Paul Mason has narrated this article for you to listen to.

My family despises war movies, so it’s way after Christmas that I get to see Ridley Scott’s dire Napoleon film. The most embarrassing scene is where Josephine lifts up her dress and tells Bonaparte: ‘If you look down you will see a surprise, and once you see it you will always want it.’ It strikes me that something similar is going on between Reform UK and the Conservative party, with the result being long-term electoral irrelevance for the latter.

When I think of conservative values, the words chivalry, monarchy and the church come to mind. In Penny Mordaunt, the Tories have a politician who has wielded an actual sword, in an actual church, in the presence of the actual King. Unsurprisingly, a poll for More In Common finds she is the only major Conservative figure with a positive net approval rating, and is worshipped by 2019 Tory voters. But a source from the National Conservative wing of the party retorts: ‘She’s a liberal and might as well join the Liberal Democrats.’ I’ve seen this happen before, to Labour in 2019, when ideologically driven factionalism occluded all sense of proportion, and I can tell you it ends badly.

The moment approaches when Labour has to abandon its £28 billion-a-year climate spending commitment. I cheered when it was announced – because it was a symbolic commitment to young and Green-inclined voters. But I will cheer the decision to let it go. I only understood the problem when I studied the Office for Budget Responsibility’s 2023 fiscal risk assessment. It’s not just that the cost of borrowing is now four times higher than when Rachel Reeves made the pledge; it’s that Ukraine has worsened the debt dynamics out to 2050 – and nobody (including government) wants to admit how badly.

QOSHE - Diary / Labour is right to ditch its £28 billion green pledge - Paul Mason
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Diary / Labour is right to ditch its £28 billion green pledge

6 10
08.02.2024

Paul Mason has narrated this article for you to listen to.

My family despises war movies, so it’s way after Christmas that I get to see Ridley Scott’s dire Napoleon film. The most embarrassing scene is where Josephine lifts up her dress and tells Bonaparte: ‘If you look down you will see a surprise, and once you see it you will always want it.’ It strikes me that something similar is going on between Reform UK and the Conservative........

© The Spectator


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