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Still, at this dark hour, the right rewards failure Still, at this dark hour, the right rewards failure
(about 18 hours later)
Sun 6 Aug 2017 00.05 BST
Last modified on Sat 2 Dec 2017 02.52 GMT
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Before Brexit destroyed her, Theresa May and her Rasputinish adviser Nick Timothy promised to end the rigged game of British public life. “Rewards for failure”, that bleak phrase that covers so much ground, would vanish. Executives would not be able to demand bonuses for delivering profit in the good times and managing losses in the bad. May would teach all of us, whether we were bankers, tax-avoiding corporations or just petty criminals, that her Britain was a land of “fairness and opportunity where everyone plays by the same rules”. From the point of view of the best interests of their party and country, May and Timothy have been miserable failures. Yet both are rewarded. May remains prime minister, presiding over a brawling government like the landlady of a dilapidated boarding house who can’t stop the tenants smashing the furniture. Meanwhile, the rightwing press is falling over itself to revive Timothy’s failed career.Before Brexit destroyed her, Theresa May and her Rasputinish adviser Nick Timothy promised to end the rigged game of British public life. “Rewards for failure”, that bleak phrase that covers so much ground, would vanish. Executives would not be able to demand bonuses for delivering profit in the good times and managing losses in the bad. May would teach all of us, whether we were bankers, tax-avoiding corporations or just petty criminals, that her Britain was a land of “fairness and opportunity where everyone plays by the same rules”. From the point of view of the best interests of their party and country, May and Timothy have been miserable failures. Yet both are rewarded. May remains prime minister, presiding over a brawling government like the landlady of a dilapidated boarding house who can’t stop the tenants smashing the furniture. Meanwhile, the rightwing press is falling over itself to revive Timothy’s failed career.
I accept that the audience that cares about the best interests of the Conservative party is diminishing by the day. But historians as yet unborn will gaze on what May has done to it with astonishment. They will ask how she threw away a lead that promised a landslide majority and ended up with no majority at all. Last week, the British Election Study concluded voters fled to Labour because they thought Jeremy Corbyn was offering a soft Brexit. A day of judgment will come when gullible Labour supporters realise that the far left is more concerned with defending the power of tyrants in Venezuela than the jobs of British workers in the single market.I accept that the audience that cares about the best interests of the Conservative party is diminishing by the day. But historians as yet unborn will gaze on what May has done to it with astonishment. They will ask how she threw away a lead that promised a landslide majority and ended up with no majority at all. Last week, the British Election Study concluded voters fled to Labour because they thought Jeremy Corbyn was offering a soft Brexit. A day of judgment will come when gullible Labour supporters realise that the far left is more concerned with defending the power of tyrants in Venezuela than the jobs of British workers in the single market.
For the moment, though, it is clear that May’s refusal to bring the country together after the EU referendum was disastrous for the Tories. Instead of seeking to unify Britain, she employed the rhetoric of every nationalist demagogue in a corner by branding her fellow countrymen and women as “saboteurs”, who weren’t true patriots but “citizens of nowhere”. “I don’t think she knows what she’s doing,” a senior Tory MP told me when I asked why May had split the country. “There’s no deep strategy. That is why her advisers found it so easy to control her.”For the moment, though, it is clear that May’s refusal to bring the country together after the EU referendum was disastrous for the Tories. Instead of seeking to unify Britain, she employed the rhetoric of every nationalist demagogue in a corner by branding her fellow countrymen and women as “saboteurs”, who weren’t true patriots but “citizens of nowhere”. “I don’t think she knows what she’s doing,” a senior Tory MP told me when I asked why May had split the country. “There’s no deep strategy. That is why her advisers found it so easy to control her.”
It is true that Timothy and his accomplice, Fiona Hill, demanded that Tory politicians engage in a craven submission to their leader. Katie Perrior joined May’s office with high hopes and had her illusions shredded by the “abusive and childish” manner in which Timothy and Hill treated cabinet ministers: “For two people who have never achieved elected office, I was staggered at the disrespect they showed on a daily basis.” We also know Timothy was all in favour of tearing up our connections with the EU and shutting out politicians and diplomats who might have warned of dangers ahead.It is true that Timothy and his accomplice, Fiona Hill, demanded that Tory politicians engage in a craven submission to their leader. Katie Perrior joined May’s office with high hopes and had her illusions shredded by the “abusive and childish” manner in which Timothy and Hill treated cabinet ministers: “For two people who have never achieved elected office, I was staggered at the disrespect they showed on a daily basis.” We also know Timothy was all in favour of tearing up our connections with the EU and shutting out politicians and diplomats who might have warned of dangers ahead.
But fascinating though these accounts of court politics are, they are unsatisfactory. We are free people or at least we are meant to be. We are not Russian peasants who blame wicked advisers while sparing the tsar. In any case, Tory MPs made May sack Timothy and Hill. The price of clinging on to power was removing her Rasputins. It’s worth noting that the extremes of British politics look after their own. Timothy started a new job at the Daily Telegraph yesterday, insisting as his new paymaster would want him to insist, that “no deal was better than a bad deal” – or a “compromise” as the rest of us might call it.But fascinating though these accounts of court politics are, they are unsatisfactory. We are free people or at least we are meant to be. We are not Russian peasants who blame wicked advisers while sparing the tsar. In any case, Tory MPs made May sack Timothy and Hill. The price of clinging on to power was removing her Rasputins. It’s worth noting that the extremes of British politics look after their own. Timothy started a new job at the Daily Telegraph yesterday, insisting as his new paymaster would want him to insist, that “no deal was better than a bad deal” – or a “compromise” as the rest of us might call it.
What else can he say? The working-class Toryism he and May professed has been another failure. The new Tory leadership claimed to be taking up Ed Miliband’s attempts to mitigate class injustice. But as Stewart Wood, Ed Miliband’s adviser, says, the fundamental fact about Britain is that real income growth has not been as weak since the middle of the 19th century. The stagnation in living standards helps explain Brexit – hard times foster mean-spiritedness and a willingness to listen to politicians who blame foreigners for our woes. But Brexit also ensures government cannot mitigate stagnation. The overwhelmed British state does not have the capacity to deliver anything else.What else can he say? The working-class Toryism he and May professed has been another failure. The new Tory leadership claimed to be taking up Ed Miliband’s attempts to mitigate class injustice. But as Stewart Wood, Ed Miliband’s adviser, says, the fundamental fact about Britain is that real income growth has not been as weak since the middle of the 19th century. The stagnation in living standards helps explain Brexit – hard times foster mean-spiritedness and a willingness to listen to politicians who blame foreigners for our woes. But Brexit also ensures government cannot mitigate stagnation. The overwhelmed British state does not have the capacity to deliver anything else.
Indeed, it is starting to look like it does not have the capacity to deliver Brexit. The 17 million who voted Leave have every right to object that they won and their wishes must be met. But the referendum boiled down vastly complicated issues to a deceptively simple question. Maybe her advisers manipulated her. Maybe she just wanted to protect herself from a Tory right that had destroyed the last two Conservative prime ministers and would destroy her if she showed the faintest sign of moderation. But it is deeds, not motives, that matter in the end. For whatever reason, May took the referendum result as a licence for fanaticism. That is her responsibility alone.Indeed, it is starting to look like it does not have the capacity to deliver Brexit. The 17 million who voted Leave have every right to object that they won and their wishes must be met. But the referendum boiled down vastly complicated issues to a deceptively simple question. Maybe her advisers manipulated her. Maybe she just wanted to protect herself from a Tory right that had destroyed the last two Conservative prime ministers and would destroy her if she showed the faintest sign of moderation. But it is deeds, not motives, that matter in the end. For whatever reason, May took the referendum result as a licence for fanaticism. That is her responsibility alone.
I don’t think Leave voters have begun to understand the consequences. May’s promise to bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European court of justice will tear up bilateral agreements governing everything from the regulation of nuclear industry to flights between Britain and the continent, while bringing chaos to British courts. If this government were serious, there would now be a frantic drive to establish new courts and arbitration panels to fill the gaps. There is no urgency. If it were serious, it would be able to quell the alarm of the Irish government about the dangers of a return of a hard border to the island of Ireland. It has nothing to say, just as it has nothing to say on every great issue Brexit raises except the position of EU migrants. If it were serious, it would now be recruiting trade negotiators who could cut deals with the rest of the world. As it is, ministers have confirmed only one senior appointment. If it were serious, our diplomats would look as if they could handle tough EU negotiators. As it is, the British team looks such a shower, Brussels bureaucrats think London must surely be setting a trap to lull them into a sense of false security.I don’t think Leave voters have begun to understand the consequences. May’s promise to bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European court of justice will tear up bilateral agreements governing everything from the regulation of nuclear industry to flights between Britain and the continent, while bringing chaos to British courts. If this government were serious, there would now be a frantic drive to establish new courts and arbitration panels to fill the gaps. There is no urgency. If it were serious, it would be able to quell the alarm of the Irish government about the dangers of a return of a hard border to the island of Ireland. It has nothing to say, just as it has nothing to say on every great issue Brexit raises except the position of EU migrants. If it were serious, it would now be recruiting trade negotiators who could cut deals with the rest of the world. As it is, ministers have confirmed only one senior appointment. If it were serious, our diplomats would look as if they could handle tough EU negotiators. As it is, the British team looks such a shower, Brussels bureaucrats think London must surely be setting a trap to lull them into a sense of false security.
Russian nobles decided that Grigori Rasputin was such a threat to the empire they poisoned him, shot him and dumped his body in a tributary of the Neva. They didn’t stop the reckoning of the Russian Revolution. Nick Timothy, by contrast, has received jobs as columnists on the Telegraph and Sun. The Tory press is his natural home, where his ability to strike radical right postures without a thought for the consequences will be appreciated.Russian nobles decided that Grigori Rasputin was such a threat to the empire they poisoned him, shot him and dumped his body in a tributary of the Neva. They didn’t stop the reckoning of the Russian Revolution. Nick Timothy, by contrast, has received jobs as columnists on the Telegraph and Sun. The Tory press is his natural home, where his ability to strike radical right postures without a thought for the consequences will be appreciated.
That he has been rewarded rather than punished for his failure, however, will not stop Britain facing its own reckoning.That he has been rewarded rather than punished for his failure, however, will not stop Britain facing its own reckoning.
Conservatives
Opinion
Theresa May
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