British politics is in turmoil and chaos, which are rarely good for the Jews, writes Keren David
August 29, 2019 11:05
What’s the big fuss about? The Prime Minister is shutting down parliament for a few days. It doesn’t really make a great deal of difference, and it means the Government can get on with delivering the Brexit that the people under-whelmingly voted for. It's business as normal. Stop moaning.
On the other hand, this is a coup, we are living under a dictatorship. Our monarch should have defied her ministers. We need a general strike. We are on the brink of civil war.
These are views that I heard yesterday, from friends and from politicians, as parliament’s prorogation was bustled through at Balmoral. Those who cried "coup" risked looking hysterical, diminishing the impact of real totalitarianism.. But those who denied the significance of what happened are letting their sunny optimism blind them.
This is no longer just about Brexit. Arguments about whether and how we leave the European Union - important though they are - are now just the shallow end of political discourse. We’ve plunged in at the deep end, questioning the very nature of democracy in this country. And there doesn’t seem to be a qualified lifesaver anywhere.
Jeremy Corbyn’s flaws have long been clear. Many of those who thought him a cuddly, caring, saintly figure have now realised their error. But chuckling Tories who think that Boris Johnson is warm, witty and disarmingly funny may not yet have grasped that his charm is just as fake as Corbyn's.
Don't expect him to act with integrity, because he's the opposite of a mensch.
He has long been a known purveyor of porkies, and he let them flow freely to win a narrow victory in the referendum. (To be fair, so did everyone else. Never has such a big decision been made on such a load of utter piffle.) Now he’s preparing for a general election which will pit the people against the parliament that is meant to represent them.
In doing so, he strips away the pretence that the referendum was about restoring the sovereignty of parliament. The only sovereignty this government (a cabinet packed with liars) cares about is its own. You only have to look back to see what they were saying about prorogation a few weeks ago to realise that they are impossible to trust.
They get away with this because our constitution is unwritten, unclear, and not taught at all to most children in most schools. One consequence of this may be to bring down, once and for all, the whole rotten system in which people feel under-qualified to vote, and unrepresented once they have voted.
Our system was already broken before Johnson stamped on it yesterday, but he made things worse, not better. We’ve seen what happens when complex issues are reduced to ‘yes’ and ‘no’, and it’s not pretty. Now stand by for decision-making by a Prime Minister who thinks he’s a King. The Queen can't challenge him. Arise, President Johnson.
Why does this matter for Jews? For years now we’ve been scared by the resurgent Far Left, allowed to take charge of the Opposition by careless MPs who wanted a debate. We’ve watched with trepidation the resurgent Far Right in Europe. Now we have Prime Minister who sucks up to Donald Trump. And Trump, despite those declarations of love for Israel, is happy to use dog-whistle antisemitism whenever he thinks it’ll help him. The danger is on both sides.
Whether Rothschild or Soros is the bogeyman of the day, they are both Jewish. Conspiracy theories are breeding on social media, and we all know who will be blamed if Brexit goes wrong (Clue: not the politicians. Nor the people. Labour is already talking about ‘bankers’ as though they are demons).
It doesn’t take too much imagination to see into the future – under either horror, Corbyn or Johnson - and see things getting much worse. Turmoil and chaos are rarely good for the Jews. And if you still think it's all a fuss about nothing, just think about Corbyn and McDonnell acting like this because Johnson's shown them there's nothing to stop them.
At New Year we pray for peace in our city, because if the city has peace and prosperity then we are safer. Pray hard this year. We’re going to need all the help we can get.
