The current mood among Labour MPs nowadays follows Edgar's law. This states that the extent of each adversity is solely measured in comparison to unforeseen calamities. As the Bard makes the outcast offspring of the visionless lord declare in the play: “The most terrible is absent, as long as we can say ‘this marks the bottom’.”
A Chain of Deepening Difficulties
Per this principle, there exists no opinion poll so pessimistic about the government that it can't be coming after a subsequent worse one; no economic projection so bad that the finance ministry won't exacerbate through conflicting messages regarding taxation; no misgivings regarding the leader that won't be heightened via hostile communications about a leadership challenge.
Asylum Policy Announcement
Against this backdrop, this week's announcement of plans designed to restrict the quantity of asylum seekers allowed into the UK, modelled on an infamously harsh Danish system, was received better with Labour MPs than might have been expected. There emerged flashes of backbench anger however no blaze of dissent.
Tightening asylum rules does not represent the government's preferred area, yet the existing framework is obviously flawed while citizens are furious. Numerous parliamentarians grasp the reasoning that acceptance and community cohesion are easier to cultivate provided there is trust that the nation's borders are secure.
Growing Discontent
Reserved MP positions might likewise signal threatening. Representatives have discovered that each issue is discussable alongside a purposeless head of malleable conviction. Today's declarations may be unannounced tomorrow. There's no requirement to advance hastily when victories can be won via endurance.
A regular criticism concerns the Prime Minister is hardly managing the administration at all, following the transfer of policy decisions to his top aide. However, this doesn't mean the head of government lacks executive dynamism, he just prefers to refrain from intervening among agency disagreements or engage in long debates.
Governing Approach
The Prime Minister entered party politics late in his career, first entering parliament during his early fifties. He has no feel for Labour lore – the body of past debates, campaigns, personalities and cultural references that connect a leader to the wider movement and its sense of collective mission.
His most personal values stay concealed including to ministers. As one senior Labour figure puts it: “Keir is highly unusual in his role in giving the impression that his private opinions remain personal matters.”
Political Consequences
The product packaged representing the leader in the recent polling battle has similarly not produced its claimed rewards: executive proficiency culminating in national renewal. Assuming Britain possessed a binary political arrangement, the memory of past problems during Conservative rule could extend tolerance for the party.
This foreshadows a crushing loss of Labour candidates during local and devolved elections in the coming spring. It shall represent a moment of extreme peril for the leader, assuming he survives until then.
Leadership Questions
Absent in these calculations is agreement on the identity of a successor and their proposed policies could vary with existing administration plans. This flaw in the transition plan is referenced by those backing the incumbent among numerous justifications to continue supporting the existing prime minister.
While restive MPs may flinch at such cautions, they also hear within them the well-known, empty ringing of low ambition which causes hopelessness at the status quo. It is the sound of inability to characterize the leadership as simply a series of strategies for clinging on.
Concluding Thoughts
It remains challenging to summon loyalty to such a cause. Numerous parliamentarians have tried. They have followed the party line, justified it to constituents, heeded instructions, accepted guarantees that their issues received attention.
Regicide contains considerable peril, however, does it present greater hazards than pretending that the existing prime minister possesses solutions about important matters which he doesn't identify? The literary maxim recommends carefulness regarding the replacement of a current head of government. The replacement may turn out poorer.
“The weight of this sad time we must obey; Express genuine emotions, instead of proper declarations.”
