Mayday!

The appointment of Sajid Javid as Home Secretary may have steadied the helm of Teflon Theresa’s leaky skiff for the moment, but choppy waters still lay ahead. The Lords seem determined to secure a Brexit reversal while dishonestly claiming this is not their intent. The government insist that they are serious about disentangling us from EU control yet seem to be terrified of doing anything which might look remotely like leaving the EU. And Labour will tell you whatever they think you want to hear if there is a possibility of a vote in it.

The one message they all signally fail to receive is the one we have been shouting at them for decades: Stop lying to us; do what we bid; govern. The Conservatives are already extinct; the last true Tory died in 2013 and those that have held the candle since she was shabbily ushered from office in 1990 are pale shadows. When the ‘wets’ took over they buried the party forever and although we currently have a nominal Tory government it really is in name only.

Desperate for power the Labour Party shamelessly aped the successful elements of Thatcherism and put up the stuffed doll, Tony Blair, to pretend they had changed and were worthy of office again. How did that turn out for you, fellas? Embarking on what is arguably one of the principle causes of all the current xenophobic unrest, Blair and his cronies stuffed the country full of low information, paid-for, block voters, snubbed the supporters who had elected them and gleefully promoted diversity over unity, creating a social upheaval from which we may never recover. How soon before we have separate islamic city states and does anybody sincerely believe this will not happen?

To criticise the government – any flavour – is to declare yourself a public enemy, even if you have massive public support. And to openly hold an opinion contrary to the orthodoxy is to invite a level of excoriation formerly reserved for serial mass murderers. Nigel Farage has many detractors and many flaws, but he doesn’t deny those flaws and he genuinely speaks for many millions of people disenfranchised by their former parties. Both Conservatives and Labour lined up to beat him down, but Nigel’s own New Model Army dusted off their standards, marched on Parliament and demanded change.

So, what’s the game now? Prevarication, procrastination, obfuscation, obstruction and at all costs delay, delay and delay the day on which we [may] part company with our masters in Brussels because, let there be no doubt, this is about securing freedom and independence. But freedom and independence are the last things our principal political movements appear to want. The outcome of Brexit relies not on negotiating skill, not on the strong will of determined reformers but on the short memories and fatigue of the electorate.

The only clear tactic seems to be to carry on lying, creating problems where none exist, seeking clarification where none is needed and eventually to plod along, as slowly as possible, to some form of deal which amounts to not leaving at all, but on very much reduced terms. It’s as if they hope we will all be too tired to protest as they sign away yet more independence and proclaim it as glorious, hard-won freedom. If you believe in conspiracy it isn’t hard to imagine them – Labour, Tories, Libdems, Greens, SNP and all the corrupt institutions of the EU itself – colluding to bring the Britons back into line.

Regardless of which way you voted on Brexit this is not the government we need. The Tories are too afraid to hold the line and Labour are all too ready to piss it all away. The people of this country – wherever your roots lie – deserve so much better than the mealy-mouthed, mantra munching morons to which we have become all too inured. Will Sajid Javid’s appointment change any of this? What do you think?

Never mind; you did all you could...

It really is time to clear the decks and toss the dross overboard. With local elections coming up you have one tiny chance to send a message. Reject the main parties altogether and vote for none-of-the-above. Elect the independents instead. And if you can’t bring yourself to do that, then stay away from the polling stations altogether; if they are going to ignore democracy let us ignore them in turn... let the Russians decide. Mayday, mayday, our government is missing.