Joseph de Maistre, a reactionary 18th-century philosopher, cynically stated that “every nation gets the government it deserves”. Today, it would be more appropriate to say that every ruling class gets the leaders it deserves.
In recent years, British capitalism has certainly had a leadership befitting of its degenerate state: firstly, with the chaotic, self-interested Boris Johnson; and next, with the deranged, deluded Liz Truss.
The latter’s only notable achievement, during her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tenure as prime minister, was to tank the UK economy.
Lettuce Liz’s madcap decisions certainly acted as a catalyst. But in truth, Truss’ reckless antics only revealed what a fragile shambles British capitalism had already become over the years and decades.
This has been further underlined since her departure. From schools and hospitals, to bankrupt water firms: the country’s public buildings, utilities, and infrastructure are literally crumbling to pieces. The whole system stinks.
Losing control
Remarkably, the perennially unhinged, ever-oblivious Liz Truss is now attempting a comeback.
First there was her unironic launch of a new libertarian Tory faction for anti-woke warriors called ‘Popular Conservatism’. And more recently, the 49-day-long ex-PM has released a memoir-cum-manifesto, in which she sets herself and her supporters a modest task: to “save the West” in the next ten years.
This may seem an ambitious target. But just think for a minute: if she can simultaneously crash the British economy and the Conservative Party’s polling figures in a mere matter of weeks, then just imagine what eager Liz could achieve in a decade.
To most ordinary people, Truss’ recent behaviour would indicate that it may be time for the supposed “only conservative in the room” (the subtitle of her new book) to consult a psychiatrist. But no, in the Madhatter’s Tea Party that is the Tories, the Margaret Thatcher / Alan Partridge tribute act is considered a hero; a saviour; a deliverer of the truth.
Such is the insanity and frenzy that has gripped the Tories: an accurate reflection of the irrational, rotten system they defend; and a sign of how much the British establishment has lost control of its primary political representatives.
Rabid ranks
Liz Truss may be long gone from Downing Street. But her spectre haunts the Tory Party.
City of London golden boy Rishi Sunak is still attempting to pick up the pieces following Truss’ brief-but-destructive stint in office. And he is proving to be just as ill-fated as his predecessor.
Ever since he helped eject hapless Liz, Sunak has presided over a rumbling Tory civil war.
The party’s backbenchers are in a mutinous mood. And its rabid ranks are demanding ever-greater quantities of red meat – most recently in relation to the government’s Rwanda deportation plan, which yesterday gained parliamentary approval.
The Prime Minister has promised that asylum-seeker flights will be heading for Africa by the summer. But even this will not be enough to appease the most ferocious headbangers in the Tory Party, who are determined to pick a fight with the courts over ‘restrictive’ human rights legislation.
Rogues’ gallery
With the latest local elections approaching on 2 May, along with yet another by-election, this time in Blackpool South, things are not looking good for Sunak and the Tories.
Years of scandal and sleaze are taking their toll. Mark Menzies is the latest reprobate Tory MP to bring the party into disrepute; this time, over alleged (and surreal) misappropriation of Conservative campaign funds.
The Fylde MP joins a long list – a veritable rogues’ gallery – of crooked Tory representatives disciplined, suspended, or forced to resign in the lifetime of this parliament for all manner of misconduct and misdemeanour.
With a dire, humiliating performance expected in the upcoming local elections, rumours are even circulating of yet another Tory leadership challenge. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that Rishi Sunak is merely a squatter in Number 10 by this point.
Revolutionary leadership
When judgement day eventually comes for the Tories, it will be brutal.
In fact, the title of Truss’ autobiography could end up being more of a prophecy than a boast. According to one recent study, if a certain combination of plausible voter swings occur at the next election, the Conservative Party could end up with just one MP in the House of Commons.
None of this will be thanks to Keir Starmer. Recent polls give the Labour leader a net satisfaction rating of minus 31. Not to be outdone by his opponent, however, Rishi Sunak scores an even-more impressive minus 59.
It is clear that workers and youth have had enough of this entire capitalist circus.
It’s time to give all these criminals, cretins, and charlatans the boot, and build a party – the Revolutionary Communist Party – that can give the working class the leadership it deserves.
Loathed and lamentable: Capitalism’s sorry statesmen
Sol, Hull
It is clear that the political leaders of the advanced capitalist countries are catastrophically unpopular.
According to a recent poll published by the New York Times, Olaf Schultz in Germany has a public disapproval rating of 73 percent. The German Chancellor is closely followed by Emmanuel Macron in France, on 71 percent; Rishi Sunak, on 66 percent; and Joe Biden, on 54 percent. The list goes on.
In Britain, another entertaining (but telling) poll asked ordinary people: “Who of Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer would be best at…?”, followed by a number of simple everyday tasks that just about anyone could carry out – or so you might think.
Not according to the British public. When it came to which party leader could “put up a shelf”, only 13 percent of the public believed Sunak could rise to this challenge. Given the videos of the PM trying to use a hammer or a contactless card, this should come as no surprise.
NEW: Only 13% of Brits trust Rishi Sunak to put up a shelf, compared to 47% who opt for Keir Starmer.
Starmer also leads on pub conversation and putting out a fire.
Sunak leads only on ‘negotiating a discount’ and ‘solving an escape room’.@JLPartnersPolls @RestisPolitics pic.twitter.com/gZY8fYVO44
— James Johnson (@jamesjohnson252) April 10, 2024
What about making a Sunday roast? Or putting out a kitchen fire? Less than 20 percent believe that the current Tory leader is capable of these tasks. For his Labour counterpart, the figure is just over 40 percent.
Another question from this poll was about “hosting a party”, with Sunak and Starmer tied at 33 percent. Maybe Boris Johnson, lead actor in the notorious #partygate scandal, would have scored better on this one?
The disastrously high disapproval towards the world’s leaders, combined with this tongue-in-cheek survey about Britain’s primary politicians, highlight the problem facing the ruling class: they have no competent leadership.
For workers and youth in Britain and across the world, the task is clear: to build a revolutionary leadership that can help kick out these clowns, overthrow their rotten system, and put the working class in charge!
