The absurdity of it all.
I take it all back. The EU referendum is brilliant. How could it not be when it results in such delicious absurdities as have taken place over the past couple of days? First, mere weeks after accusing him of palling around with extremists, David Cameron appears on the same platform as to Sadiq Khan to big him up as though he was the winning Tory candidate. A proud Muslim! A smasher of glass ceilings! A thoroughly delightful chap! Oh, and he thinks it'd be swell if you would now vote to stay in the EU.
Khan can of course do as he likes. He now has a mandate of his own, to the extent where he can pretty much shut Labour out if he so wishes. If he wants to share a platform so soon after the election with one of those chiefly responsible for a campaign he said was putting off other Muslims from going into politics, that's up to him. Clearly he thinks the ends justify the means. Which again, is fine.
Some of us though are far more petty. Far as I'm concerned, all things considered, Cameron got himself into this mess, and Cameron can get himself out of it. Sure, this means if he manages to pull it off he gets the glory, but equally if he fails then he gets the Gene Wilder/Willy Wonka treatment. Add in how Cameron implied Khan was an extremist not to be trusted as far as he can be thrown, and my response were I in his position would be to tell Dave to GTFO.
This is also the view of John McDonnell, who equally rightly thinks sharing a platform with the Tories full stop is a bad idea. Which it is. If Labour must campaign to stay in the EU, leaving it to Alan Johnson in the main while McDonnell and others pootle around not getting much in the way of attention is definitely the way to go. Anyone saying Labour has to do this or that first has to explain whether their proposed plan of action will bring any benefit to the party whatsoever, because as we saw with Scotland, the public seem more than prepared to decide for themselves as to whether or not a particular party acted in their best interests.
The horror with which the results of focus groups saying they didn't know whether Labour was in favour of leave or remain, backed up with a further poll, just demonstrates that politicians don't always think the worst of the public; often the public amply do that themselves. What it does show is that first, the vast majority aren't the slightest bit interested in the internal machinations of political parties. Duh. Second, not knowing whether Labour is for leave or remain is a good thing, as at the moment the party should be graceful for small mercies. Third, that again, the vast majority also aren't the least bit interested in the referendum, otherwise they would know that Labour is overwhelmingly in favour of remain. Fourth, they also don't know what the Tory position is. Because, just to rub this in, they don't freaking care.
Labour politicians attacking each other for sharing platforms with the Tories isn't the most absurd thing of the last couple of days though, oh no. Two examples merely from today beat it. Chris Grayling, the berk's berk, the journeyman's journeyman, the bone in the spicy wing, the tits on the bull, said this morning that voters shouldn't be making their minds up based on the EU of today, but on the EU of the future. Again, either this is a politician having a surprisingly high opinion of the average voter, most of whom haven't the slightest clue about practically anything the EU does beyond exist and that it's bad, or it's a politician with not even the beginnings of knowing how to make a case. Can you imagine if parties tried applying this to any other election? Voter! Don't make up your mind up on how the government is performing today! Just think how it will be in 10 years' time, even though we're not providing you with even the most basic facts of how it is currently! Manifesto? You want a manifesto? You're joking!
And then there was Boris, Gove and err, Gisela Stuart, making clear we have entered the handjob, or moon on a stick phase of the campaign. Despite telling us for eons that the £350m going to the EU each week could instead be sent straight to the NHS, now here come the most unlikely threesome since REMOVED ON LEGAL ADVICE to claim that if we left the EU we could dispense with VAT on fuel as it disproportionately hits the poorest households. Put another way, Boris, Gove and Stuart are offering happy endings if you vote leave, as it's about as likely they would put any savings genuinely left at the end of the process on lifting the burden on the poors as they would on a state body of sex workers. It's completely transparent, and yet what else is Leave to do? Admit that once we've left any money coming back will instead be spent on reintroducing the subsidies and funds the EU currently distributes in the UK? Absurd doesn't really begin to cover it.
Khan can of course do as he likes. He now has a mandate of his own, to the extent where he can pretty much shut Labour out if he so wishes. If he wants to share a platform so soon after the election with one of those chiefly responsible for a campaign he said was putting off other Muslims from going into politics, that's up to him. Clearly he thinks the ends justify the means. Which again, is fine.
Some of us though are far more petty. Far as I'm concerned, all things considered, Cameron got himself into this mess, and Cameron can get himself out of it. Sure, this means if he manages to pull it off he gets the glory, but equally if he fails then he gets the Gene Wilder/Willy Wonka treatment. Add in how Cameron implied Khan was an extremist not to be trusted as far as he can be thrown, and my response were I in his position would be to tell Dave to GTFO.
This is also the view of John McDonnell, who equally rightly thinks sharing a platform with the Tories full stop is a bad idea. Which it is. If Labour must campaign to stay in the EU, leaving it to Alan Johnson in the main while McDonnell and others pootle around not getting much in the way of attention is definitely the way to go. Anyone saying Labour has to do this or that first has to explain whether their proposed plan of action will bring any benefit to the party whatsoever, because as we saw with Scotland, the public seem more than prepared to decide for themselves as to whether or not a particular party acted in their best interests.
The horror with which the results of focus groups saying they didn't know whether Labour was in favour of leave or remain, backed up with a further poll, just demonstrates that politicians don't always think the worst of the public; often the public amply do that themselves. What it does show is that first, the vast majority aren't the slightest bit interested in the internal machinations of political parties. Duh. Second, not knowing whether Labour is for leave or remain is a good thing, as at the moment the party should be graceful for small mercies. Third, that again, the vast majority also aren't the least bit interested in the referendum, otherwise they would know that Labour is overwhelmingly in favour of remain. Fourth, they also don't know what the Tory position is. Because, just to rub this in, they don't freaking care.
Labour politicians attacking each other for sharing platforms with the Tories isn't the most absurd thing of the last couple of days though, oh no. Two examples merely from today beat it. Chris Grayling, the berk's berk, the journeyman's journeyman, the bone in the spicy wing, the tits on the bull, said this morning that voters shouldn't be making their minds up based on the EU of today, but on the EU of the future. Again, either this is a politician having a surprisingly high opinion of the average voter, most of whom haven't the slightest clue about practically anything the EU does beyond exist and that it's bad, or it's a politician with not even the beginnings of knowing how to make a case. Can you imagine if parties tried applying this to any other election? Voter! Don't make up your mind up on how the government is performing today! Just think how it will be in 10 years' time, even though we're not providing you with even the most basic facts of how it is currently! Manifesto? You want a manifesto? You're joking!
And then there was Boris, Gove and err, Gisela Stuart, making clear we have entered the handjob, or moon on a stick phase of the campaign. Despite telling us for eons that the £350m going to the EU each week could instead be sent straight to the NHS, now here come the most unlikely threesome since REMOVED ON LEGAL ADVICE to claim that if we left the EU we could dispense with VAT on fuel as it disproportionately hits the poorest households. Put another way, Boris, Gove and Stuart are offering happy endings if you vote leave, as it's about as likely they would put any savings genuinely left at the end of the process on lifting the burden on the poors as they would on a state body of sex workers. It's completely transparent, and yet what else is Leave to do? Admit that once we've left any money coming back will instead be spent on reintroducing the subsidies and funds the EU currently distributes in the UK? Absurd doesn't really begin to cover it.
Labels: Chris Grayling, EU referendum, Labour, media analysis, politics, Sadiq Khan, stupidity
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