An awful lot has
happened in British politics over the course of the last month. A new prime
minister has been installed at Number 10 Downing Street leading what seems like
the most right-wing government since the Thatcher era. Theresa May, we are
told, is a no nonsense politician. She will have to pick up the pieces left by
her predecessor following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
The ‘Brexit’ vote will
be David Cameron’s lasting political legacy. His decision to hold a referendum
on the UK’s membership of the EU has obscured his earlier achievements. When he
became leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party in 2005 he set about
re-branding the organisation. Out went the old torch logo to be replaced by a
new green and blue design. Mr Cameron was seen on a sledge with huskies on a
visit to Lapland further underlining his supposed green credentials.
I can recall the final
showdown between himself and David Davis (now part of Mrs. May’s newly formed
government) during the leadership contest. Essentially it was a battle between
the traditional wing of the party and Mr Cameron’s new, more progressive supporters.
The ‘nasty party’ was to be reformed almost like ‘New Labour’ under Tony Blair.
The Tories would reach out to those they had previously ignored. For awhile I
genuinely thought Mr Cameron could radically change his party for the better.
But despite going into coalition with the Liberal Democrats, supporting gay
marriage and standing up for the disabled, he ultimately failed to resolve the
big problem which has beset the Conservatives for decades – Europe.
It is said of political
leaders that they ‘campaign in poetry and govern in prose’. This is no less
true of Mr Cameron. His ‘Achilles heel’ was the ‘Brexit’ referendum and calling
it was his big mistake. It has cost him his political career barely 12 months since,
unexpectedly, winning a general election (the first Conservative leader to do
so for almost a quarter of a century). All this is common knowledge now, with
acres of news print devoted to the aftermath of this incredible referendum. The
MP for Whitney has now departed and left Mrs. May to deal with the political fallout.
She has assembled a right-wing government with figures like Mr Davis, Boris
Johnson and Liam Fox in key positions at cabinet. Far from curbing the
harshness of his party, Mr Cameron has, through holding the recent referendum, freed
the radicals among his colleagues.
Over the course of the
last 40 years, or so, prime ministers have met their demise in various ways.
James Callaghan had ‘the winter of discontent’; Margaret Thatcher had the poll
tax; John Major had ‘Black Wednesday’; Tony Blair had the Iraq war; Gordon
Brown had the banking crisis and now Mr Cameron has succumbed to Euro-phobia. God only knows what troubles are in store for
Mrs. May. The post of prime minister is a poison chalice and she will have to
tread carefully. At this time it is crucial that a strong opposition is gathered
otherwise this newly emboldened government of the right (for that is what it
is) could alienate more people than her predecessors did. The Conservative
right have been let loose and they must be held to account.
