Tory Twits
Picture the scene: Ivanka Trump is briefing Donald at Mar-a-Lago on how things are going in the UK under the leadership of Johnson and Cummings.
She may squirm and avoid the question all she likes but the answer is: it's not going well.
Trump quite liked the idea of having a special friend across the pond and instructed his advisers (and boy, he has quite a few) to encourage the Tories in the run-up to the last general election. Steve Bannon was the main player: he talked to the Tories about strategy, gave them all sorts of ideas on how to deal with Labour (mainly by blackening the name of the leader with the help of the foreign press that claims to represent the UK), and led them to believe a US/UK trade deal was on the cards if they just did what they were told. The Tories followed these instructions to the letter and some of it has gone quite well: they have a majority of 80 in the UK parliament. Plenty of Tory voters have gone for the xenophobic line promoted by the Tories - and their friend Nigel Farage - and Johnson is trying to deliver what elderly Tory voters want. By the way, the Johnson-Farage relationship is one that's worth investigating).
But sadly in every other respect the Tory government is led by the biggest bunch of thickos ever assembled round a table in 10 Downing Street.
The Tory government, it seems, can do anything just as long as they don't have to do it themselves. They are tone deaf. Out of touch. They don't relate to people. They have to have gophers.
That's why Dominic Cumming is there. The trouble is, Dom comes from exactly the same background as the likes of Boris Johnson: privately educated, loadsa money, good connections, a shady employment record - and a total lack of any kind of empathy with ordinary people. You can actually see that in the way Cumming deals with the journalists who meet him every morning as he leaves home: he mutters at them, refusing to actually engage with anything they say. Does he even think they have the right to ask?
The truth is the Tories are useless at people. They always have been. They can manage cover-ups and wheeling and dealing, but they lack the gene that would enable them to understand or empathise with people who are not in their own wee magic circle.
There's usually a kind of introductory period with new governments before the rot sets in. Not this time. Two months in, it's clear that Boris Johnson (widely advertised as good old Boris - what a laugh - a man of the people) is not what was advertised to the voters: he has a habit of quoting Greek poetry and that's odd enough but much odder is that he doesn't like leaving the shelter of Downing Street. He's not keen on appearing at prime minister's question time. He doesn't do speaking off the cuff. He's bothered by so many clever people on the opposite benches, and he doesn't like going out to meet people, like the poor souls in Wales, York and Hereford who have been flooded twice in the past week and are likely to be flooded again in the coming week. He doesn't get the idea that a visit to towns and villages that have been flooded is about expressing sympathy - it's not about him. To Boris Johnson everything is about him.
Johnson's judgement also has to be called into question: he hired Dominic Cumming on the recommendation of Michael Gove, as shifty a creature as you'll meet in a long day's walk. Gove is the man who made a good attempt to destroy the English state education system. He has his fingers in many pies. In Downing Street, many people (like Dominic Cummings) 'owe' him.
There's a lack of intellect among the current Tory government. The recent reshuffle brought a raft of new faces to the cabinet. Just not the kind of new faces that past prime ministers would have appointed: clever, skilled, keen, likely to argue for new ideas. But you see, Boris Johnson is weak. He isn't clever, his skills are dubious and if he's keen on anything it's to keep himself and his wee circle in power. There aren't going to be any new ideas from this government. If you want to see what kind of ideas they're going to come up with, check out the Scotland-Ireland bridge proposed by Johnson. All there will be are lots of ministers trying to deliver what a weak prime minister and his advisers say they want.
Yesterday Priti Patel delivered the worst possible news to employers, farmers, the NHS and owners of care companies: there won't be enough farm workers, building workers or care workers coming into the UK. Not to mention nurses and doctors. And it's very clear today that Patel's claim that there are 8.6 million economically inactive Brits waiting to take jobs in these areas is a lie:
27% of the 'economically inactive' are students
26% are chronically sick or disabled
22% are carers
13% have taken early retirement.
Grand total: 88%.
Anyone who thinks the remaining 12% can take on all the jobs vacant right now are deluded. The English NHS alone reports it has 100,000 vacancies in nursing and care.
These facts won't stop people telling you about the man along the street - perfectly healthy - who just doesn't want to work. That's how good a job the Tories and their friends in the press have done in recent years. It's called picking on the those least able to defend themselves. And that's where the Tories have us beaten hands down.
She may squirm and avoid the question all she likes but the answer is: it's not going well.
Trump quite liked the idea of having a special friend across the pond and instructed his advisers (and boy, he has quite a few) to encourage the Tories in the run-up to the last general election. Steve Bannon was the main player: he talked to the Tories about strategy, gave them all sorts of ideas on how to deal with Labour (mainly by blackening the name of the leader with the help of the foreign press that claims to represent the UK), and led them to believe a US/UK trade deal was on the cards if they just did what they were told. The Tories followed these instructions to the letter and some of it has gone quite well: they have a majority of 80 in the UK parliament. Plenty of Tory voters have gone for the xenophobic line promoted by the Tories - and their friend Nigel Farage - and Johnson is trying to deliver what elderly Tory voters want. By the way, the Johnson-Farage relationship is one that's worth investigating).
But sadly in every other respect the Tory government is led by the biggest bunch of thickos ever assembled round a table in 10 Downing Street.
The Tory government, it seems, can do anything just as long as they don't have to do it themselves. They are tone deaf. Out of touch. They don't relate to people. They have to have gophers.
That's why Dominic Cumming is there. The trouble is, Dom comes from exactly the same background as the likes of Boris Johnson: privately educated, loadsa money, good connections, a shady employment record - and a total lack of any kind of empathy with ordinary people. You can actually see that in the way Cumming deals with the journalists who meet him every morning as he leaves home: he mutters at them, refusing to actually engage with anything they say. Does he even think they have the right to ask?
The truth is the Tories are useless at people. They always have been. They can manage cover-ups and wheeling and dealing, but they lack the gene that would enable them to understand or empathise with people who are not in their own wee magic circle.
There's usually a kind of introductory period with new governments before the rot sets in. Not this time. Two months in, it's clear that Boris Johnson (widely advertised as good old Boris - what a laugh - a man of the people) is not what was advertised to the voters: he has a habit of quoting Greek poetry and that's odd enough but much odder is that he doesn't like leaving the shelter of Downing Street. He's not keen on appearing at prime minister's question time. He doesn't do speaking off the cuff. He's bothered by so many clever people on the opposite benches, and he doesn't like going out to meet people, like the poor souls in Wales, York and Hereford who have been flooded twice in the past week and are likely to be flooded again in the coming week. He doesn't get the idea that a visit to towns and villages that have been flooded is about expressing sympathy - it's not about him. To Boris Johnson everything is about him.
Johnson's judgement also has to be called into question: he hired Dominic Cumming on the recommendation of Michael Gove, as shifty a creature as you'll meet in a long day's walk. Gove is the man who made a good attempt to destroy the English state education system. He has his fingers in many pies. In Downing Street, many people (like Dominic Cummings) 'owe' him.
There's a lack of intellect among the current Tory government. The recent reshuffle brought a raft of new faces to the cabinet. Just not the kind of new faces that past prime ministers would have appointed: clever, skilled, keen, likely to argue for new ideas. But you see, Boris Johnson is weak. He isn't clever, his skills are dubious and if he's keen on anything it's to keep himself and his wee circle in power. There aren't going to be any new ideas from this government. If you want to see what kind of ideas they're going to come up with, check out the Scotland-Ireland bridge proposed by Johnson. All there will be are lots of ministers trying to deliver what a weak prime minister and his advisers say they want.
Yesterday Priti Patel delivered the worst possible news to employers, farmers, the NHS and owners of care companies: there won't be enough farm workers, building workers or care workers coming into the UK. Not to mention nurses and doctors. And it's very clear today that Patel's claim that there are 8.6 million economically inactive Brits waiting to take jobs in these areas is a lie:
27% of the 'economically inactive' are students
26% are chronically sick or disabled
22% are carers
13% have taken early retirement.
Grand total: 88%.
Anyone who thinks the remaining 12% can take on all the jobs vacant right now are deluded. The English NHS alone reports it has 100,000 vacancies in nursing and care.
These facts won't stop people telling you about the man along the street - perfectly healthy - who just doesn't want to work. That's how good a job the Tories and their friends in the press have done in recent years. It's called picking on the those least able to defend themselves. And that's where the Tories have us beaten hands down.
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