Gove, May, Farage and Johnson - The Unfab Four and the State of the Nation

Well that was a quiet week wasn’t it? Britain is in the midst of its most significant period of political turmoil for decades, and the traditional summer silly season has transformed into a grotesque cavalcade of confusion, xenophobia, infighting and backstabbing. Little wonder some of us appear more concerned with the fact that Wales are through to the semi-finals of the Euros – I wonder what the odds would’ve been on that combined with a Brexit accumulator at the beginning of the year?

Any solace a leftie remain voter might be able to seek from watching the Tories tear themselves apart amidst the chaos, is confounded by watching the Labour party do the same. Screw proportional representation, at this rate UKIP and the Greens will manage majorities under first past the post.

However, this is serious. It seems inevitable that a general election will have to be called before we are too far along the road towards the process triggered by the much talked about Article 50. Gove’s much publicised betrayal of Johnson has simply served to replace a self-styled “bumbling buffoon” with a man who cocks things up without even being entertaining in the process.

Having overseen the complete decimation of the education system, and rattling the wrong cages as Justice Secretary, Gove has apparently decided that his tendency to pursue his own misguided policy, in the face of mass professional and public opposition, should extend to the country as a whole. The fact that most forward thinking voters are praying for a victory by May speaks volumes about the dire situation we find ourselves in.

As I write, news has broken that walking fearmongering factory Nigel Farage has stepped down as leader of UKIP – much like Johnson, appearing to be jumping ship, having just finished drilling a large hole through the hull. These two arrogant, privileged, shallow and deceitful politicians have used a smokescreen of everyman-ness, “straight talking” and opportunistic capitalisation on people’s legitimate fears and anxieties, to leave the rest of us on a rapidly sinking vessel. It’s now up to us to keep it afloat, without resorting to the politics of division so favoured by our former crew members.