Whisper it, but there’s an alarming degree of similarity between the leaders of our two biggest political parties right now.
It’s a matter of some conjecture as to whether this situation is pure happenstance, or the inevitable result of party machine politics backed by big donors and special interests. I’ve written extensively on how the dual pressures of Brexit specifically and rising populism generally have forced many special interests to finally show us their true colours. In some ways the results have been entirely predictable, although probably a lot worse than many of us would’ve liked to guess. Perhaps one of the biggest scandals emerging from this whole situation is the startling similarity between the two party leaders, who claim to be implacable enemies.
Jeremy Corbyn’s distaste for the modern capitalist West is well documented, so there’s no reason to regurgitate the rap sheet in this column. Suffice to say that whenever there’s a conflict of interests, his gut instincts always align with those who wish to do his native country harm. Support for a controversial cause like Irish republicanism could be excused as principled if it were a one-off, but when it’s part of a decades-old pattern of behaviour, we must conclude that some overarching world view is informing Corbyn’s thinking. In short, the leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition believes that 21st-century Britain is somehow an enemy of freedom and a threat to the rest of the world.
Whilst Corbyn instinctively glances towards Sinn Fein, the Soviet Union or Hamas before answering on any issue, Theresa May looks first to the EU and the multi-national corporate lobby before responding on behalf of the nation she is allegedly leading. Her systematic murder of the Brexit dream is proof positive that she values their approval and fears their wrath to a far greater degree than that of the electorate, or even her own party membership.
This is where Corbyn and May are two sides of the same duplicitous coin. Both are dangerous authoritarians who are willing and eager to weaken and irreparably damage this nation in the service of what they perceive as a higher, more noble and more moral cause. One works tirelessly to usher in the tyranny of the proletariat, while the other is bent on strengthening a post-national and unaccountable technocratic order.
One knowingly allows street thuggery and anti-Semitism to run rampant through his party, while the other tacitly encourages the legal and constitutional vandalism being wrought by a tiny and unrepresentative establishment clique. As above, so below.
Neither May nor Corbyn seem overly troubled by the concerns of rank and file voters or even party members; a characteristic marking them out as dangerous, power hungry ideologues who simply cannot be trusted, even by the low standards of career politicians.
With these existential threats facing Britain today, never has there been such a great opportunity to change our ossified and largely redundant political landscape.
Not since the formation of the Labour Party has there been such fertile ground for a new populist political force, and Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party has arrived at the perfect moment to harness the growing sense of frustration and disillusion sweeping this flailing and benighted nation.
There have been new political parties before and they have nearly always failed, but it feels different this time.
