We are all living in Tony Blair World now, and he gifted us a Gordian Knot of judicial and bureaucratic conditions preventing any major political change. Part of the power of 'the Knot' is the understanding that it cannot be unpicked. Yet we have made some progress in unpicking the EU laws that still bind us - perhaps some hero will appear who can slice through the Gordian Knot?
I don't think he quite realised that he was doing this. I have a great deal of respect for Tony Blair's political genius (for all that I might disagree with what he used it to do), but it is hard to imagine that he could have been quite so farsighted as to realise the implications 20-30 years down the line. There is an awful lot to be written about this.
My counter argument is that Tony Blair deliberately set out to make the Government of the UK more like that of the EU. This could be for one or more reasons such as:
1) He admired the EU governmental model
2) He wanted to be President of the Commission in the future
3) He wanted to supress the nascent desire to leave the EU
4) He wanted to defang political opponents in the Conservatives
5) He wanted to defang p0olitical opponents in the Labour party
6) Establish the legal profession (his 'class') as the new elite
7) He believed devolution would protect the Union
8) He believed devolution would sunder the Union
Who knows? You could argue if you are being charitable that he thought his changes were for the good of the country, or if you are being uncharitable for the good of Tony Blair.
Perhaps the consequences were accidental - but that is no great recommendation.
On the contrary. I believe Blair knew exactly what he was doing. And let's try to remember that the Conservatives loved him perhaps even more than his own party did!
No, Sunak doesn't seem to recognise describing the issues in clear and accurate terms. In fact it is a long time since the Tories cared about anything other than somehow cobbling together another election win.
Of course parliament could pass a Bill removing Britain from the jurisdiction of the ECHR. (They won't, because parliament is full of careerist hacks and lobby fodder.) Removing us from the ECHR wouldn't end this fiasco, but it would be a truly great start.
It would need simply a manifesto commitment to do it, followed by the introduction of such a Bill. It wouldn't need any kind of clever master plan. But it would need a party to be elected that wasnt lined up with the Establishment soft left consensus. So that rules out both the Conservatives and Labour.
It is clear any future UK government that is serious about removing the influence of the ECHR and related stuff is going to have to have a comprehensive plan for how to do so while fighting both the civil service and the judiciary.
That's a tall order. It may be impossible. But without a plan it is clearly just bloviating.
Indeed - read that as well. Caro is on a level of his own. The Power Broker is the model for all the corruption of American politics, but you have to admire the sheer energy (not sure we have this over here, or have had for a long time) of Robert Moses 😒
Sunak is literally and figuratively a lightweight Blair, with no loyalty to nor interest in the future of Britain and its people. Aping Blair, bankrolled by Sunak’s and his wife’s phenomenal wealth, I wager next year there will a Sunak Institute for Global Peace (or similar such). This will allow him to exert power and influence across the world, utterly unencumbered by the tedium of elections and being accountable to the loathsome rubes that constitute the British people.
We are all living in Tony Blair World now, and he gifted us a Gordian Knot of judicial and bureaucratic conditions preventing any major political change. Part of the power of 'the Knot' is the understanding that it cannot be unpicked. Yet we have made some progress in unpicking the EU laws that still bind us - perhaps some hero will appear who can slice through the Gordian Knot?
I don't think he quite realised that he was doing this. I have a great deal of respect for Tony Blair's political genius (for all that I might disagree with what he used it to do), but it is hard to imagine that he could have been quite so farsighted as to realise the implications 20-30 years down the line. There is an awful lot to be written about this.
My counter argument is that Tony Blair deliberately set out to make the Government of the UK more like that of the EU. This could be for one or more reasons such as:
1) He admired the EU governmental model
2) He wanted to be President of the Commission in the future
3) He wanted to supress the nascent desire to leave the EU
4) He wanted to defang political opponents in the Conservatives
5) He wanted to defang p0olitical opponents in the Labour party
6) Establish the legal profession (his 'class') as the new elite
7) He believed devolution would protect the Union
8) He believed devolution would sunder the Union
Who knows? You could argue if you are being charitable that he thought his changes were for the good of the country, or if you are being uncharitable for the good of Tony Blair.
Perhaps the consequences were accidental - but that is no great recommendation.
Oh, I have no doubt you're right about that. What I mean is that I don't think he had in mind quite what has emerged.
On the contrary. I believe Blair knew exactly what he was doing. And let's try to remember that the Conservatives loved him perhaps even more than his own party did!
No, Sunak doesn't seem to recognise describing the issues in clear and accurate terms. In fact it is a long time since the Tories cared about anything other than somehow cobbling together another election win.
Of course parliament could pass a Bill removing Britain from the jurisdiction of the ECHR. (They won't, because parliament is full of careerist hacks and lobby fodder.) Removing us from the ECHR wouldn't end this fiasco, but it would be a truly great start.
It would need simply a manifesto commitment to do it, followed by the introduction of such a Bill. It wouldn't need any kind of clever master plan. But it would need a party to be elected that wasnt lined up with the Establishment soft left consensus. So that rules out both the Conservatives and Labour.
It is clear any future UK government that is serious about removing the influence of the ECHR and related stuff is going to have to have a comprehensive plan for how to do so while fighting both the civil service and the judiciary.
That's a tall order. It may be impossible. But without a plan it is clearly just bloviating.
It will become more possible the more people start to see things unravel.
Evidently everything's worse than one imagined. Perhaps the only thing that could save us is an intelligent tyrant.
Anyone suggest any candidates?
Me?
Only if I can be your speechwriter.
I like your style. But I probably won't need to be giving speeches.
Speeches? From a tyrant? An intelligent one? Hang him! (Can I be your flatterer?)
You can apply. I'll need to see your CV.
Or I could do 'demagogue' - as in Willie Stark in All The King's Men.... kind of thing? Anything really.
You are trying too hard.
"Robert Caro, The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson"
Not read it?
DO! Just the most superb - and longest - political biography of all time. Caro, in his 80s, is writing the fifth and final volume. Fingers crossed.
I also highly recommend The Power Broker. A phenomenal achievement in its own right.
Indeed - read that as well. Caro is on a level of his own. The Power Broker is the model for all the corruption of American politics, but you have to admire the sheer energy (not sure we have this over here, or have had for a long time) of Robert Moses 😒
Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson were truly serious men. The work ethic alone they displayed is incredible.
Where are their contemporary peers? Our political class now seems very low rent. Career, not a vocation.
Sunak is literally and figuratively a lightweight Blair, with no loyalty to nor interest in the future of Britain and its people. Aping Blair, bankrolled by Sunak’s and his wife’s phenomenal wealth, I wager next year there will a Sunak Institute for Global Peace (or similar such). This will allow him to exert power and influence across the world, utterly unencumbered by the tedium of elections and being accountable to the loathsome rubes that constitute the British people.