Lib Dem win part of a new volatility

Brexit’s chickens are coming home to roost...

ED Davey, leader of the Lib Dems, has been photographed knocking bricks out of a blue plastic wall with an orange hammer. Great symbolism!

Sarah Green has turned the Conservative-held seat of Chesham and Amersham into a Lib Dem one with an 8,000 majority. Downing St has described this result as ‘disappointing’. The Labour Party has said nothing; its 622 votes says it all.

Sarah Green has asserted: ‘If you want a Liberal Democrat MP, you can have one.’ The many helpers who swarmed in from other parts of the country will take this message home.

When the Conservative Party plumped for Brexit, I drifted out. When it plumped by a hefty majority for Boris Johnson, below, as its leader, I was alarmed into joining the Lib Dems.

It was not just that I was a Remainer but that I thought Mr Johnson supported Brexit to become Prime Minister.

Some aspects of his domestic life jarred and have shown a wrong sense of priorities and a worrying streak of meanness.

I also suspected he would choose subordinates for their loyalty rather than for their competence.

Have events since changed my mind? Brexit’s chickens are coming home to roost. Agreements with Liechtenstein and Australia have been hailed as great achievements.

Thousands of lives were lost before the reality and risks of the pandemic were admitted. Populists do not tell people what they do

not want to hear until it is unavoidable, by which time it is often too late. The Prime Minister relied on advisers like Dominic Cummings and chose ministers of less than impressive quality.

And the purchase price of the Red/ Blue wall was too high. It is reminiscent of a previous government’s attempt to win Northern Irish support by promising heavy investment. That did not work long-term either.

In the circumstances Batley and Spen will not be just another by-election. Batley was recently the scene of demos against

a teacher who showed portraits of Mohammed. The Labour candidate is Kim Leadbetter, the sister of Jo Cox, the MP who was murdered by a right-wing fanatic. Taken together with Hartlepool and Chesham, this by-election might show the increasing unpredictability and volatility of modern politics.

The stylised contests of the past might never return. We will have to get used to a new set-up. How it will affect the Potteries is anyone’s guess. Perhaps we should consult an astrologer.

MARGARET BROWN BURSLEM

WALLS COME TUMBLING DOWN: Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, also inset with victorious candidate Sarah Green, smashes a blue wall after the party’s success in Chesham and Amersham. Writer Margaret Brown says an increasing unpredictability and volatility is entering modern politics, which may permanently replace the stylised contests of the past.