Friday 13 November 2020

At Least We Tried

At least we tried. We grabbed the last, desperate opportunities for economic equality and international peace, for economic populism and foreign policy restraint, for democratic control and national sovereignty, for the Rust Belt and the Red Wall. But some of us always knew how imperfect were Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn, Vote Leave and Donald Trump. 

Each of those now bears a very heavy responsibility, because after five and a half heady and tumultuous years, we have Joe Biden, Keir Starmer, whichever natural successor John Major and David Cameron intended to install next year, and whichever natural successor George W. Bush and Mitt Romney intended to nominate in 2024, who might very well be Romney himself.

It is perfectly possible that in 2024, both realistic candidates for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will already be attending Cabinet, while both realistic candidates for President of the United States will already be members of the Cabinet of the retiring President. But at least we tried. And I am a declared and active candidate for the parliamentary seat of North West Durham at the next General Election. Please give generously.

6 comments:

  1. Trump isn't finished yet. Neither is Boris. Brave heart!

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    1. Yes, they are, and in many ways good riddance to them. Johnson is the worst Prime Minister in living memory. The problem is that they are not going to be replaced with anything better. Far from it, in fact.

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  2. Hope springs eternal. Unlike other EU countries that held referendums we really are implementing the result of ours and that opens up many possibilities for a future government prepared to take them.

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    1. No, we are not. Johnson, not his successor but himself, is about to sign up to a deal that will be worse than re-joining. We all know what will come after that. As does he. He has never been one of us.

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  3. After Maastricht, we were only ever going to leave the EU under a Conservative Government. That has come to pass. Nobody expected we’d take back full control of our borders and end free movement of people (as we did this week).

    As for the trade deal, I don’t believe a word of it. The Tory Right have fought for this for over 20 years.

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