Clayton's Political View

Since the office of Prime Minster was created three hundred years ago we have never really known what to do with former holders or how to manage their conduct out of office. Unlike America Presidents have a clear defined afterlife they are still referred to as President, they have an established office, are there to advise current Presidents and are required to create an official library where document their presidency. Across the pond once a Prime Minister has seen the Monarch on his or her last day then that’s it they go back to being a normal citizen albeit with a security detail and an allowance to maintain a vague political office.  Most former Prime Minsiters have faded back into obscurity John Major went into business, Gordon Brown went back to scotland where he makes a few public appearances as does Tony Blair. Recently David Cameron has kept a vaguely low profile where he does a lot of charity work and volunteered with the Ukrainian war effort but has also been in several ...

So I haven’t been blogging for a while but I thought I would get tapping again. Since my last post I have stood as a candidate for the Borough elections and I’m still a village councillior. But what has been happing nationally? The current health of the Governemnt feels like it’s on life support historically we are in the mid to late nineties Margaret Thatcher had been ousted from office leading to the John Major Government. Where he held on to power whilst scandal after scandal hit the Goverment and the Conservatives seemed tired and out of gas. Fast forward to today and we seem to be in groundhog day. Where do you start with this current Government? In the last two years we have had three Prime Ministers lurching from scandal to scandal Boris Johnson’s premiership crashed and burned due to his incompetence in handling the Chris Pincher case, partygate and the Owen Patterson lobbying scandal. Then he was replaced by Liz Truss who plunged the economy into the abyss. Truss didn’t even m...

 Over the past few months an already chaotic Downing Street has turned into a down right toxic mess. The Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a nightmare before Christmas when stories slowly started getting out about Christmas parties that had happened the previous year which later turned into an avalanche of accusations coming to the fore including Downing Street staffers sneaking alcohol into Number 10 in a suitcase on the eve of Prince Phillips funeral which has lead to Downing Street apologizing to Buckingham Palace.  In my lifetime I have lived under John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and now Boris Johnson I have also studied the profiles of many more and this is by far the most toxic I have ever seen Downing Street being managed. The hallowed and historical institution of Number 10 has been reduced to an ill disciplined frat house where respect and decorum has vanished.  The former President Of The United States Harry S Truman said "The Buc...

So I was part way writing a general review of the Labour Party conference when something amazing happened Keir Starmer stepped up to the podium yesterday and gave a tour de force performance and speech that has firmly cemented his leadership. It was full of detail and great oratory. He met heckles with great rebuttals and responses. He had multiple standing ovations and it met with great responses. Keir has turned Labour into an election winning machine, backed up by Jeremy Hunt saying that Keir is a threat to the Conservatives like Tony Blair was back in the nineties.    This years conference has been tricky in spots with Andy McDonald resigning but for leader Keir Starmer however he has risen to the occasion, brushed it off and has pivoted in a good way even making a few jokes at the same time. Keir has had the biggest hospital pass of leadership in living memory the only time when I can think of a dramatic change of leadership is when Margaret Thatcher transferred power to ...

Remember a little while ago when The Conservatives proudly told the nation that they had ended our freedom of movement around the country? Well over the past week the governments logistical chickens have come home to roost in the form of a petrol crisis. The lack of HGV drivers mixed with people panic buying has meant that a lot of petrol stations on the network are running dry. However it didn't have to be like this at all once again the Prime Minister has shown that he is lazy and not in control, he was aware in July that there could be severe shortages however he didn't do the work to correct the ship before it hit the iceberg a lot like his initial and ongoing responses to the covid pandemic. What the Prime Minister needs to do is allow all freight drivers an open ended visa to come and go with deliveries. It has been allegedly slated that the the Home Secretary will allow drivers to come in until Christmas which isn't good enough it is a lot like putting a plaster on a...

This week has seen the Prime Minister setting of to New York to address the United Nations on climate change action, seeing Boris Johnson take the floor and address the world as a representative of our country still gives me anxiety and a massive amount of embarrassment. The Prime Minister can't go long with out creating a diplomatic incident.  The Prime Minister has form for making inappropriate comments regarding other peoples backgrounds and I won't go into the history we all know it. This week our inept leader suggested that France "give him a break" and to "get a grip" spoken in French in the aftermath of the plans to form a new pact between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom (AUKUS) to make new nuclear submarines excluding France.  The move to create AUKUS has created tension between France, the UK, and the US. and Boris Johnson isn't helping matters with his painfully embarrassing gaffes. We are at a fragile cross roads in the wor...

Nadia Whittome MP has recently disclosed that she is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has said that she is taking some time away from Parliament and politics for eight weeks to recover. This isn't just a big thing for Nadia to do it's also a big thing for an MP to do,  In fact I think that it is the first time a sitting UK MP has come forward to talk about their mental health not only disclosing it to the public but also revealing that a GP has signed her off work. Over the past decade the discourse on mental health has improved a lot public figures such as celebrities and even royalty have spoken about their mental health. Over in the United States Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that she has had therapy for post traumatic stress after the failed insurrection on the US Capitol at the start of the year that claimed five lives.  However we still need to get better at understanding mental health when Nadia Whittome released her statement about having post t...

It looks like the long running April fools joke is errr still happening, over the past few days Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that the Government will carry on with it's plans to commission a new Royal yacht. When the Conservatives were running for election their manifesto pledges were slim to non existent the first was "get brexit done" and "leveling up" on the former policy of Brexit won't be fully done if ever however that's another blog post  The latter policy was to "level up" which is another policy that is still to materialize, all the Conservatives had to say on levelling up was that they were going to build forty new hospitals one has still yet to be built and increase the size of the police for...that was heavily reduced by the...Conservatives....Now it appears the Tory Party want to level up the monarchy's fleet of vehicles.  The Royal family have previously had a yacht which was decommissioned in 1997 and now reside...

I haven't been feeling well lately so I haven't been out of the house much, last week I treated myself to a McDonalds via Ubereats they have finally come to my village! When I received my order I asked the driver how his day was going and he replied that he was stressed trying to catch up with himself as he had not been furloughed or hadn't been supported during the lockdown. Hearing this made me very angry and depressed as to how to this Gentleman had been so let down by our Government. During the pandemic the Government has paid furlough to people who couldn't work I was fortunate enough to be furloughed last year, however millions haven't been as lucky and they have been left out they have created a group called  Excluded which has been pressuring the Government rightly to assistance most of them being self employed and business owners.  The COVID pandemic has drawn the curtain open to the acute inequality that is in the country that has been allowed to fester aw...

This week we witnessed the come back of Dominic Cummings to Parliament he was giving evidence to one of the select committees about the history of the Government's reaction, strategy and conduct during the COVID pandemic, which included surreal references to Spider-Man and Independence day Mr Cummings has come a long way since being Michael Gove's Chief of staff and has even been portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch who portrayed him in a film about the role that Mr Cummings played in the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 EU referendum. It has been the first time that Mr Cummings has been back in the public eye since leaving Downing Street as the Prime Minister Boris Johnsons chief advisor well chief advisor is a bit of understatement as we discovered from watching the footage from Parliament yesterday. it appears that he was formulating policy, directing the civil service and more!  The last year in British politics has been chaotic and especially in Downing Street as Mr. Cummings ...

In the aftermath of the local election results my party didn't do well in some areas we did well, Mark Drakeford held the Senedd, Sadiq Khan got re-elected as the Mayor of London we had a good showing with Metro Mayoral elections including Andy Burnham and Tracey Brabin being re-elected and elected respectively. In addition we also took over a few sets in the south.  But we can't sugar coat the final result was bad for us, However we can not and must not tear ourselves apart as a party. I voted for and still Support Keir, I would urge my party to remember just how badly our party did in 2019 I still have a strong bout of PTSD from that evening when longstanding safe Labor seats turned blue. we still have a lot of work to do as a party it won't happen over night. I remember staying up during the night watching in total depression and horror as the constituency results slowly emerged and eventually crashed into bed at six in the morning feeling totally deflated, that feeling ...

In the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist the titular impoverished and hungry Oliver asks Mr Bumble for more food. This week the Conservative Party voted overwhelmingly to deny Oliver food let alone more. Last Wednesday the Conservatives voted against a Labour motion to provide children free school meals through the holidays until spring next year. However three hundred and twenty two Tory MP's voted it down over the past few days it has been really embarrassing seeing members of parliament like Ben Bradley defending voting how he did and seeing former MP Nicky Morgan now Baroness Of Cotes defending the government on BBC's Question time claiming  parliamentary procedure a reason was hard to watch. The Conservatives have been in power now for a decade and what have they got to show for it? food banks are at an all time high with Jacob Rees Mogg saying that the rise was rather uplifting, the benefits system has been geared against the individual with heavy sanctions being imposed...

 As I write the Presidential election is approaching us in under a month Americans will go to the polls and choose who will helm the ship for the next four years, will it be the incumbent Donald Trump or will it be the aging political titan Joe Biden? Americans are going to the polls with a backdrop of Covid, Climate change and financial turbulence hitting them from all angles. This election might have a totally fresh backdrop to it as far as I can remember it's the first time a candidate has been hospitalized this close to a poll but the echoes of the 2016 presidential election are still visible and it feels like a re-run I keep on having Deja vu the Democrats are starting to act like the election is in the bag and Donald Trump is characteristically being controversial and unpredictable again. He is also boycotting virtual debates.  If polls are to be believed then they are similar to the polls of 2016 I've read a poll this morning that suggested Biden was five points ahead o...

Presidential debates have been happening in America now for centuries, they were famously bought to screen in the 1960 election with a young and charismatic John F Kennedy debating Richard Nixon. Kennedy won that debate because he was cool, collected and at ease conversely Nixon failed because he sweated a lot and wasn't comfortable in front of the camera. although radio viewers said Nixon won but TV viewers judged that JFK won. Kennedy really took to new technology and was great in front of the camera and went on to win that election and to create Camelot.  Since the start of televised debates their have been moments of controversy from George HW Bush checking his watch to Trump telling Clinton if he was in power she would be in jail.  The Presidential debate is an institution in the states now and wannabe Presidents have been grilled in front of the American electorate, and an independent commission manages them. Since the election of 2010 debates have started happening in t...

As I write it is the Labour conference season, I should have been up in Liverpool this weekend watching key notes however with covid I ended up watching Deputy Leader Angela Rayner giving her address virtually. I was truly inspired by Rayner's key note speech. it is also this week that Angela Rayner gave a powerful performance at Prime Ministers Questions last Wednesday in which she gave the Prime Minister a grilling over care workers.  She spoke about her childbirth and working in the care sector and how the party helped her. Labour truly is the party for social mobility, Labour governments have bought in the minimum wage act, introduced child tax credits, and introduced the human rights act which gave people basic rights in law. These things have helped people to unleash their potential and improve their lives. The state helping people should be celebrated and with a Labour state we can do this.  Since our devastating loss last year we have been slowly rising in the opinion ...

In the chaotic landscape of covid Britain nothing is certain and everything is changing daily, as of tomorrow you won't be able to meet in groups of more than six. Another massive uncertainty is whether we are going to get a deal with the EU, I suspect we won't the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has signaled to the EU that if progress isn't made by the 15th of October we will revert to WTO rules. A deal could be ratified at the eleventh hour however after the Conservatives action this week I think the chance of getting a deal is very slim. Last December on the election trail the Prime Minister went around the country proclaiming he had an 'over ready deal' so what's happened to that? This week in Parliament Brandon Lewis stood up and said the Government were planning on breaking the law in a limited and specific way in regards to Northern Ireland.in the last four years we have gone from three hundred and fifty million pounds extra to the NHS to breaking the law. I...

If our new Prime Minister Mr. Johnson was hoping for a political honeymoon then he must be surely disappointed. The Prime Ministerial Jaguar's engine wasn't even switched off and Mr Johnson had barely got out before loud boos and heckling were heard throughout  Whitehall and Downing Street as he gave his first address to the nation on the 24th of July Most of the time the hand over of power from an out going leader to the successor is a very ceremonial and often drama free affair. The outgoing Prime Minister will make a speech outside of No. 10 then will be driven a few minutes drive up the Mall to Buckingham Palace where they will tender their resignation to the Queen. The successor will then follow on half an hour to an hour later, interestingly in that time Britain will albeit very briefly be an absolute monarchy. However the transfer of power was less than smooth last week. Theresa May's final speech was interrupted by protesters and her convoy was blocked goin...

In 1962 the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan set about stripping his cabinet of his detractors and critics it was at the time the bloodiest cabinet reshuffle of all time and was called 'the night of the long knives' in reference to the move carried out by Adolf Hitler when he killed critics in Nazi Germany.  Since then there have been numerous cabinet changes and reshuffles, however the cabinet reshuffle that happened last night under the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson has echoes of Macmillan's night of long knives in spades. Johnson has culled most of the cabinet that served under Theresa May. Even before we had the new cabinet a string of Secretary's resigned Phillip Hammond, David Gauke and Rory Stewart were high profile MP's who left before the incoming Prime Minister had even walked through the doors at No. 10.  So who are the new Secretary's of state that are going to be running our country? This is the most right wing cabinet I can recall an...

As I write Boris Johnson has just been made Prime Minister Elect by the Conservative party after 46 days of campaigning around the country and multiple hustings carried out on a turn of 87.4%. Mr Johnson has claimed victory with 92,153 votes to his name. Mr Johnson has lead a dire campaign from the very start, not even a day into it police were called to the Prime Minister Elects house in London after a disturbance was reported by neighbors. After which the aforementioned neighbors sustained days of abuse from right wing tabloids. To dampen speculation of a rift between Mr. Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds posed for an awkward intimate photo in the country slide. So what manner of man is our new Prime MInister? Just who is going to be our First Lord Of the Treasury. The Prime Minister elect has enjoyed over the past few years an almost cult like celebrity status both in print and TV he has hosted Have I got News For You, has been a journalist for The Times and The ...

The last three years in British politics have been very paradoxical and counter intuitive at the very least. The whole concept of parliament has been brought into disrepute because of Brexit. This referendum has from the very start been very toxic and very contentious. The whole fact that a referendum was called in the first place is very bizarre and nonsensical.  Why is it nonsensical you ask? Well there are a few reasons why. In our country we have parliamentary sovereignty which means that we elect six hundred and fifty members of parliament every five years it used to be four but it was changed to a fixed term of five years back in 2010 by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition.  To put it simply we send them to parliament to represent us. This is why having referenda is a hypocrisy of that system. However the Conservatives are obsessed by them. We have had three major referendums in this country over the past ten years.  We have had th...