Bite back
You can almost hear the mental anguish of the right wing as energy prices continue to soar. They have enjoyed 40 years of Thatcherite consensus: the poor are lazy, benefits are far too generous, there are plenty of jobs for those who want to work, cut taxes and the poor will get the money that trickles down, if you can’t feed your children you shouldn’t have had them, free markets are always best, privatisation works.
Now, all of sudden, those wanting and desperately needing help from the government are not just the poorest. People earning many 1,000s of pounds more than even average earnings are going to struggle to keep warm and eat hot food this winter. All of a sudden the vast majority of people have discovered that they are not better or more hard working than the undeserving poor, they are poor too and they deserve help.
Leaving aside the fact that “I’m all right Jack” has suddenly come back to bite millions so people, the fact is that the Tory party is torn about what to do.
It has been peddling the undeserving poor line for so long it is now in its DNA. But the millions of people now facing financial ruin include many solid, employed, ambitious, hard working, Tory voters.
Their damascene conversion, if they are allowed to freeze this winter, will be a seismic shift in British politics.
Even if the Tory government finds the money to help, the scales will have fallen from many of their supporters’ eyes.
It is difficult to look down on the poor when you are down there with them.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.