Of all the politics modules I studied at university, a second year course entitled ‘Models of Democracy’ was one of the less enjoyable and interesting experiences. Based on the book of the same name by David Held, the module covered the development of democratic ideas starting with the Athenian period in Ancient Greece. It also covered various theories of democracy such as Marxism and liberalism. Suffice to say the module wasn’t exactly the sort of stuff that would keep you awake at night with curiosity. I think most of us chose it because the alternatives at the time were even worse, and the fact that the young female tutor who taught us was rather pleasing on the eye.
Whatever model of democracy exists today, or has existed in the past, wouldn’t have been possible without the crucial participation of the general public. For that is the crux of democracy itself. The act of going into the privacy of a polling booth and marking an ‘X’ beside the name of your preferred candidate is, perhaps, the greatest social leveller of them all. For that brief moment, those who wield power over you have a fate entirely dependent on the choices you and your fellow voters make. Therefore, to deny people the chance of enact their constitutional right to decide who governs them is, at the very least, a cause for concern. In many ways, it demonstrates more than a streak of authoritarian arrogance.
I’ll be honest here: There aren’t adequate words in the English language to describe just how much I detest this government. When the history books are written, I’m as certain as one can be that Starmer and his motley collection of political nobodies, would-bes and never-weres will go down as the most hated government of the past 100 years. They not only wilfully destroy our social cohesion with the mass importation of Third World trash, they then house them in surroundings many in this country can ill afford – all while being fully aware of the potential dangers they bring to our women and girls! They tax ordinary folk until their eyes bleed but shower goodies on their client voters in the public sector, trades unions and the indolent class. They preside over a justice system that sets sexual predators free before their sentences are concluded, then uses their cell space to incarcerate people for vocal cord violations or Twitter tappity-tap transgressions. Given their key role in the rise of a sense of national populism unprecedented in British history, you would have thought that the best way to deal with the underlying causes would be for the government to respectfully engage with the phenomenon to garner a sense of understanding. Fat chance!
What we are witnessing instead is a concerted effort to ‘Stop Nigel at all costs’. It’s a multi-pronged approach orchestrated by our socialist overlords and those sections of the media most responsive to their political message. It covers everything from endlessly poring over what Farage may or may not have said half a century ago (when we still had Reckitt’s Blue, wooden radiograms, “Rosko’s Round Table” and Sir David Jacobs) to examining possible ways he may have contravened electoral law on spending when he stood for Parliament in last year’s General Election. However, nothing says the Establishment is frit like cancelling elections under the guise of local government reform (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/elections-delayed-cancelled-local-government-reorganisation-plans-b1263284.html).
Be in no doubt, this isn’t about a concern over wasting public money (socialists are legendary experts in that already). Nor was it a move that had sufficient long-term planning. Had that been the case, the measures would have been mentioned in the run-up to polling day last year. No, this is about a number of councillors – a significant amount of whom are Labour – absolutely shitting themselves because they know the scale of the electoral bloodbath that awaits them. Unable to defer the people’s verdict forever (though I’m sure this lot would try if they thought they could get away with it!), they instead want to keep their dirty mitts on the levers of power for as long as they can. We had elections to the European Parliament in 2019, knowing we would be (at least in name only) departing the EU a few months later. Nothing was mentioned about that exercise – a fully nationwide event – needing to be cancelled because of the brevity of its resulting mandate. So why is this different?
Sir James Cleverly, interviewed on Talk Radio yesterday morning, was obviously angered by these democratic postponements. He went on to say it is important that those currently in power should always be prepared for the fact that, at some point, they will be on the losing side of an electoral contest and that they should accept such a verdict gracefully. Admirable words, Sir James. But we shouldn’t forget this sacred principle was proverbially pissed up the wall after the Brexit referendum of 2016 – including by many members of your own party, chum! So graceful in defeat was David Cameron, he turned tail and fled Downing Street within hours of the result being announced, despite promising he would stay and enact whatever decision the British people made. Both the Conservatives and Labour did their damnedest to make the exercise of Brexit as hollow as possible, and even now this Labour government is incrementally reversing it. So let’s not get too prissy about psephological niceties and democratic rectitude. It’s been, at best, ambivalent in our politics for nearly a decade.
I don’t think it’s being hysterical to say we have less of a government now, and more of a dictatorship. Any administration that is happy to legislate over what you can and cannot say, and cancel numerous opportunities for us proles to inform them of what we think of their record, isn’t a democratic government in the true sense of the word. What we will possibly see being played out over the next year is a stitch-up of monumental proportions. Thankfully, Sir Keir, you won’t be able to silence us forever. We’ll make sure of that!
I will return in four weeks time. Have a blessed and Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
Excellent, as always 👏