Here’s hoping we’ll party like it’s 1997 in Year of Democracy
ROUGHLY half of the world’s population will go to the polls in more than 60 countries this year.
Well, 4.2 billion citizens are eligible to take part in elections but some of the ballots are in places like Russia, Belarus and Iran, where it’s fair to guess that the votes have already been counted, and the US where millions will fail to see the point in choosing between an old man who could be on his way to jail and another who could be on his way to a care home.
Throw in the level of disinformation spread by fake news bots on social media and there is little appetite for the Great Year of Democracy that supposedly lies ahead.
In Britain, repeated polls are telling Rishi Sunak to call a general election now, but like a squatter in a comfy mansion, he’s waiting for the bailiffs to turf him out.
Even more annoying than his refusal to leave before the end of the year is the message he’s decided to scream as the flames lick at his toes. “Don’t let Labour ruin the recovery. We need to stick to the plan.”
That, despite a new report showing how the UK is the only country in the G7 where household budgets have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with families £750-ayear worse off than those in other leading economies.
Some recovery, eh? Some plan. You look around at the tent cities on our streets, depleted foodbanks, bankrupt councils, thirtysomethings unable to buy a house, families sinking with debt, no functional immigration policy, the NHS on its knees, and you can feel people’s desperation for change. Unless they are rich.
You also know that in place of the spring election we are crying out for, Jeremy Hunt will produce a budget offering income tax and inheritance tax cuts, paid for by slashing benefits to bribe the wealthier voters while kicking in the teeth of the poorer ones.
With Keir Starmer U-turning on virtually every radical policy, preferring to convince Middle England they can trust him, the chances are that the prospect of the autumn general election is not filling your heart with hope and joy.
If so, let me try to do just that by dragging you back to your telly on May 1, 1997, when you witnessed the most entertaining bloodbath since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
A general election landslide that saw big Tory beasts like David Mellor, Michael Portillo and Malcolm Rifkind skewered on a red spike, as tears flowed in Conservative Central Office and Labour ended 18 years of Tory rule.
If the opinion polls stay roughly the way they are and Nigel Farage’s Reform Party take their hardline immigration policy to every true blue seat, the Tory vote will be decimated, and the big beasts with the small majorities will face the same televised shaming as Portillo and co.
Meaning Jacob ReesMogg, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Greg Hands, Penny Mordaunt, Mark Harper, Iain Duncan Smith and Steve Baker will be forced to stand, heads bowed, a noose around their careers, suffering a very public execution.
That surely is something to look forward to in this Year of Democracy. Especially if the election is called for the final Thursday in October –Halloween.
Bring on that bloody massacre.
Rees-Mogg and co will stand with a noose around their careers