fallout

going into the referendum there was a dream, a hope that result would have far reaching repercussions. oh how right we were.

only problem is they were not the repercussions i wanted.

ok here was my dream scenario. june 23^rd the votes would be cast and during the morning of june 24^th i would enjoy listening to the results being announced, early in the morning victory for remain would be declared so i could sleep. throughout the day we would be treated to the smug face of david cameron as he wittered on about how wonderful it was that remain had won the day and that the country had spoken and we were staying in europe. yays all round. over the weekend all those eurosceptic tories would kick up a fuss, rebel and basically make cameron's small majority virtually useless leading to a general election and us all happily dancing on the grave of the now fractured and useless tory party.

i can dream can''t i?

didn't quite happen that way.

boris switches sides, brexit campaigners indulge in a bit of number manipulation, much of the media was for leaving and there were a number of voters who decided that june 23^rd was time to give the government/ elites/ establishment a bit of a kicking so chose to vote against remain and for getting out of europe.

and come the early morning of june 24^th out of europe we were going.

david cameron resigns and for a brief glorious period it looked as if the tories were going to destroy themselves with infighting, but no a few scares and then bish bosh they have their leadership election and instead of boris, theresa may is handed the poison chalice of getting us through the article 50 negotiations.

already she looks like a steady eddie keeping the tories on an even keel and moving forward.

meanwhile over in the labour camp chaos rules.

in an effort to shake up the party and to weaken the unions ed milliband changed how the leader was elected: it was changed to one member one vote. all very democratic all very sensible.

fast forward to the election of a new leader and jeremy corbyn throwing his hat into the ring and suddenly there is a huge surge in membership and before you know it they have all gone and voted corbyn as leader.

road to hell, no good deed, unintended consequences – you choose.

corbyn wanting a new type of politics– a less combative style. the whole brexit debate was the end his honeymoon period, with many of the labour parliamentarians being disappointed at his half

hearted defence of european membership.

while he has the mass support of the new membership he does not have the support of his mps. an odd situation.

some are calling a coup (though some might argue that what the corbynistas have done has been a coup of the labour party), and if it is it is the slowest and most advertised in history, and weeks after the referendum we are still embroiled in what to many is a foregone conclusion: corbyn re-elected as leader of the labour party.

the danger of the corbyn leadership is that it is more interested in ideological purity than it is the practicalities of being elected, or even of being an effective opposition. just when the tories might have been at their weakest the labour party has decided to commit suicide. yet for some of them they will be happy that they haven't compromised their principles and ideals and instead of being a political force they are just as unelectable as the socialist workers party and others of that ilk (george galloway's respect party success being a unique case). reduced in effect to being a party of protest, slogans and banners.

my dream was we stayed in europe and tory party was in turmoil. instead i have the nightmare of an extended period of tory rule just because the labour party is prepared to immolate itself rather than work together to hold the tories to account.

still it does mean that the lib dems might get some votes at the next election.