OUR BRITISH ‘BOTTLE’ HAS BEEN ASSIGNED TO THE HISTORY BOOKS

LOSS by the Conservatives of two by-elections last week was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. But the nature of the two losses was quite different and the level of menace to Tory chances at the next election not the same.

On figures alone it would seem that Tiverton was the more damaging but the reverse was the case. Wakefield could be the forecast of the future.We all know that a by-election which will change absolutely nothing in the House of Commons is simply a cost-free chance for the voters to send a message to those on high. It looks as if tens of thousands of Tory voters have swerved to the Lib-Dem philosophy, whatever that may be. But no; they were simply shouting at the Cabinet Office and its bumbling supremo “Get your act together”.

But with a change in Downing Street by the next election they’ll all come back. Those who may now never come back were the vote changers of Wakefield because they were part of the RedWall, traditional Labour supporters who, sick and tired of years of Corbyn and Starmer, thought that the Tories could not be worse. It looks as if they have changed their minds and probably won’t change back.

It may need a minor miracle and miracles are looking like Memory Lane. Try the Battle of Britain and the Falklands.

Back then our leaders had British “bottle” and the people followed suit. Nowadays it takes the armed forces and the cricket tests to remind us of what we once had. Elsewhere the public sector is dedicated to bone idleness and incompetence. Downing Street sets the example and the rest follow.