Published: Thursday, 10th July, 2008 12:00
Rob Wilson's Westminster Diary
By Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East
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Reading East MP Rob Wilson
POLITICS is as interesting as I can remember it at the moment, nationally and internationally.
The challenges facing all politicians are immense.
Internationally it looks like America will elect its first black leader, which, given its history, is a major landmark. Meanwhile, China is fast moving to superpower status, Iran is going nuclear, southern Africa is falling apart as Zimbabwe destabilises it, and Russia, driven on by high oil prices, is flexing its nationalistic muscle.
Great Britain, as we were once known, has become more akin to Little Britain, powerless and rudderless as we are buffeted around by international events.
Our Great Leader (OGL) scuttles to the Middle East, the G8 in Japan, America, indeed anywhere he can to look as if he’s doing something; but he looks weak and powerless.
He keeps telling us that he has a vision, a plan for our future, but it never appears from his desk drawer. It must be in the file marked ‘Highly Confidential: For Your Eyes Only’. It pains me to say it, but nationally we are lurching from one mini crisis to the next.
A fortnight ago, in my last Westminster Diary, I warned “as we see the longest day of the year disappear is that the dark days are closing in.”
This week the CBI has confirmed my worst fears, saying we are heading for a deep recession.
Of course it didn’t need the CBI to tell us, you like I have been seeing the signs for nearly a year; poor company trading results, increasing mortgage repossessions, inflation rising, more strikes, negative equity, less people working and more families struggling.
All those who were saying we are well placed to weather the storm were talking nonsense, we were never well placed, and indeed I would argue we will be one of the worst affected internationally.
The Government has failed to ensure we are ready to cope because we have spent too much, saved too little and borrowed beyond our means. It appears OGL never learnt the lessons of the 1970s.
Where does all this leave OGL? I was on the telephone in one of the long corridors that surround the Commons Chamber this week.
I was slightly tucked away and speaking quietly so a small group of Labour MPs didn’t notice I was nearby.
There were none I recognised unfortunately, but I overheard a conversation that was quite startling for its ferocity and disloyalty. Suffice it to say, if this is the extent of the dislike of the Prime Minister by those on the Labour backbenches a challenge to him isn’t far off.
No wonder the he appears paralysed, dithering while the country sinks deeper and deeper into the mire.
Here are just five facts about this Labour Government, led by OGL, that you should remember if you are ever reduced to feeling pity (which is increasingly the feeling we all have): we’ve had the first run on a bank for 150 years, and it’s been nationalised; the Government lost the personal details of almost half the population; after massive spending increases A&E Departments and maternity services across the country are being cut; violent crime has doubled with young people and children being gunned down and stabbed on a daily basis; and we have one of the highest rates of family breakdown in Europe.
Save your pity for those that need it, because there are many struggling and grieving families that genuinely need it.
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