Swearing By It

Although it is a disappointment coming from Owen Patterson, it is not even a surprise that it is his party that has been in touch with the Sinn Féin MPs to invite them to write their own Oath of Allegiance, thereby defeating the whole purpose of having it, since the thing is completely meaningless unless it is the same for everyone.

That party provided the only Government ever to come within hours, possibly minutes, of withdrawal from Northern Ireland, and that Cabinet included a member who, as Prime Minister, signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement. As Prime Minister, she waged war against the monarchy, scorning the Commonwealth, social cohesion, historical continuity and public Christianity, and calling the Queen "the sort of person who votes for the SDP", while arrogating to herself the properly monarchical and royal role on the national and international stages, and while using her most popular supporting newspaper to vilify the Royal Family.

But she is the unquestionable heroine of her party's only remaining constituency of any numerical importance, the White Van Men of the South East, to whom all public spending, other than that (which they strenuously deny exists) on themselves or on the wars favoured by the Murdoch media, is by definition "waste". That includes both Northern Ireland and the monarchy, simply as such.

It also includes the towns of Hartlepool, Redcar and Middlesbrough, replete with bankers as those places are, and thus richly deserving of such punishment. The Conservative Party used to win seats on Teesside, although I doubt that it even knows that now. If it still did and could win them, then it would now have an overall majority. As it is, it will never have one again. But it doesn't care.

This is not the first time, of course. What has the North East ever done to them, that they hate us quite so much?