Tory Fantasy Politics

The Sunak Tory Government has entered the realms of fantasy politics.  In so many areas, they are putting forward policies they know won’t work (and may actually make the situation worse) , they know simply can’t be implemented, they know are just being put forward to make it look like they are dealing with a problem when they are not.

Just look at this week, Sunak’s policy to deal with the refugees arriving via small boats across the Channel.  With an ever-increasing crisis in dealing with Asylum Seekers already here in the UK (and many are waiting months in hotels & temporary accommodation for decisions), they need a distraction from that with a “new” policy for those arriving via irregular means.  Having closed nearly all the legal routes for refugees to claim asylum in the UK, they now want to punish these desperate people for taking the only way possible for them to arrive here. 

Never mind it doesn’t make any attempt to clamp down on the people smuggling gangs, never mind it is probably illegal under the UK’s International Commitments, never mind many are desperate people fleeing war, famine ort persecution in their home land, never mind most refugees are dealt with in other countries, the Sunak Government has (after the failure of their last policies) now want to simply to lock them (at great cost) up before return these people to somewhere else (actually no-one is clear where this will be as the UK no longer has agreements with other European countries to return them).  All that matter is good headlines and supportive coverage from the right-wing media. 

The practicalities are glossed over, those who oppose the new policy (which is in reality a rehash of past failed polices) are accused of not having solutions (even when they do have good workable ones), the Tory motto seems to be just keep repeating the Party manta on the issue and ignore those pointing out where it is not going to work.

The Tories have used the same formula of fantasy polices or claims time and time again, from Johnson’s promise to get 40 new hospitals built, claims to have increased spending on schools by over £5000 a pupil, to the promise to build 300,000 new homes a year, and of course Brexit.  All were made and trumpeted but the reality is very different.

For the Tories, the reality is that after 13 years of being in Government (& 8 years of not having the Lib Dems to restrain them) they have run out steam & ideas, not helped by the 2019 cull of all Tory MPs who would not back Johnson’s suicidal Brexit agreement.  All we have left in Government is mediocre politicians who owe their Ministerial position to blind loyalty to the failed Brexit ideology.  No wonder they are failing to deal with any of the problems of the UK and its people, just crashing from one crisis to another, desperate to get hide their failures by announcing more fantasy polices in search of a headline.  Roll on the next General Election to allow the Tories to go away and rediscover their Conservative past.

The Omicron disaster is down to Johnson’s hubris & ineptitude

Back in July, Boris Johnson announced Freedom Day as nearly all of the Covid restrictions were lifted.  He gave the impression, very intentionally, that as a nation, under his leadership, we had conquered Covid and that we had nothing more to fear and we could return to near normality.

Many people took Johnson at his word, he is the PM and should know what he is talking about.  They stopped wearing masks, shops stopped making sure the sanitation stations going in were stock with hand sanitiser & cleaning solution to wipe down trolleys, pubs & restaurants opened up completely, nightclubs were full to capacity

Many realised that as usual, Johnson was talking guff, Covid is still a potent threat to us, both n the UK and around the world.  However, Johnson wasn’t interested.  The management of the Covid Vaccination & Booster program was passed to a junior minister, Johnson stopped wearing a mask (as did most other Tory MPs) even in situations where he should have done.  For him, the important thing was that he could be seen as a leader who has conquered the Pandemic.

Unsurprisingly, since July the number of Covid cases has continued to rise and so have, 2 weeks behind, the number of hospitalisations from Covid.  Even those with both doses of the vaccine were getting ill from Covid (and many had asymptomatic Covid).  This, along with other regular winter conditions is already putting a strain on NHS Hospitals.  While a booster vaccination program was started, this was only aimed at the over 60’s and those deemed clinically vulnerable.

However, Johnson was not to be moved from reimposing any restrictions, not even asking people to resume wearing masks, not even to restrict how many could go to pubs.  Getting business back up & running was his aim (along with basking in his seeming success in taming Covid).

Then came Omicron, the latest Covid variant.  While it may cause as severe illness as previous variants, it does seem to be able to bypass some of the protection given by the vaccination, even the booster.  It also appears to be able to spread very quickly

What did Johnson do when the first cases of Omicron appeared?  He banned people from a number of African countries (where it was first identified) from coming here, even though there was clear evidence that it actually was originating from the UK (Israeli doctor believes he caught Omicron variant of Covid in London) before being identified in South Africa.  However, no restrictions were imposed in the UK.

It came as a surprise to very few how quickly the Omicron variant is running rife across the UK so much so that visitors from Britain are now banned from Israel & (from Saturday) France. 

This is entirely due to Johnson’s reluctance to admit he was wrong in July to loosen restrictions so much and his dithering when Omicron was first identified.  Indeed, many now believe he has only started to introduce any measures in the last few days as an attempt to divert attention his own culpability for how those in his own office flouted the rules that were in place last year.

Throughout the whole pandemic, Johnson’s hubris & ineptitude has meant we have always been behind the curve in imposing the measures needed to control it.  Now, to save the Government from having to support the entertainment industry by imposing proper restrictions, he is calling on people to use “caution” while pubs, restaurants and clubs face ruin as people show more responsibility than Cabinet Ministers.

Its time for Johnson to go.