Ruling party has now chosen political gutter

DOCTORS swear the Hippocratic Oath; they promise to care for their patients. Did Tory MPS (and party members?) swear the Hypocritic Oath recently?

Formerly, the Conservative Party followed “the good chaps“theory in politics, committing MPS and party supporters to principled behaviour with honesty and care for the “hard-working” members of our society.

Now the Tories are prepared to get down in the gutter where inflated derogatory attacks on political opponents, the use of false “evidence” and neglect of essential issues is normal.

A prime example of the hypocrisy are the repeated attacks on Angela Rayner (deputy leader of Labour) claiming that she used the wrong address when putting her name on the electoral roll. The police have yet to find evidence on this and Ms Rayner assures any of the media that are not prisoners of conspiracy theories that she is not guilty.

For the Tories to spend so long turning an unproven minor “crime” into the second most significant political topic of the week reminds us of the childish negativity they applied when they claimed that, during Covid lockdown, Keir Starmer drinking a pint of beer with a pizza was identical to the uncounted booze-ups in Boris Johnson’s Number 10 when wine bottles were bought in by the suitcase full.

Is one MP’S possible Labour “crime” the equivalent of the destruction carved through our democratic system by the Tories’ Elections Law (2022) by which up to five million UK adults might be prevented from voting in local and parliamentary elections?

Corruption that “proves” this Law is necessary is shown by the Government’s own stats: in the 2019 election only 26 possible cases of personal fraud were reported and only one individual was convicted. To prevent a repeat of this, the Law states that to vote you must carry a photo document. Which photo documents can you use? Passports and driving licences (frequently not owned by poorer citizens) and older persons’ bus passes and London Oyster cards. But the 16-25 Rail Card is excluded as is the 18+ Oyster Card. A March ‘24 poll (by Survation) shows that 25 percent of the 18-34 age group aren’t aware of the need for photo ID. Other groups very likely to be excluded are the unemployed, the disabled, those renting cheaper properties and ethnic groups And as these groups tend to vote Labour, isn’t this an enormous electoral “crime”?

But as long as we can pursue Angela Rayner everything’s right in our Tory-“governed” nation. Jeremy Hall via email