so-called Brexit negotiator Lord Frost Alarmed the Biden administration His “renegotiation” of the Northern Ireland Agreement may herald peace in Northern Ireland, and he unceremoniously wants to abandon the European social model-the UK has made a significant contribution to this through its previous support of the single market.
Frost and his colleagues dreamed of reaching a trade agreement with the United States, but it was impossible. Tariffs on U.S. imports of steel and aluminum during the Trump era? The EU member states do not support it, but the UK does not. Pig farmers? shepherd? Thousands of British SMEs? Everyone suffers from the absurdity of Brexit.
For more than five years, 37% of voters have voted for Brexit in response to a series of seriously misleading promises. As I wrote recently, I have asked many people I met their views on Brexit, and their answer is obviously no. As for the younger generation-many people who have been eligible to vote since 2016-my strong impression is that the vast majority of them are in favor of rejoining. Labor should go!
