Limehouse No More?

The lineage is disputed, but assuming that the Liberal Democrats were at least a successor to the original SDP, then it is quite something that they now advocated a fast track visa scheme for refugees from the United States. The Gang of Four were Atlanticist fundamentalists, although none more so than David Owen, who has never joined the Lib Dems. At least initially, Owen even supported the Iraq War.

Nevertheless, this ranks with the advocacy of trade tariffs and of Buy British requirements by, although again the lineage is disputed, at least a successor to the old Liberal Party. What next? Would Bill Rodgers resign the Whip in the House of Lords if his present party, which he campaigned exceptionally hard to create, came out against Trident? Or would he accept that if, as there is very little evidence to suggest, Trident could successfully be fired at all, then it could not be fired without the permission of Donald Trump, who was also the Commander-in-Chief of at least 16 bases on our soil, hidden behind fake British names, with at least 13 of them in the United Kingdom?

The firing of which Trump dreams is that of Elon Musk. He wants to be able to say that he uttered his catchphrase, and thus dismissed the richest man in the world. Imagine Trump on a platform. "And what did I say to Elon?", he would ask the audience. "You're fired!", it would holler back. In the meantime, though, did Trump pull a fast one for the benefit of his cronies, his relatives and himself? Or did they all just get lucky out of his incompetence? Is he too wicked to be President, or is he too stupid? A lot of both, no doubt. And the same could be said of every other President, among numerous others inside the Beltway. If not on this scale, this sort of thing happens all the time.

You wanted the world to be run by the bond markets and such like, without the slightest democratic political control. This is what that looks like, and you have no more idea how to cope with it now than you had when the same thing was done to Liz Truss. Wall Street has been wargaming something like a Sanders Presidency since time immemorial, and, while unhappy with it, would have been utterly unfazed by it. But it had no idea how to deal with this, short of pressing the nuclear button and hoping for the best.

Likewise, the City has been wargaming something like a Corbyn Premiership with a McDonnell Chancellorship since time immemorial, and, while unhappy with it, would have been utterly unfazed by it. But it had no idea how to deal with the mini-Budget, short of pressing the nuclear button and hoping for the best. Correspondingly, the Left has stated at least since the Alternative Economic Strategy what it would do if its programme spooked the markets, which have therefore factored that in. As surely as on Trident, on NATO, and of course on the EU, you should have listened to Tony Benn.