Hang on, let me get my Democracy For Dummies book…
Under our political system, we don’t vote for prime ministers, we vote for parties, based on their pledges and manifestoes.
Sure, at election time, parties will point at their head honcho and say: “Here’s the very person you need to do things right, so vote for us”, and the country gives them a mandate to get on with things.
And, lo, prime ministers – and first ministers, for that matter – are spawned.
If someone stops being their leader, then the party in power can choose a new one, and a new prime minister. End of.
Think of it like the producers of Doctor Who, regenerating between Time Lords when one has run their course.
But – and it’s a huge but – there comes a time when you have to stop and collectively say: “What the actual…?”
As in, one Tory leader (ergo PM) being turfed out by his own MPs for being a bumbling incompetent who had no concept of why following the rules and telling the truth is important.
Then, replacing that buffoon with a shiny-eyed ideologue who decides to crash the economy and trash the UK’s reputation because some far-right libertarian economists told her to.
We are all counting the heavy cost of an act so reckless it borders on evil. It’s like the Doctor regenerating into the Master – which did actually happen at the weekend, but at least that’s science fiction, not grim reality.
Now the forces of regeneration are swirling around Number 10 again, and goodness knows what is going to come next – although I suspect goodness won’t play a large role.
Not that I think Rishi Sunak is a Cyberman, but, these days, nothing about the current UK Government would surprise me.
Democracy literally means ‘people power’
So, back to the basic premise of democracy – that bit about the people giving mandates. Right now, we have no idea what the next prime minister is proposing to do about the huge problems hobbling our country, from Brexit to the economy to conflict in Europe.
The squabbling civil war that is the Tory party is really not the one elected in 2019, and we live in a different world. The reality of Brexit’s failure is now obvious, and the economy is so broken, people are fearing whether they can heat their homes or even keep them.
If the Tories know that is the will of the people and refuse to do it, putting party before country, then that is democracy denied
The word “democracy” itself comes from the Greek for people and power. Put simply, it’s a way of governing which depends on the will of the people.
At the moment, that will is blindingly obvious. We want our say in how this country is being run and who is governing it; we want change, and we want it now.
Why won’t the Tories call a general election today, rather than foist an unmandated prime minister on the nation? Because they know the will of the people would be to drive the Conservatives into electoral oblivion.
If they know that is the will of the people and refuse to do it, putting party before country, then that is democracy denied. That on its own – regardless of all the damage they have done – makes them dangerously unfit for office, and in need of turfing out.
We don’t need to go to the barricades. But we do need to go to the polls. We need a general election. Now.
Scott Begbie is entertainment editor for The Press & Journal and Evening Express
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