Last night, I posted a Jonathan Pie rant on my social media feed, because his traditional five-minute rant had managed to include more of the salient points in our current affairs than the entire week’s output from the BBC.

Tory MPs are lining up to say yes, they too have realised Boris Johnson is irresponsible, dishonest, etc etc … but they have known that for years, and the denouncements came from each one at what they saw as the strategic point to best save their income.

In the last six weeks or so, for the first time for several years, the Labour Party is acting as though it wants to see, and win, an election. So what, for them, has changed? Does it mean that the country so clearly wants change that Labour could make the case for themselves without having to commit to any actual policies? They reckon they could win now on a ‘we don’t like Boris’ ticket?

Martin Lewis’s message here is key. All the MPs in Westminster, not just the Tory ones, have known for years what Boris Johnson is. They have let the destruction of our democracy, our health service and our standard of living float past them and hardly twitched an eye in response. Almost all have been relatively tolerant of Johnson’s criminal excesses until they spot a moment where they, personally, would gain from his fall. That means almost all the MPs in Westminster are as irresponsible as he is, and would be useless as replacements, if we’re hoping to sort everything out.

Where do we lay the blame?

Not that laying blame solves problems, but an alarming number of people are falling into weighing up the worth of replacement politicians being shown to them.

Who has been trying to retrieve our democracy over the last few years? Who has consistently called out corruption and irresponsibility? I can think of a few, can’t you? John Tricket and Richard Burgon come to my mind first, and a few MPs like Laura Pidcock, who lost their seats at the last election due to the bitterness over Brexit that Starmer and Co created (don’t get me wrong, they didn’t create Brexit – David Cameron did that – but Starmer’s team created the bitterness, because it served their own interests).

The most interesting news story I’ve seen this week was by Aimee Meade, and so I’m asking you to please read it now – not because you do or don’t like Jeremy Corbyn. That was never really the point. Corbyn was just the bloke standing there when the LRC said ‘so who can we put forward?’ The point is the Labour manifesto developed under Corbyn’s administration, which Starmer’s Labour have just binned. Anyway, here’s the article:

Actually, it’s not just the Tories. Labour MPs too have been heard making nervous-tick-sounding comments about Corbyn. Here’s the vital paragraph from that article…

We’ve had sustained campaigns from politicians telling us our nation’s woes are because of scroungers, skivers, migrants, failed asylum seekers, Brussels bureaucrats, the wokerati – anyone but politicians or the multinational corporations that have profiteered from our increasingly privatised economy.

Apparently, all those stressed out politicians keep accidentally saying ‘Corbyn’.

Positive steps

So, the blame lies with everyone who has worked so hard to misdirect democracy for the last few decades. In particular, it lies with everyone who thwarted what was a genuine, member-led movement for change in Labour a few years ago. Many wished it had been headed up by someone more forceful. Many made the mistake of thinking John McDonnell was that someone but, having nailed that, check whether your own political activism is time-wasting.

Effective activism

If you have an MP like Tricket or Burgon, or any of the other genuinely anti-austerity, anti-corruption voices yes, campaign for them, vote for them – but most of us do not, so cannot. Check out any new parties that put up candidates in your area. Many peripheral parties are not what they were last time you looked (my local Green Party does not get socialism, nor do they get the Nolan Principles – but there was a Communist candidate in the council elections who was making a lot of sense, and I’ve heard there may be a Breakthrough candidate next time around, so I will go take a look at those options).

I don’t know if this is right, but I am thinking – Why waste your time being a member of, or trying to do politics in, any of the dysfunctional political parties currently in Westminster. Why not join an organisation that is on your side? Why not do your politics in your trade union, or an or anti-austerity group, or an environmental group, or anti-war campaign group, or a local save-our-services group, or a feminist or an anti-racism group, whatever your particular talents and interests suggest – if there isn’t a group that suits you where you are, start one – whatever – but do your politics somewhere where you can join with others to try and force some politicians – any politicians – to do something useful.

Just don’t let the media, or the waste paper that comes through your door, tempt you back into time-wasting over this or that chancer who wants a career in Westminster.

Suggestions welcome, comment box below!

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