Looking In - Troubled Times In Britain!

I am usually a bit of a political geek, used to watching the news three or four times a day, that is until recently. Today I refuse to watch any reports from home; the reality of life in the UK, has become a channel switcher. It upsets me, to see the Country I used to love, fall apart and nobody seems to be doing anything to stop this disintegration. The UK has a lame duck Prime minister, Theresa May, whose lack of empathy and social skills, beggars belief; a useless 1970s style opposition and a Parliament that is crawling with abusers, resignations and and apologists. At a time when the UK needs strong leadership, it is saddled with substandard politicians, who are only there to fill their boots; this is the view from Spain at least! Since emigrating in 2015, Britain has turned into a third World nation, with third rate public servants!

The current rabble in Westminster are a blot on the landscape; if i were still living in the UK, I would be ashamed to have them as my elected representatives. Recently harassment from MP's directed towards others, less powerful, has been highlighted in the news; abuse of any kind is wrong, more so when you are elected by constituents to represent them. I do however have concerns about other elected politicians from other countries:

In France, President Macron, is married to his old school teacher, Brigitte; they met when he was underage, a teenager of 15 years old. His parents were so angry about their relationship, they removed him from school and he finished his education in Paris. In Britain, we have politicians resigning because of alleged harassment charges, including knee touching and sexist remarks. Comparing France and Britain, there seems to be a big difference in what is acceptable behaviour from our elected politicians; hasn't the President of France and his wife done far worse, than those currently under scrutiny back home? ( I am not trying to detract from the seriousness of the harassment cases, just trying to understand what constitutes public decency in comparable countries.)

As an ordinary person, looking in at France and the election of Macron, I was surprised at the Presidents history with his wife. If one looks at the scandal swirling around Britain at the moment, one could be forgiven for believing, we live in two different Worlds. The reality is, what Macron and his wife did, was wrong, whether they like it or not. This should have put pay to any political career in the future for this young teenager, yet in France, Emmanuel Macron is now elevated to the highest office in the land, unhindered by past indiscretions. 

France has never really tried to put their politicians on a pedestal, expecting them to be whiter than white, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. In the past a French politician was entitled to a private life and most had one, some more colourful than others. The French do not expect their representatives to be bastions of high morals, unlike the British, who made a fundamental mistake of campaigning on issues of morality, when John Major was in power. His 'Back to Basics' campaign, launched at the Conservative Party conference, in Blackpool in 1993, was intended to appeal to traditional values but spectacularly backfired when a number of Conservative politicians were caught up in scandals. At the conference, John Majors speech included the following words:

'It is time to return to those old core values, time to get back to basics, to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for others, to accepting a responsibility for yourself and your family and not shuffling off on other people and the state.'

This was all well and good; encouraging Conservative values at a time of moral decline, but what he failed to address, was human nature, none of us are saints, we are all fallible, even John Major himself. The Prime minister and another Conservative Member of Parliament, Edwina Currie, had an affair in 1985; this and other improprieties, by politicians and spokespeople for the 'Back to Basics' campaign were brought to the attention of the public, because our public servants, decided to take the moral high ground and tell us how to live our lives. The media at the time declared open season on the Conservative party and a number of casualties were suffered as a result. As a country, we are still living with this spectre of this campaign today. Politicians, Members of Parliament, Councillors and Ministers are expected to act in a particular way, any deviation will likely bring their career to an end!

I do not elect my Member of Parliament to preach to me about ethics and virtue, I elect them to run the country; as such, I don't actually care what they get up to in their private lives, as long as they do their job. Maybe, they should stop lecturing us and we will stop judging them. The harassment charges, many politicians are now facing are a product of their own immorality; our faith in them has been severely damaged. Since 1993, all those elected in our name, are expected to be as clean as a whistle, when you are caught out, don't blame the media for hounding you, they are just doing their job, maybe you should do yours!

As I observe, what is going on back home in the UK, from the relative comfort of my home in Spain, I am seeing a Government and country in turmoil, not only on issues of intimidation, but also corruption and infighting; a leadership, so weak it can no longer command the respect of voters, let alone Brexit negotiations. The sooner Theresa May goes, the better for all of us and finally as a nation, Britain can get back to basics, the basics of running a country, not a sideshow in a fairground!

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