Egregious breach
I think that this week's event could have an irreversible impact on the future of British politics.
Boris Johnson has once again shown a complete lack of respect for the rules which ensure politicians are acting lawfully, working on behalf of the constituents they are elected to represent in Parliament. However, if the current behaviour from Tory MPs is allowed to continue further without any accountability, then democracy is facing a serious problem. If our elected can manipulate the laws which govern all of us to benefit themselves, that is not democracy in action or 'sleaze', that is pure corruption! To be found guilty of committing an egregious breach of lobbying rules or to take hundreds of thousands from a second job, while at the same time the most vulnerable in our society are struggling to make ends meet, is fundamentally immoral. Whether or not technically legal, I personally do not find this acceptable and do not want to live in a world that does.
The sad truth is that while the Tory Party have removed the temporary measure of the £20 universal credit uplift from the poorest, like sucking the air out a life raft, those same politicians are taking second jobs in consultancy and so on to top-up their 82k a year income as it is simply not enough for them to live on.
Brexiteer MP Sir Geoffrey Cox has taken £800,000 from a firm called Withers for private legal work. Withers were representing the British Virgin Islands over an inquiry into corruption. According to an article I read from the Mirror this week Sir Geoffrey Cox also 'rents out (a) London flat you (taxpayers) helped fund; he then claims more for a second home in the capital; he even received £3,800 for two months he was in the Caribbean' but the MP says he “does not believe he breached the rules”. This to me is highly disturbing. If this man doesn't think what he has done is wrong or more specifically against the rules, and neither does our Prime Minister, then this is a dark day for us as a country. As it is likely that he cannot see what he has done wrong because this behaviour has been normalised by him and others in the party.
Some have even tried to tar Labour with the same brush; the “but everybody does it!" strategy. There is a difference, of course, between a Labour MP having a second job working as a doctor on the front line during the pandemic and a Tory MP advising the British Virgins Islands over corruption, an obvious conflict of interest. So, who does he truly work for? Whoever pays the most?
When Claudia Webbe (an ex Labour MP now an independent) was found guilty of harassment she was suspended however when Priti Patel was found guilty of bullying, when Matt Hancock was found to have acted unlawfully over Covid contracts... nothing! No repercussions whatsoever. The Prime Minister dismissed the cases and considered the matter closed. The Labour Party, however, respects the rules and holds their MPs to account. That is the difference!
So as the plank creaks louder and louder, as Boris edges himself closer to the end, towards the swirling pack of sharks in the waters below, with Sunak already prepared to take the helm and steer the pirate ship of corruption further along into the abyss of unfettered capitalism, the Elite will just continue to get away with it. Until they are truly challenged by an opposition not afraid to be unpopular but which has the courage to call them out for what they are! Scum! Thank you again Angela Rayner! Dawn Butler! Zarah Sultana! I could go on...
The NHS is being stripped back every day, in the interest of promoting private health care systems. On Question Time yesterday there were questions from the audience asking whether we should consider charging for ambulances or whether GPs should start working harder. It is completely understandable why a member of the public, who had to wait an hour and 45minutes for an ambulance for their husband, would want a sensible solution to prevent the same thing happening to others. However, I fear that the solution of private health care, no longer free at the point of need is actually what the Tories want people to believe is their only hope of making things better. This would be barking up the wrong tree. After 11 years of Tory cuts and austerity you cannot put the blame anywhere else and certainly not on the GPs. The Tories want the public to believe they have done everything possible to save the NHS and that privatisation is a last resort in order to fix it. Leaving the general public begging for at least some form of care via a paid-for health care system rather than an empty, poorly managed, underfunded, proposedly neglected system. One where you can't see your GP, there are long waiting lists for surgery, long waiting lists for treatment, not enough ambulances and hospitals full of elderly patients because there is nowhere else for them to go because social care has been cut to the bone. Our NHS is slowly being pulled out from under us and there is seemingly nothing we can do, while at the same time the Tories are running riot.
Our country is at a pivotal point in history and may never look the same. If you needed an ambulance for your child you wouldn't hesitate over putting yourself into debt. You would just pay for an ambulance. However, for those who cannot afford it we are literally talking about life and death. A national social cleanse of sorts where the poor die off relieving the burden on the state and the rich get ever more richer with shares in private health care companies. I wonder, why not just bring back the workhouses?