The existing atmosphere within Labour MPs these days adheres to Edgar's law. This states that the magnitude of each adversity can only be measured relative to unforeseen calamities. As the playwright lets the outcast offspring of the blinded Earl declare in the play: “The direst does not exist, provided that we may declare ‘this represents the lowest point’.”
A Chain of Intensifying Difficulties
According to this principle, there exists no opinion poll so pessimistic regarding the party that won't be succeeded by one even bleaker; no fiscal forecast so bad that the finance ministry can't aggravate via mixed indications regarding taxation; no doubts regarding the leader that won't be heightened by malevolent briefing regarding a contest for leadership.
Asylum Policy Declaration
In that context, the latest announcement of plans intending to limit the number of displaced persons admitted to Britain, patterned after a famously strict Danish system, went down more favorably with Labour MPs than might have been expected. There were sparks of backbench anger however no blaze of rebellion.
Strengthening refugee regulations is far from the party's natural territory, but the current system is evidently broken while citizens are furious. Numerous parliamentarians understand the reasoning that tolerance and community cohesion are easier to cultivate when there is confidence that the nation's borders are secure.
Growing Discontent
Silent parliamentary rows might likewise signal foreboding. Parliamentarians have realized that all matters are debatable with a directionless leader of malleable conviction. Today's declarations could be withdrawn tomorrow. There is no need to rush over the top provided triumphs can be secured by attrition.
A regular criticism concerns the Prime Minister is hardly managing the cabinet at all, after assigning strategic choices to his principal advisor. However, this doesn't mean the prime minister misses managerial vigor, he merely chooses to avoid arbitrating in departmental disputes or engage in extended discussions.
Management Method
The Prime Minister entered political parties late in his career, originally joining the legislature when he was fifty-two. He lacks instinct about movement history – the body of former discussions, campaigns, figures and cultural references that connect a leader to the wider movement and its sense of common objective.
His innermost beliefs stay concealed even to the cabinet. As one senior Labour figure puts it: “The leader is remarkably distinct in his role in giving the impression that his individual beliefs are not for public consumption.”
Political Consequences
The image presented as the Prime Minister during the previous electoral contest has similarly not produced its claimed rewards: administrative capability resulting in countrywide revitalization. If Britain still had a binary political arrangement, the memory of how bad things were with the previous government may continue patience with Labour.
This foreshadows a crushing loss among government contenders in municipal and regional polls during the upcoming vote. It will be a moment of extreme peril for the Prime Minister, provided he remains that long.
Leadership Questions
Absent in these evaluations exists consensus concerning the individual of a replacement and their proposed policies might contrast with existing administration plans. This defect within succession arrangements is mentioned by the prime minister's defenders as part of various arguments to stick with the incumbent.
While restive MPs might recoil from those warnings, they similarly perceive through them the familiar, meaningless sound of low ambition which causes hopelessness regarding present circumstances. It is the sound of failure to describe the approach as anything more than a set of methods for holding power.
Concluding Thoughts
It is hard to generate allegiance for such an objective. And most Labour MPs have tried. They have followed the party line, defended it on the doorstep, obeyed the whips, believed assurances that their worries were considered.
Regicide is fraught with risk, yet, might it be more dangerous versus acting as if that the existing prime minister possesses solutions to big questions that he never even names? Edgar's law recommends carefulness in ousting a current head of government. The replacement may turn out poorer.
“The weight of these difficult days we must obey; State true sentiments, not what we ought to say.”
