During that 5 year period, those Liberal Democrats earned their Yellow Tory description and proved they could lie and break promises with as much ease as any right-wing Tory government ever did. Nick Clegg reneged on his ‘cast-iron’ opposition to student fees while he and Vince Cable were jolly allies of Cameron and his millionaire toffs in Cabinet as they plundered public services and punished the working classes with cruel and callous austerity budgets.
This blue and yellow Tory alliance pedalled the puerile pish that we were ‘all in it together’ as they punished pensioners, the disabled, low paid workers, public service employees and the most vulnerable citizens reliant on welfare benefits for survival. Those were the millions who suffered most from savage cuts to public expenditure, public sector wage freezes, benefits sanctions and the wholly immoral bedroom tax. Tax cuts for the millionaires were the order of the day alongside bedroom tax and frozen wages for the millions. The Lib-Dems were accomplished partners in the many crimes committed by the Cameron led government. They chose to punish the ordinary folk in communities across the UK for the obscene greed and financial mistakes of the few and called it austerity. ‘All in it together’? My arse!
One Lib-Dem served with particular distinction as a cold, callous and cruel Tory during those years. She voted for the bedroom tax 11 times. She voted against raising welfare payments in line with inflation 5 times. She voted for cuts in disability payments 7 times. She voted for cuts to the overall welfare budget 26 times. She voted against job creation schemes for young people 8 times. She even found the time to speak up and campaign for a monument to the widely despised Maggie Thatcher. Who was that nasty Tory in a yellow rosette? She is the new Lib-Dem leader, Jo Swinson, a woman who has earned and thoroughly deserves nothing but contempt from ordinary working-class voters.
In 2015 David Cameron won enough seats to continue the austerity assault on the living standards of ordinary people at home while agreeing to a disastrous and illegal military intervention in Libya which overthrew Gaddafi but left in his place a living inferno of anarchy, tribal butchery, systematic rape and torture of thousands of women who formerly lived in peace and the return of the slave trade in a country which under Gaddafi was the jewel of Africa in terms of living standards among the general population. Britain’s coalition with the US in that illegal military intervention ranks as one of the worst in living memory and the consequent refugee crisis and emergence of ISIS supporting terrorists is the cost paid by ordinary Libyan citizens.
After losing his Brexit referendum in 2016 Cameron pissed off to swan around the world earning millions in speaking engagements and consultancy work leaving everyone else in the UK to deal with the mess he left behind. Theresa May was elected the new Tory leader after earning her spurs as a deplorable Home Secretary responsible for divisive scapegoating immigration policies that fed the stupid and gullible readers of the Daily Mail and Sun the ridiculous line that increased NHS waiting times were the fault of tens of thousands immigrants actually working in the health service and housing shortages were the fault of asylum seekers housed in tower blocks lying empty because no one wanted to live in them.
Detailed analysis over many years and expert report after report shows without doubt that immigrants are net contributors to the UK economy. They put more into the public pot than they take out, but aided and abetted by May’s ‘hostile environment’ policy and unashamed racist writing and story inventing by the reactionary papers many people are convinced the low pay, poverty, housing shortages and public service reductions suffered by many working-class communities are the fault of immigrants and asylum seekers and not the Tory bastards in government who actually cause those problems.
The Tories under Cameron and May are responsible for the Windrush scandal and the Grenfell tragedy. Boris Johnson was elected in May 2015 and served as a Minister under Theresa May. He supported and voted for the heartless Universal Credit system and associated benefit sanctions regime which has caused increased misery, despair, homelessness and suicide among benefit recipients and disabled citizens. Under the last 9 years of Cameron, May and Johnson governments child poverty has increased by 50% in England. Foodbank use has increased by 1,000%. Homelessness has increased by 170%. NHS waiting lists have risen by 70%. Police numbers have been reduced in England by 22,000, a 20% cut. Crime has consequently increased by 30% and serious crime and knife-related crime is at its highest since records began. Local government funding has been reduced by 50% which means thousands of youth projects and centres have been slashed. Public sector pay in real terms has fallen by 15%.
That is the litany of disastrous government over the last 9 years and much more could be added. The Tories are the culprits of the social and economic crimes committed. Johnson has been at the heart of these policies over the last 4 years and Swinson was a Tory cheerleader in the 2010-2015 period. Yet every mainstream TV News bulletin, politics show and the billionaire owned press in the last few days have Jeremy Corbyn as the villain of the peace. It is he who is weak and should be held responsible for the mess we find ourselves in. A free and democratic press? Chance would be a fine thing.
Corbyn and his Labour colleagues have a decision to make over the weekend. Do they support an early general election when the question is posed in Parliament on Monday night? They must bear in mind that voting Tory is very much like death. When you die you don’t know you're dead and the pain is felt by others. That’s exactly the same with voting Tory. The pain is felt by others. By all means, propose a motion which prevents Johnson from crashing out of the EU without a deal while Parliament is suspended to facilitate a general election but do not run from this electoral challenge. Don’t agree to a December 12th election day. Insist on a December 5th election. Take the initiative away from this pathological liar and vote for Parliament to be suspended by Thursday to allow a December 5th polling day.
Such bold action will compel the EU to grant a Brexit delay until 31st January but more importantly it will signify to the electorate that Labour under Corbyn intends to fight Johnson and the Tories, blue and yellow, on their records of cuts and unnecessary and cruel austerity.
Corbyn should declare his intention to concentrate on England and Wales in recognition of the fact the SNP is a progressive left of centre party which will sweep up the vast majority of anti-Tory votes anyway. Time and resources should not be wasted in a country which will return at least 50 SNP MPs out of the 59 up for grabs. The Tories are headed for a complete wipe-out in Scotland and Corbyn should encourage that by competing in England and Wales only.
If Labour fight on their radical economic and social policies, many of them already implemented in Scotland (free prescriptions, free personal care, free education), they can win over the working class of England and Wales fed up with millionaire politicians governing for the millionaires only.
If Corbyn emphasises the real divide in society is between the many and the few, not the remainers and leavers he can win a governing majority. What he cannot do is run away from this fight. Take the fight to Johnson. Demand an earlier general election than what he is proposing. That is the way to dump this buffoon from office.
Under the intense scrutiny of a general election campaign, Johnson will be exposed as the empty, lying charlatan he is. While visiting a school in Milton Keynes a kid no older than 8 asked him if “do you run the world”? “Yes” was his response before realising the cameras were rolling and he really shouldn’t be seen to lie to an 8-year-old boy the way he has lied throughout his life to family, friends, political colleagues and the general public. “No, no, no I don’t – slight exaggeration – I run part of the world”.
Even when correcting a lie he can’t tell the truth. He has no political authority in Parliament. No majority and no democratic mandate. He struggles to run a bath let alone “part of the world”.
His lies about building “40 new hospitals” when he has released funding for only 6 will unravel. His “there will be no checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain” lie in relation to his Brexit deal will be exposed. His lie that “the Scottish Parliament has no role in approving this deal” despite the very deal he is referring to having no less than 17 provisions requiring Scottish Parliament legislative assent will be highlighted. His oft-repeated lie that “MPs approved the deal” when all they did was permit the deal to pass on to the detailed scrutiny and amendment stage will be shown up in the heat of the live debates.
Those 4 specific lies I have just outlined were uttered in only one Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday. The guy is a compulsive liar unfit for office. Watch him try to justify the Brexit referendum £350 million a week to the EU lie during an ITV interview on the bus with the lie printed on it if you don’t believe me. Faced with the actual figure of £161 million once rebates and EU grants are considered he just continues to rant and lie.
This is an untrustworthy buffoon of a man who proves conclusively that buying a private education does not guarantee intelligence. However, he is not a harmless buffoon and liar he is a dangerous one and has to be confronted sooner rather than later.
Rather than run from the general election challenge on Monday Jeremy Corbyn must take it to him and demand a December 5th election, not December 12th.