To Brexit and Beyond

30-buzz-lightyearReading Theresa May’s actual transcript is a strange experience. Try it here. She’s a reluctant hero, being dragged against her will to do her duty for her country’s destiny. Whilst some might venture that this is an act of narrow party interest, more than a little influenced by the close examination of several constabularies into election expenses, we couldn’t possibly promote such a cynical view. If Tony Blair felt the Hand of History on his shoulder, there’s more than a little chance she could feel the Hand of the Old Bill on hers.

Her tone is plaintive and dutiful:

“It was with reluctance that I decided the country needs this election but it is with strong conviction that I say it is necessary to secure the strong and stable leadership the country needs to see us through Brexit and beyond.”

She sounds like a sort of Tory Buzz Lightyear, ‘Brexit and Beyond’. God help us all, what on earth could that mean? A boosted Conservative Party with Theresa as Buzz and Boris as Mr Potato Head?

But she’s so detached that the words of her speech can simply be lifted onto campaign leaflets across Scotland. Almost every one is a winner:

“Every vote for the Conservatives will mean we can stick to our plan for a stronger Britain.”

“Every vote for the Conservatives will make it harder for opposition politicians who want to stop me from getting the job done. “

She writes painting a dystopian picture of awful certainty and almost complete incomprehension:

“And the decision facing the country will be all about leadership. It will be a choice between strong and stable leadership in the national interest, with me as your Prime Minister, or weak and unstable coalition government led by Jeremy Corbyn, propped up by the Liberal Democrats, who want to re-open the divisions of the referendum, and Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP” … before she then descends into couplets of absurdist poetry:

“At this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, but instead there is division.”

“The country is coming together but Westminster is not.”

None of this makes sense until you realise that it’s one giant karmic revenge. Project Fear has eaten itself.

May claims she has to get a mandate, but as Iain Macwhirter has pointed out: “…she already has that from the June referendum. There is no serious opposition to Brexit in the Commons or even in the Lords. Article 50 went through without a hitch. The Supreme Court said the Scottish Parliament has no right to interrupt the course of Brexit. Labour has only offered token resistance to hard Brexit.”

She doesn’t need a mandate, this is a power-grab.

But it’s one in which Project Fear has taken a new form.

May, presenting as brave, resolute and dutiful is, apparently, too scared to debate with Jeremy Corbyn, or the titan that is Tim Fallon.

She is too scared to do tv debates. Debates where set-piece establishment figures like the Dimbleby family soft-roll you under-arm questions you’ll have rehearsed for days.

Imagine having the gall to call a shock / snap election and then say I’m not going to participate in it?

This is a scared politician operating well out of her depth.

She has been catapulted into this awkward situation not of her making and desperately needs affirmation.

The level of personal and political misdirection at play is off-the-hook. Our Prime Minister writes:

“Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country.”

At this point we are signing off and handing over constitutional analysis to Woody and Buzz, who, strangely, make a lot of sense…

WoodyShut up! Just shut up, you idiot!
Buzz: Sheriff, this is no time to panic.
Woody: This is the perfect time to panic! I’m lost, Andy is gone, they’re gonna move to a new house in two days, and it’s all your fault!
BuzzMy fault?! If you hadn’t pushed me out of the window in the first place–
Woody: Well, if you hadn’t shown up inside your stupid little cardboard spaceship and taken away everything that was important to me–
Buzz: Don’t talk to me about importance! Because of you, the future of this entire universe is in jeopardy!
WoodyWhat?! What are you talking about?!
Buzz: Right now, poised at the edge of the galaxy, Emperor Zurg has been secretly building a weapon with the destructive capacity to annihilate an entire planet! I alone have information that reveals his weapon’s only weakness. And you, my friend, are responsible for delaying my rendezvous with Star Command!!!
[long pause; Woody stares at Buzz, incredulous and dumbfounded]
Woody[exploding with rage] You…are…a…toy-y-y!! You are not the real Buzz Lightyear! Oh, you’re an action figure! You are a child’s play thing!!
Buzz: You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity. Farewell.
Woody: Oh, yeah?! Well good riddance, ya loony!

To Brexit and beyond!

Comments (11)

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  1. Jo says:

    The speech was astonishing in that May clearly wants this GE is about Brexit and nothing else.

    She clearly resents other Parties being prepared to remember that nearly half of the electorate did not vote for Brexit and that those Parties would have had a say on the final deal.

    She also clearly doesn’t want to talk about major issues in and GE….the NHS, Social Care, Education, Benefits (rape clauses included!).

    She seems to believe that she can sweep other Parties out of her way along with other important issues by just calling an election. I don’t think, somehow, that it’s going to be that simple for her, even in England.

    1. Alan Forrest says:

      Jo. I think you’re right about May’s blinkered focus in Brexit. Some wise commentators have said it is even more blinkered: it’s about May, herself and her party. It might even ultimately be about boosting newspaper sales 🙂

      Whatever, once again, the country is being hit for a Conservative Party spat.

  2. John Page says:

    May may be insecure in terms of debating…….but she is the perfect candidate to do the bidding of the Britannia Unchained/Atlantic Bridge ideologues……..to create an offshore paradise of extreme neoliberalism…….totally secure in the backing of Murdoch, the Barclays, Desmond and Murdoch. And the BBC who know that they will be thrown to the wolves of privatisation if they don’t conform.
    Her undoubtedly substantially increased majority will be used as justification for seeing off dissent in Scotland and Ireland.
    I am truly depressed by the prospects for the next 10 years.
    Ireland will be united and Scotland will be independent but a generation will have to suffer dreadfully, the climate will be screwed and the social fabric and the NHS will be trashed before we get there.
    John Page

    1. John Page says:

      One Murdoch is enough……meant Rothermere

      1. Alan Stewart says:

        One Murdoch is too many, John.

        1. John Page says:

          Indeed, you are quite right, Alan

  3. Redgauntlet says:

    Great piece Mike. My own take on this crazy woman’s ramblings today:

    “It was with reluctance that I decided the country needs this election, etc” – Thes sounding more regal every day. The only surprise is she didn’t decamp to Balmoral in that notorious tartan suit to make her announcement….

    “Every vote for the Conservatives will mean we can stick to our plan for a stronger Britain.” – Don’t worry, folks, she means the England not Britain, and the South of England at that…

    “Every vote for the Conservatives will make it harder for opposition politicians who want to stop me from getting the job done. ” – those opposition politicians who JUST HAPPEN TO REPRESENT THE POLITICAL WILL of about half the people of Britain… like the voters of Northern Ireland, currently locked in a political impasse. Who gives a shit about them, Thes?

    “At this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, but instead there is division.” – No, sorry, Mrs Mayhem, the idea of any parliament is precisely that there is supposed to be division, unless in case of outright war (say with Spain, over Gibraltar…)

    ““The country is coming together but Westminster is not.” The most inaccurate and patently ludicrous declaration since David Steel told the Liberal party conference back in the 80’s “Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government”…

    ““Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country.”….to talk of a “successful Brexit” is a misnomer. What she means is that any damage limitation exercise might actually be rigorously scrutinized by the SNP at Westminster.

    The sheer gall of this woman is breathtaking. She is madder even than Thatcher….

    Time to go, Scotland, and let’s hope Northern Ireland too…

    1. Jo says:

      Well said!

  4. Alan says:

    She’s getting very Schmittian. She’s pointing to enemies of the will of the people. And she refuses to debate. We all know what sort of political leaders consider debate to be irrelevant.

  5. Frank says:

    It’s Tim Farron not Tim Fallon. It’s important to get these things right editor.

    1. Sandy says:

      No it’s not. He’s as irrelevant as Ruth Harrison.

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