While BoJo Hosts the G7, Labor Party Woes Mask Weakness of Conservatives

“Never interfere with an enemy in the process of destroying itself,” Napoleon astutely observed. With Britain’s ruling Conservatives enjoying the “weather gauge” and their Labor opposition in the doldrums, Napoleon’s military metaphor is no less apt for politics. But make no mistake, it cuts both ways, applicable to the arrogance afflicting both parties.An Ipsos/MORI poll conducted for the Evening Standard finds that only 22% of Britons surveyed are satisfied with Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer’s performance. Of party members themselves, only 48% believe Sir Keir “has what it takes” to lead the country. That Labor is on the rocks, few even of their fellow travellers will dispute. One Labor MP, Khalid Mahmood, quit the shadow cabinet in May, complaining the party had been captured by a “London-based bourgeoisie, with the support of brigades of woke social media warriors.”Herein lies the rub. Conservatives would be wise not to take much comfort from Labor’s polling woes. For the cause of Labor discontent is no less conspicuous amongst the Conservatives. Are they not equally ruled by an elite deaf to the cries of the disaffected? We need not even refer to rumors that Prime Minister Johnson is compromised by his wife, Carrie Symonds. Even discounting his comments at the G7 meeting this week-end, where the Premier committed himself to progress “in a more gender-neutral, and perhaps a more feminine way.” The Government’s undoing is less due to BoJo’s uxoriousness than to its own failures to adhere to conservatism.Does the ruling party govern by adhering to conservative principle? Is their guide the idea of “maximal liberty and minimal government”? It’s hard to see any evidence of it. Arguably, the Government is enjoying a surge in popularity less for its own successes than for the errors of the Opposition.Some Labor strategists fault Sir Keir for capitulating to the Government agenda with respect to the lockdown and compensatory measures resulting from coronavirus policy. Far from it. The problem is not that Labor echoes the Conservative party, but the reverse: that the Tories have adopted Labor policy. And then some.The infringement of civil liberties, such as free association, has led one former supreme court justice, Lord Sumption, to liken the country to a “police state.” Meanwhile, the British economy has lost an estimated £250 billion during the past year of enforced shut-down. The billions of pounds in accumulated debt as a result of its Covid-19 “furlough”program, plus billions more to enact “Build Back Better,” are a mockery to limited government.The Conservatives’ heavy-handed approach to government is more akin to Labor fantasy than to true blue Toryism. Perhaps more so. Labor may mute its opposition to government policy, in part because the Tories are able to impose constraints on social and economic liberties of which Labor can only dream. A credible Conservative opposition, in its turn, would raise the roof of Parliament in protest, were Labor ever likely to suggest similar constraints.That is why leftist laments over Labor’s support for the Conservative program are misplaced. Yet where is Conservative outrage at the sell-out of their party? Laborites, meanwhile, can take some comfort that their ideas are ascendant, even if their party is not.For Benjamin Disraeli, such loss of party identity was fatal to the idea of constitutional democracy. “Maintain the line of demarcation between parties,” Dizzy declared; “for it is only by maintaining the independence of party that you can maintain the integrity of public men, and the power and influence of Parliament itself.” Without parties, and particularly opposition to the governing agenda, the United Kingdom becomes, effectively, a one-party state.Herein lies the first of many traps for the Tories. A nimble Labor leadership could take a contrary stand, and fight the Conservatives on ground they have conceded, defending individual and economic freedom, especially among the working classes without a voice at Downing Street. Why not? Tony Blair used a similar feint against John Major’s mishandling of the economy in 1997, to good effect.Nor may political consensus be as stable as believed. How secure is Sir Keir’s Labor stewardship, given his slumping poll numbers? Its membership, frustrated at his inability to gain traction against the Tories, might revolt and force his resignation.The United Kingdom, too, will tire of its interminable lockdowns. Contrasting the American experience of freedom, in states like Florida and Texas, that suffer no demonstrable loss in economic and social well-being, could, your Brexit Diarist hopes, spur restless Britons into action.Then would come the day when the British public, as they inevitably do, grow weary of their present Government and eject them from power. Even the best of ministries fall victim to voter fatigue. If and when that happens, upon what principles would the Conservative Party fall back having, at best forgotten, at worse forsaken, their bedrock principles and, for fleeting popularity, adopted the policies of political adversaries?________BrexitDiarist@gmail.com

While BoJo Hosts the G7, Labor Party Woes Mask Weakness of Conservatives

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