As a country, we’ve put up with a lot these past few years.
The doomed Coalition, the folly of austerity, the crisis of Brexit, the bungled pandemic handling.
Sleaze, lobbying, bullying, oligarchs. Plebgate, Piggate, Partygate.
Cuts to councils, a war on benefits. Libraries and Sure Start centres closing.
Legal aid cuts, prisoners banned from having books, the rail network in tatters. Ferry firms with no ferries.
(Those last few were all Chris Grayling, but it’s unfair to single him out.)
It’s been Dave and Theresa and Boris. Priti and Suella. Not forgetting Dom. Classic Dom.
Disaster on disaster on disaster. Sometimes it was almost beyond belief.
Who would have guessed, for example, that in the depths of 2019, the Government would illegally close Parliament for a bit because it was getting in the way?
In the last few weeks – after all we’ve been through, all we’ve suffered – in staggers Liz Truss, put there by a handful of out‑of‑touch Tory members.
But we’ve had enough of successive governments, each worse than the last.
If Labour were to win the next election – and the odds say they will – they would inherit a tough set of circumstances.
It will be hard. But better that than to continue as we are.
Every test put in front of the Tories, they have failed. And the British people have paid the price.
It’s time for change – a real one. It’s time for a general election.
Human, like all of us
Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Sir David Amess were friends. In our exclusive chat, the Speaker tells of how Sir David’s horrifying death a year ago hit him hard.
Amid all the mayhem of politics it is important to remember they are human beings. Whatever your view of them, these politicians are doing their job.
As we remember Sir David this weekend, we should remember his friends and colleagues who are out there now, working hard, doing what they believe are the right things for their constituents.
