Each passing day the coalition is looking more like the Belgium Government, after taking 353 days to form a coalition it then teeters on collapse for its term in office. It becomes an embarrassment not only to the main parties, but the countries. Coalitions can work, just look at Germany, but not in an electorate hell bent on one party wielding total power.
The May 02 elections accelerated the rot and the decline into ridicule of David Cameron, the Thatcher funeral should have solidified the Tory leadership, instead it totally undermined it, it brought back memories of the resolute leadership of the Thatcher years and allowed for an unfavourable comparison with weak leadership in place now. I am no Thatcherite, or even Tory, but Maggie said what she was going to do and she did, Cameron on the other hand is at the mercy of the Conservative Party,
With the rise of UKIP in the May Local Elections, though let it be noted that the Green Party has more seats than UK has in Local Authorities, and has more MP’s – UKIP 0, Greens 1, Cameron was immediately put on the defencive. Having to re-apply the whip to Nadine Dorres, in the fear that she would give more credibility to UKIP by defecting, Cameron was then forced into a position of potentially voting against the ‘Queens Speech’.
Contrary to popular belief the Queen does not write the speech, it is written by the Government, the Queen gives the speech in the House of Lords, the House of Commons then debates its and votes on it. It is immensely important, it is the legislative programme of the Government, to successfully attach an amendment to it, or vote it down, is a matter of resignation – it is an admission the Government cannot get its legislation through Parliament. An amendment was attached, not by Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, but by the Conservative backbenches; rather than bluff the amendment Dave dutifully bowed down and was going to be in the unenviable position of having to vote against the Queens Speech. The amendment was that we should a referendum on leaving the EU.
Dave was luckily away in Washington, well it wasn’t really lucky as embarrassing, visiting President Obama trying to negotiate a trade agreement between the US and UK, not wait I got that wrong, it was a trade agreement between the US and EU! It didn’t help that a Tory Minister publicly said he would to leave the EU, and a couple of former Tory heavyweights (literally and as well as metaphorically) weighed (one Tory Peer who is against the EU spends most of his time in France) As ever a Private Members Bill was hastily written out on a back of a fag packet, typed up, and emailed, to call for a referendum before the end of this Parliament. It will not pass. It is a political fudge. Ideally I would love to go on about that rather trying to solve the Global Crisis the UK seems to want to stand in the middle of playground and cry and stamp its feet, unfortunately the Equal Marriage Bill came back for a second reading.
The ‘Same-sex Marriage Bill’ was put before Parliament, with an amendment that ‘Civil Partnerships be available to heterosexual couples’ it was put by an anti-equal marriage Tory (there is a lot of them), it was a wrecking clause. It is a shame that they Tory Party are so willing not so much to show their nastiness, but to be actually nasty. To vote against the amendment would effectively wreck the Bill, to vote for the amendment would – back of fag packet prices – put £4Billion onto the pensions bill, when the government is furiously trying to scrap pensions. The number has been literally plucked out of the air for want of facts by the Tory Party. Again it was Labour who came to the rescue.
The language in the debate, mainly from the Tories, has been pretty vile. We have had ‘the Tebbitt’ going into print with the bizarre notion of a Queen with a Turkey Baster, and a Sperm Bank.
‘When we have a queen who is a lesbian and she marries another lady and then decides she would like to have a child and someone donates sperm and she gives birth to a child, is that child heir to the throne’
Whilst it is funny that this man has a vote in the House of Lords and a public pulpit, it is scary that this idiocy persists. The idea persists and it takes the form of brutal beating, brutal beatings in London, with two men walking home and being beaten senseless by a gang of youths, the language and then venom being displayed in the House of Commons spills over into the streets, and I want this country to be better than that.
We need a sensible debate on Equal Marriage, we do not need homophobia, crass stupidity or ignorance, we need debate. To say that a Civil Partnership is ok, to quote Louise Mensch, “is like telling Rosa Parkes she should be grateful for a seat on the bus”
We need sensible debates to change attitudes about minorities, and individuality, not tougher sentences. The Equal Marriage Bill will not only bring about equality but it will bring about real social change, no matter how slowly that comes.
Please follow the links below on YouTube. When New Zealand passed its Equal Marriage Act it broke out in singing, that is the kind of country I want to live in.