Wednesday 7 November 2012

Left Right and Centre!

Left, Right, and Centre.

When I was a teenager, many moons ago, I became interested in politics. It was the 4th of May 1979 and Maggie Thatcher was elected for the first time. After a decade of coalitions and week governments, Maggie was a right wing Conservative Tory leader, hell bent on breaking the strangle hold the of the trade unions, cutting taxes and paying back the national debt.  After the initial outcry from the said unions, the strikes, the protests etc, she did start to reach some of her goals. However she had promised to deal with the problem of immigration, the one promise she never intended to keep. Indeed as she continually clashed with the unions, she would rely on foreign labour to replace striking workers. Maggie also rejected interference from the European Union, and it was splits over this that would see her eventually removed as leader by her own party (28 November 1990).

Because Mrs Thatcher was removed during the tenure of a Tory government, her successor would become Prime Minister as soon as the party chose him. Enter John Major, a centre right Tory who was, by all accounts pretty dull compared to Thatcher. He did, amazingly win the next election, but the Tory grip on the nation was in decline, and to this date they have still to gain an overall majority government.

The tragedy of British politics would, on 2 May 1997 career headlong into the downward vortex that is thirteen years of Labour government. Firstly with centre left Tony Blair, the grinning war criminal. As with every Labour politician, Blair loved throwing public money around like so much confetti. He also became so pally with the US, that we would become embroiled in more conflicts around the world than under any other prime minister in our history. During the reign of Phoney Tony our economy boomed and then spectacularly bust. Tony would step down voluntarily on the 27th June 2007, and hand over to his former chancellor.

And so our new prime minister would be Gordon Brown, a Scottish left wing Labour man. This disgusting specimen promised much, but delivered a lot less than nothing, and national debt sky rocketed during his relatively short time as prime minister.  

By the time of the last election (11th May 2010), the electorate had become so disillusioned with politicians that we now have a coalition government for the first time since the 1970's.  With the Tories joined by MP's from the Liberal Democrats, we now have a government fully loaded with excuses. Promises made by the Conservatives led by David Cameron have never been so easily broken, as their Liberal cohorts object to policies such as opting out if the European bill of human rights. For those who are unfamiliar with that bill, it gives criminals convicted in our courts the right to appeal to a court in Brussels. Foreign terrorists have had their convictions overturned by the European courts, making it both arduous and expensive to deport them.

So within the space of the last 33 years, we have very literally been pulled left right and centre by British politicians. We can surely see that no matter who we elect, the house of commons will always contain the same politicians, regardless on where in the house they sit. A former prime minister will usually  either retire to the back benches, or take his place as leader of the opposition. In two years time the electorate might well decide to elect Ed Milliband.  When will they realise that all they are changing is the seating arrangement in the House of Commons? The only difference between Cameron and Milliband is rhetoric, they are merely different sides of the same rusty old coin.

Is it any wonder some of us are sick to death of politics, it's pointless!