Reasons to diss Mrs May

“Many Theresas have been born who found for themselves no epic life wherein there was a constant unfolding of far-resonant action; perhaps only a life of mistakes, the offspring of a certain spiritual grandeur ill-matched with the meanness of opportunity; perhaps a tragic failure which found no sacred poet and sank unwept into oblivion.”

Excerpt From: George Eliot. “Middlemarch.”

The election campaign has been a bit of a surprise. Mrs May has lost her lustre of Boedicia and become either Margot from The Good Life or an icy psychopath like Claire Underwood. Her ratings have plummeted faster than an Alton Tower ride. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has performed far better than anyone expected in what has become a Presidential-style election that has also seen UKIP and the Lib Dems slip backwards and return to two-party politics. Apart from Scotland where the SNP seem to have passed their zenith, we have seen Ruth Davidson and Nicola Sturgeon lose respect as they squabble like participants in the Game of Thrones.

Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn have become the story. Whilst the shenanigans in the Labour Party over the past decade have seriously dented its electability, the manifesto at least offers some hope and is far less damaging than another period of austerity and the inept negotiation over Brexit by Mrs May. The Tory antipathy towards social justice, public investment, ethical foreign policies and environmental protection has also activated the ire of large sections of the electorate. Mrs May has chosen and then led the most incompetent conservative government of my lifetime. Here are just some of the reasons why Mrs May does not deserve to be given an extended innings in number 10. and it will take doubts about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, or lack of it, for her to survive. 

• She obfuscates on almost all issues, refusing to answer detailed questions whilst claiming to be strong. She cannot be trusted to act in a principled way and seems to relish criticising others or releasing her attack dogs; Michael Fallon and Amber Rudd on opponents.
• Her Brexit team is seriously flawed focused on generalities and making naive assumptions with no one apparently concerned about the details. She has a track record of eschewing collaboration and giving in to pressure from external interests such as business and Potus. Conversely, Keir Starmer is more of an anorak about detail and has a distinguished career in negotiations.
• Benefit caps, disability benefit reductions, and her proposals for social care show she neither understands nor cares about the living conditions of millions who are not even managing.
• Press regulation: The Tories will drop part 2 of the Leveson report into the culture and ethics of the press. The press has set up its own press complaints watchdog, IPSO, that is chaired by Paul Dacre, the Mail editor. It is as useless as a chocolate fireguard as we saw in yesterday's papers. (see below for example) 
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• In all likelihood, Rupert Murdoch would be allowed to buy Sky despite a parliamentary committee stating that the Murdochs were not 'fit and proper' to take over Sky after their phone hacking exploits.
• Her decisions to invest the vast majority of railway funding on HS2 radiating from London and to proceed with Hinckley Point nuclear power station built by a French/ Chinese partnership that is far more costly than sustainable energy alternatives are just two examples of flawed decision-making when she was put under pressure by business interests.
• Giving the go-ahead to a third runway at Heathrow resulting in air and noise pollution levels in London exceeding any reasonable standards is another example of caving in to pressure.
• The NHS reorganisation under Cameron's government was neither a manifesto commitment nor a success. Then allowing the baleful Jeremy Hunt to continue as Health Secretary and privatise or outsource health services whilst underfunding the core services has been a palpable act of vandalism on the health of the nation.
• Her failure to support environmental action on air pollution or support sustainable energy such as solar, tidal and wind whilst encouraging fracking is a measure of her discernible lack of concern for the environment.
• Schools: her focus on grammar schools and academies at the same time as taking funding away and raising class sizes in state schools, many of which are grossly overcrowded, does not smack of any real commitment to those families just about managing.
• Her record on housing is no better than her predecessor with the resulting drop in new housebuilding, homelessness soaring and hopelessness amongst many younger potential buyers who have been squeezed out by the buy-to-let market.
• Her relationship with President Trump is an embarrassment to the UK, Europe and those who cherish global action on climate change, fair trade and support for global institutions such as the UN.
• She was the Home Secretary who abandoned identity cards, cut prison funding, created a hostile environment for immigrants and reduced funding for local community policing. She has overseen a demoralisation of public services in these services for which she was the responsible minister.
• Evasiveness: she speaks in a series of crafted soundbites that are designed to disguise the hard realities of policy and then uses the verb 'to enable' to give her the freedom to act as she pleases.
• etc., etc.

In her own favourite words, she will 'ensure' that hard times are gonna fall.