Election Time, then the Living is Easy

Just Winging it in the Rain

I wasn't surprised at the calling of an election for 4th July. It is the second half of the year, and things are getting worse with the build-up of Inquiry publications requiring significant compensation funding and no room for tax cuts. Tory MPs have been scuttling the good ship lollipop with all the loyalty of Tory MPs. Rwanda was a pious hope and Rishi Sunak has become more knowingly economical with the truth than Boris Johnson was ever unknowingly aware of it. Why hang on to make the difficult decisions when you can dump them on the knighted bloke opposite.

The reaction from his party wasn't that supportive - "suicidal, crazy, shocked, confused, angry, a gamble and what a clown" were just some of the comments. Since the announcement, another 5 Tory MPs have said they will not be standing bringing the total to 73.

The public didn't share this view, it was "thank god, about time." Esther McVey, the minister of Common Sense, disagreed, she thought he should hang on as things would get better. So did the nearby crowds who drowned out the PM's election speech by playing 'Things Can Only Get Better', the D-Ream theme tune for the Labour landslide victory in 1997.

After 14 years in government, during which the UK has had virtually no growth, declining living standards, a collapse of public services, withdrawal from Europe, the emergence of many scandals from the Post Office Horizon to Grenfell Towers, the Covid response and HS2 costs as well as the loss of international influence and respect, the government had hit the buffers and delivered very little other than disenchantment. Rishi Sunak knew it and had a Plan as he repeated ad nauseam. The plan was to get out of the job as soon as possible. He would do some Californian Dreaming on American Independence Day. Living would be easy away from the imprisonment of being a makeshift Tory leader.