Of the three candidates left in the contest to become Tory Party leader and our next Prime Minister, two are Brexiteers which has become synonymous with lepers in much of the Remain camp.
Andrew Marr prides himself on being impartial using hard hitting interviews to get at the truth, as he sees it. Take the Andrea Leadsome interview (above). Marr quoted from a speech that Leadsome gave to the Hansard Society saying that Brexit would be a "disaster for our economy and would lead to a decade of economic and political uncertainty at a time when the tectonic plates are moving". She had since changed her mind having concluded, following a thorough investigation, that:
Nevertheless Andrew Marr persisted in attacking Leadsome for coming to a different conclusion having looked at all the evidence gathered in the Fresh Start project before going on to imply, with a 'friendly question', UKIP sympathies and affiliations. He finished by asking if she would publish her tax returns, again implying that she might have something to hide.
Michael Gove received similar treatment when he was "told that people see him as a 'political serial killer' ", and that he "had deliberately destroyed the political career of his friends David Cameron and Boris Johnson, drawing a comparison to the television character Frank Underwood, the conniving, machiavellian House of Cards protagonist who murders his way to the White House". Being in the Remain camp Theresa May appears to be exempt from being marred.
Listening to the reaction of EU President and MEPs to the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the EU, it is difficult to understand why anyone motivated by other than self-interest would want to be associated with people who can express such sentiments. "Rats fleeing a sinking ship"! Sinking because the EU has proved to be incapable of reform as they head towards a 'do as you are told' super state.
Whoever wins the leadership contest will face difficult times backing Britain. The prophets of doom must look forward, let the politicians do the best they possibly can, then stand back and only then take another look if necessary.
Postscript [07.07.2016]
Ignore the prophets of doom. Brexit will be good for Britain
"A stale leadership class is on the way out and the property bubble will burst. I can’t see the bad news" - Simon Jenkins, The Guardian.
Do you really believe Angela Leadsom? Do you really believe she has changed her mind?
ReplyDeleteWould you really need Gove as PM? Gove damaged education and is cited a security risk.
Theresa May is offering to do that which Cameron should have taken in hand after the referendum he planned. Theresa May seems to me the only honest candidate, and although she has not 'changed her mind' she has vowed to explore the wishes of the electorate.
I would not necessarily disagree with your analysis Simple Soul other than to say that I have no reason to doubt Angela Leadsom's sincerity.
ReplyDeleteUnless one is the captain or part of the orchestra surely fleeing a sinking ship is the wisest thing to do. Did the Belgian ex-prime minister really mean to say that or is his command of English not up to insults?
ReplyDeleteThe statistics about the shrinking EU are quite startling especially the halving of economick activity since 1980
(@Pete :It is full of risk for a foreign person to quote idiomatic expressions from another language,for unless one has a deep understanding of culture and language of the country owning the statement,it is bound to present problems in interpretation.
Delete@AB: we all have an image of ourselves which we should like others to see,hence we are all guilty of a measure of dishonesty.
The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself. Thales-philosopher.