Tory rebels are all talk
Tory rebels are all talk, and deserve no faith to be placed in them.
The events of the past few weeks, as the Sue Gray report approaches, have been particularly eye-opening about how the current Conservative Party operates.
Once, it was famously known that the Tories were a treacherous bunch – that at the first sign of weakness they would happily move against their own leader. However, that trend has taken a definitive shift.
The 1922 Committee was heavily rumoured to have been close to reaching the threshold required for a leadership bid. I am sceptical of this claim personally, due to the fact that the vast majority of Tory MPs were using the old “we must wait for the inquiry” line. But a sizeable rebellion appeared to be brewing nonetheless.
Like clockwork, however, MPs of the lily-livered backbenches found an excuse to fall in line behind the Prime Minister.
Christian Wakeford of Bury South crossed the floor in a stellar display of a lack of principles (that to me epitomises everything wrong with the main two parties, so often so hard to distinguish between). So now, instead of focusing on the electoral oblivion Boris Johnson was cascading their party towards amidst ‘Partygate’, the collective anger at MPs at this move to switch parties united their ranks once again.
This isn’t the only factor that united so-called Tory rebels, the media has clearly shown their desire for the Prime Minister to be ousted. I’d even be bold enough to say that Channel 4 and Sky News have become a press wing for the Labour Party, assisted by those in Government who love nothing more than to leak any rumour no matter how unsubstantiated. I share their frustration with the media, but it should be no reason to back an unfit Prime Minister that lacks any leadership or political will and, most importantly, has lost all public trust and confidence.
Steve Baker and company have shown they are so doggedly loyal to their party and whoever leads it that real scrutiny and service to the people who elected them do not matter. So long as they secure small victories, like the lifting of most Covid restrictions, they’re happy to gloss over wider problems with the way Government operates (the Coronavirus Act being a key example – something most MPs seem to be no longer calling to be repealed).
Tory rebels are all talk, and deserve no faith to be placed in them.
