The prevailing atmosphere inside parliamentary Labour members currently adheres to a Shakespearean principle. This states that the extent of any misfortune can only be assessed against unknown future disasters. As the Bard makes the banished son of the sightless nobleman of Gloucester say in King Lear: “The worst is absent, as long as we can say ‘this marks the bottom’.”
A Succession of Worsening Difficulties
According to this concept, there exists no public opinion measure so gloomy about the government that it can't be succeeded by one even bleaker; no economic projection so bad that the finance ministry won't exacerbate through contradictory signals on tax; no reservations concerning the Prime Minister that cannot be intensified through malicious leaks regarding a contest for leadership.
Refugee Measures Announcement
Against this backdrop, this week's declaration of measures intending to reduce the amount of displaced persons admitted to the UK, patterned after an infamously harsh Nordic approach, was received better with Labour MPs than anticipated. There appeared glimmers of MP frustration yet no wildfire of rebellion.
Hardening immigration policies is far from Labour's comfort zone, however the present arrangement is evidently broken and voters are angry. Most MPs grasp the position that tolerance and community cohesion are more readily developed if assurance exists that the country's boundaries are safely guarded.
Increasing Dissatisfaction
Reserved MP positions may also represent ominous. Parliamentarians have realized that all matters are debatable with a directionless leader with flexible principles. Today's declarations could be withdrawn tomorrow. There exists no necessity to charge forward when victories can be won by attrition.
A common complaint concerns the Prime Minister is hardly managing the cabinet whatsoever, having delegated strategic choices to his top aide. However, this doesn't mean the prime minister misses managerial vigor, he simply favors to refrain from intervening between ministry conflicts or participate in protracted arguments.
Management Method
The Prime Minister entered party politics at an advanced stage, originally joining the legislature during his early fifties. He has no feel about movement history – the body of past debates, drives, figures and traditional touchstones that bind a head to the broader organization and its perception of collective mission.
His innermost beliefs remain unknown to government members. According to an experienced representative explains: “The leader is remarkably distinct as a prime minister by creating the perception that whatever he personally thinks remain personal matters.”
Electoral Repercussions
The image presented as the Prime Minister in last year's election campaign has similarly not produced its purported benefits: managerial competence culminating in national renewal. Assuming Britain possessed a dual-party structure, the remembrance of past problems with the previous government could extend tolerance for the party.
That presages a massacre of Labour candidates in council and national assembly contests next May. It would constitute an instance of significant risk for the Prime Minister, if he endures until then.
Future Considerations
Missing from these calculations appears unity regarding the person of an alternative leader and their intended agenda may differ compared to present strategies. This flaw within succession arrangements is referenced by supporters of the leader among numerous justifications to stick with the existing prime minister.
While restive MPs might recoil from such cautions, they also hear in them the familiar, meaningless sound of limited aspiration that induces despair regarding present circumstances. It represents the noise of lack of success to describe the approach as anything more than a series of strategies for maintaining position.
Concluding Thoughts
It proves difficult to inspire faithfulness to such a cause. The majority of representatives have tried. They have followed the party line, justified it to constituents, followed party discipline, trusted promises that their issues received attention.
Regicide contains considerable peril, but is it riskier compared to feigning that the current ruler possesses solutions regarding major issues which he doesn't identify? The literary maxim recommends carefulness in ousting a sitting prime minister. The alternative might prove more disastrous.
“The burden of this troubled period we need to follow; Speak what we feel, rather than expected statements.”
