The prime minister’s destructive experiment in clowning has torn up the political rulebook, says Guardian columnist Zoe Williams
of becoming Greece” was unfair and a bit irresponsible. There is quite a high tolerance for completely unjustified accusations at election time. Yet no Conservative will want to conjure the promise of order during the next campaign. Even their own voters know that politics doesn’t have to be like this. To describe out loud the ideal of calm and constructive government fosters this sense of bottomless and crucifying what-ifs.
More likely, and already essayed in the rightwing tabloids, is a rerun of 2019, with a twist: not “Labour wants to stop Brexit”; rather “they want to take your Brexit away”. Keir Starmer sought toin his speech on Monday night about how there was no going back, not into the EU, not into the single market, not into the customs union. Labour is now the party of hard Brexit, since the Tory proponents for leaving the EU are simply too busy falling apart to make a case one way or the other.
Sloganeering might not be as easy as it looks for Labour; the target is almost too wide, and they too have their formulations, phrases and lores that they think are surefire because they unaccountably still heed the wisdom of Peter Mandelson. They talk about “Tory sleaze” and it recalls the absolutely trivial, even romantic scandals of the John Major era; “Tory corruption”, and it’s a brown envelope with a couple of thousand quid in it.
It is simply not possible to describe how bad this experiment in clowning has been using any normal playbook. The world as it is has turned to farce, yet when Labour is called upon to describe the world as it should be, they still get the cocked-head, deeply sceptical, “How are you going to pay for that, then?”, treatment, as if they’re trying to wrest the reins from sensible fiscal conservatives.
This is the truly impossible point of the story arc. We’re heading towards an election whose slogans will be less fair than 2010’s, more preposterous than 2015’s, more infantile than 2019’s. But the only thing worse than this coming election would be no election. So please God, make it soon.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
I never needed help with Wordle – until the other night | Zoe WilliamsHow hard can it be to guess a five-letter word in six goes? Too hard for me on my own, obviously, writes Zoe Williams
Read more »
‘Not fair to Zoe’: Teals back away from state push in Brighton, Caulfield, SandringhamThe community independent group that spearheaded the teals’ victory in the federal seat of Goldstein has decided not to support candidates in nearby Victorian seats of Brighton, Caulfield and Sandringham at the state election. | paulsakkal
Read more »
Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest lifts stake in Zoe Foster Blake linked beauty business BWXBillionaire Andrew Forrest is positioned for a potential takeover of BWX, as the struggling beauty group confronts the prospect of being forced to buy out celebrity Zoë Foster Blake’s skincare brand at a price that exceeds its own valuation. | Colin Kruger
Read more »
Zoe Foster Blake can count on Andrew Forrest at BWXBWX is now raising $23 million just to keep the lights on.
Read more »
I never needed help with Wordle – until the other night | Zoe WilliamsHow hard can it be to guess a five-letter word in six goes? Too hard for me on my own, obviously, writes Zoe Williams
Read more »
‘Net zero’ Surry Hills office tower gets green lightClifton Development Group says it won’t start an official leasing campaign until prospective tenants can “walk the floors”.
Read more »