The current sentiment among the party's representatives these days echoes a literary maxim. It affirms that the scale of each adversity is solely assessed in comparison to unknown future disasters. As the playwright has the exiled child of the sightless nobleman of Gloucester say in King Lear: “The worst is absent, provided that we may declare ‘this marks the bottom’.”
A Chain of Intensifying Crises
According to Edgar's law, there exists no opinion poll so gloomy about the government that won't be coming after one even bleaker; no economic projection so poor that the Treasury can't aggravate it with conflicting messages about levies; no misgivings concerning the Prime Minister that can't be amplified through malicious leaks concerning a bid for power.
Asylum Policy Announcement
In that context, the latest announcement of plans that aim to reduce the amount of refugees admitted to the UK, based upon a notoriously mean Scandinavian model, went down better among party members than predicted. There were sparks of backbench anger but no conflagration of dissent.
Hardening immigration policies is not the party's natural territory, but the current system is evidently broken while citizens are furious. Most MPs comprehend the reasoning that acceptance and social unity are easier to cultivate provided there is trust that the country's boundaries are secure.
Growing Discontent
Reserved MP positions may also represent ominous. Parliamentarians have realized that all matters are debatable alongside a purposeless head with flexible principles. Today's declarations could be withdrawn tomorrow. There's no requirement to advance hastily provided triumphs can be secured via endurance.
A frequent grievance involves the leader is scarcely operating the government in any meaningful way, after assigning policy decisions to his chief of staff. However, this doesn't mean the leader is without administrative energy, he merely chooses to avoid arbitrating between ministry conflicts or participate in protracted arguments.
Management Method
The leader joined organized political activity during later professional life, initially becoming an MP when he was fifty-two. He has no feel about movement history – the body of former discussions, campaigns, characters and traditional touchstones which link a chief to the broader organization and its feeling of common objective.
His deepest convictions remain unknown including to ministers. As one senior party member states: “The Prime Minister is quite different in his role through suggesting that his individual beliefs are not for public consumption.”
Political Consequences
The product packaged representing the leader in the recent polling battle has likewise failed to provide its purported benefits: executive proficiency leading to national renewal. Had the UK maintained a dual-party structure, the memory of previous difficulties under the Tories could extend tolerance for the party.
That presages a crushing loss for party representatives in municipal and regional polls next May. It shall represent a time of great danger for the Prime Minister, provided he remains through that period.
Future Considerations
Absent in these evaluations appears unity on the identity of an alternative leader and their intended agenda could vary compared to present strategies. This defect within succession arrangements is referenced by those backing the incumbent among numerous justifications to stick with the incumbent.
While restive MPs may flinch at those warnings, they similarly perceive within them the well-known, meaningless sound of limited aspiration that creates despondency at the status quo. It is the sound of inability to characterize the leadership as merely a series of strategies for holding power.
Concluding Thoughts
It remains challenging to generate allegiance to such a cause. And most Labour MPs have tried. They have stuck with official positions, supported it during canvassing, followed party discipline, believed assurances that their concerns were heard.
Prime ministerial ousting is fraught with risk, but is it riskier versus acting as if that the existing prime minister holds responses regarding major issues that remain unmentioned? The Shakespearean principle suggests prudence in ousting a sitting prime minister. The replacement may turn out poorer.
“The weight of this sad time we must obey; State true sentiments, not what we ought to say.”
