The Woes of the Floating Voter
Neil Jopson assesses the slim picking available to would be swing voters in the UK.
From a 1922 hit:-
"Oh Mr. Gallagher, Oh Mr. Gallagher"
"What's on your mind this morning Mr. Shean?"
"Everybody's making fun
Of the way our country's run
In a mess like this Great Britain's never been."
So plus ca change, but where can a floating voter go, especially if he voted for Brexit?
Arron Banks is encouraging us to join the Conservative Party to help oust Mrs. May. That very much appeals to me as here is a lady who is simply obstinately hopeless at her job – and I am not referring to her lack of dancing ability!
On the other hand, Lord Haig, does not want us to do this, and is against the idea of the Party being flooded with any new people, especially from UKIP, who want to make a difference. Bearing in mind his origins he is clearly a poacher turned gamekeeper who[i] wants to keep the party as a narrow selfish club serving the interests of big business.
I have also read of proposals to abolish constituency associations. So who is it then who makes Conservative policy? It would appear that it is an unelected backroom of individuals if the departures of Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill after the 2017 election are evidence. We voters are clearly a nuisance in the way of the exercise of power.
Talking of narrow selfish clubs I live in a constituency which voted 51.4% to leave the EU. Our Conservative M.P. scraped home at the subsequent 2017 election with 47.5% of the vote. You might think that he would be interested in the views of his electorate, if only for survival purposes, and so I wrote to him this summer complaining about the Chequers Agreement. What I received back was quite clearly a pro-forma letter drafted by Conservative HQ.
I, therefore, wrote to his local Party Chairman and received back more or less the same letter. I looked him up to see his background, and was astounded to see that he is employed as "Senior Parliamentary Assistant" to the said M.P. If that is not an incestuous conflict of interest I do not know what is, or is it more evidence of the narrow selfish club?
Therefore, apart from the unlikely prospect of delivering Brexit I cannot see what the Conservatives have to offer to tempt me to join. My voice would I feel, be both ignored and unwelcome, especially as I would like to see all monopolies, such as water, gas and electricity, and the railways taken from the hands of foreign investors, and put into the hands of not for profit companies owned by the Government. That is the extent to any pink tinge to my politics
The Conservatives say that private enterprise is efficient; it may be but only in order to make a profit out of others.
However Jeremy Corbyn hardly fills me with enthusiasm for many reasons, and I certainly do not want the country to be run by the well-balanced people (chips on both shoulders) of Momentum. The gentleman who ranted at Jacob Rees-Mogg's children is hardly a living example of the sort of person we would want to see running the country, even if his father was a surgeon
So where do I go?
I should, of course, note the Lib Dems – and quickly move on. However, I did, early on in my half-century of voting vote mainly LibDem. I stopped after Nick Clegg reneged on the promise to abolish tuition fees, which, in my time I certainly did not have to pay. In my view showed that the LibDems are as tarnished as the rest.
Now I read that Vince Cable wants to attract people by demanding a second referendum. That limits him to the minority who voted against Brexit. What a politician.
The 1922 hit continues:-
"The cost of living is so high,
That it's cheaper now to die
Positively Mr. Gallagher, Absolutely Mr. Shean"
Perhaps I should simply stop lying awake at night, worrying about our heedless self-serving politicians and the mess we are living in, and comfort myself with the thought that today's troubles are simply history repeating itself.
