‘If Theresa May were to be likened to someone in Star Wars, it would have to be Senator Palpatine. Mull that over while we carry on, and pray it ain’t so. At the end of the day, it could have been worse. With Corbyn on the left and Farage on the right, Theresa May is probably the least of all evils. Then again, it’s always the least of all anythings that screws up the most, with a little kindly help, of course.’ ~ From the Spin Doctor vaults (July 2016) when we spotted something un-Premier-like in Mrs. May.
Moving on, in SD’s own words:
‘[May’s] total single-mindedness . . . means, of course, she’s lost inside her head, which would account for her much-lauded negotiating skills. A tough negotiator, they call her, couldn’t give a rat’s anus about what others want, she strikes a hard bargain, which is all well and good in her being able to provide steadfast direction for the country, but woe betide GB if her sense of direction strays, or falls by the wayside. Whose council will she heed if she loses her bearings or misses a beat or two? Probably those who confirm what she believes.’
Strong and stable leadership, she said. No deal is better than a bad deal, and Brexit means Brexit, blah blah. A Thatcher wannabe, all fur but no pedigree, at least not the right one for the top job. All ambition but no clout. Draw out a course and hold it no matter what everyone says, no matter the signs, because that’s what an Iron Lady does, at least that’s what a wannabe does, and here we are, the Tory 20% lead crushed, a hung parliament looming over GB, and no time to lose as Article 50’s two-year period for striking a deal before Brexit is activated counts down.
Way to go, Theresa May! You did exactly what was expected of you. You fucked it up!
On the bright side — yes, there is one, however ironic — May was (and still is) better than the alternatives. Corbyn remains the most dangerous politician in Britain, which is why May’s fail is even more tragic. Echoes of Lady Clinton and her steadfast determination to do as she wanted despite all the data, despite her not being particularly liked by the populace she wanted to represent. Despite being a divisive figure that had no knack for the campaign trail, or for the job itself i.e. leading the country.
Theresa May is a special kind of horse. She has no patience for voters. She’s good in an admin position, but not the top one. She can handle one task, like the Home Office (we think), she’s had experience in that, but she can’t handle the demands of all the branches of government, all Parliament, and the British electorate at the same time. She can’t handle the enormous media pressure that accompanies the position of prime minister, and the demands of foreign leaders, and the exigencies of NATO and the EU and the G7 and the OECD membership all at the same time.
Did you know she hid herself away while on the campaign trail, avoiding the press and/or voters . . .
. . . and that she refused to go on a TV debate during the last week of her campaign, sending a surrogate in her stead?
Un-Premier-like!
Some people are simply not cut out for the job. They’re better off doing what they do best, which, in May’s case, is being a dealmaker and/or negotiator, not a leader (though her latest understanding of Brexit, everything the British government has to negotiate to get a viable deal, are worryingly off the mark, which casts doubts over her much-advertised negotiating skills).
And now this . . . a hung parliament on the backdrop of an enormous lead somehow crushed to a pulp.
Let’s see how she / they (the BrexitTory wing of the conservatives) untangle this mess of yarn.
From your annoyingly I-told-you-so Spin Doctor,
Eyes open, mind sharp.
PS – I truly hope the Tories shift from their Eurosceptic base to a Europhile one, bringing James Cameron back. Remember him? It was only a year ago he got slammed, and we all know how that happened (Corbyn the ‘Remain-supporting people’s man’ failed to campaign with vigor for the Remain campaign, resulting in a Leave victory, giving himself and his cadres the destablized political environment he needed to push his far-left, neo-Marxist agenda on the once-pragmatic UK).
I bet everyone who’s not a political extremist is reminiscing fondly the James Cameron days, when the Tories had control of the center, not the nationalist right, keeping the country stable, at least more stable than now, under the May-Johnson-Corbyn specters.
It’s much more complicated than that, of course, The Tories were always plagued by Euroscepticism, but they did manage to hold the center under Cameron, and that is no mean feat. The man was taken down because of Labour treachery regarding the EU / Remain campaign, and the public rejoiced, idiots as the public can be in times of crisis. They labeled him a pig-fucker and waved him goodbye, but the reality is that Cameron had a positive influence on Britain in terms of its EU and global standing, and he will be judged kindly by history, unlike Theresa May, whose stint as prime minister can only be viewed as a buffer, at best. Fair is fair. She did, after all, keep a grip on the Boris Johnson and Co. lunacy by keeping them close, and that has to count for something, though, to be honest, not much.
For the July 2016 Spin Doctor piece, click here:
http://www.locomotiveonline.com/locomotive/brexit-a-better-britain-and-come-what-may/