Although I have forsaken any real involvement in national political life, I do enjoy the ironies that come with politics. The best irony I have seen for years is the relative positions of the Conservative and Labour parties. It was always an accepted political nostrum that the Conservative Party was hopelessly divided over Europe and any public debate would expose those divisions and cast the Party into oblivion for decades. Now, we find that it is the Labour Party that is hopelessly divided over Europe while the Conservatives have maintained their unity. Well, well!!!
Most Labour MPs were Remainers but their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was clearly not very enthusiastic about the EU and this reflected the views of Labour voters in their northern heartlands but not among the liberal chattering classes in London and places like Oxford.
The Conservative Party is not so very different and people like the irrepressible Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Anna Soubry are Europhiles but we seem to have a better sense of discipline than Labour has been able to achieve. The result is that the Commons has voted through Theresa May’s short Act to trigger our freedom and it is now over to the Lords to support the democratic decision of the people or seek to frustrate them. I wait for the next irony!
And, of course, if our PM needs to flood the House of Lords with sufficient Conservative peers to support the people’s decision, I am always willing to volunteer!
