The wrong lesson
The only time that I think the Tory party was in any way acceptable was after WW2 when it was led by people who had seen at first hand the live’s of ordinary people, how badly they had been treated, their sacrifices and what could be achieved by the state when necessary. That lasted until Margaret Thatcher, when being a hard nosed, insensitive, monetarist came back into fashion.
But the Tory party worship of Maggie has learnt the wrong lesson, she was tough and she had to be, she pushed through unpopular legislation, she was not for turning. But she was not a bastard for the sake of being a bastard.
Ever since the Tory party has been trying to emulate the Iron Lady by being the nasty party. Rather like one of those South Sea cargo cults it thinks if it copies the outward signs of Thatcherism it is being Thatcherite. That just being nastier shits than anyone else is a sign of realism and will ensure success.
Which is why you end up with Kemi Badenoch as leader, openly mocking an obviously upset Chancellor because she could not see a belt without punching below it.
I imagine the Chancellor is safe in her job, the markets will get over this rather quickly, and somehow the Chancellor will have to find the billions that her back benchers have cost her balance sheet.
But Kemi, oh dear, we saw your real face yesterday and it is not pretty and you weren’t clever either. You could have left well alone and the Labour party would still have had a mess to explain and clear up, but you didn’t.
I don’t for one second think that Margaret Thatcher would have done anything but offer Rachel Reeves a hanky, and decapitated any of her MPs who tried to exploit the moment.
Because she did have some feelings and she also knew how bad it looked to exploit other people’s feelings in public.
Kemi won’t be leading the Tory party for much longer, she can’t even fake empathy and doesn’t realise how that makes her look. The word she is looking for is, ugly.
From Jonty Bloom Media Ltd
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
spot on