FOR a chilly glimpse of a coming Labour government, read the diary of shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves. Not her personal journal, of course, but the weekly guest column in the New Statesman. Her contribution to the Fabian/New Left bulletin is subtitled: ‘At Davos, there are two challenges: fixing the global economy, and walking in snow boots’. Keir Hardie must be turning in his grave.
Yes, Reeves went to the World Economic Forum shindig in the Swiss mountains, with great leader Sir Keir Starmer (named after the founder of the Labour political movement). The duo assured the high and mighty that ‘with Labour in government Britain will be open for business again’. Labour has evolved through three stages, from parochial socialism in the post-war decades, to Eurofanaticism under Tony Blair, and now to globalism.
Sir Keir, as a member of the Trilateral Commission, is a keen advocate of technocracy. He pushed for harder lockdown during the purported pandemic, and he promoted not only mass vaccination but also the ethically dubious and segregating intervention of vaccine passports. And he is a climate change cultist. In an interview with Emily Maitlis, Starmer was asked which he preferred, Westminster or Davos? He chose the latter: ‘Once you get out of Westminster, whether it’s Davos or anywhere else, you actually engage with people that you can see working with in the future. Westminster is just a tribal shouting place.’
Debate is fundamental to democracy, but former barrister Starmer is post-ideological and post-democratic. He is a sophisticate of progressive values and PR messaging, not argy-bargy. Let the experts decide: they know what’s best. As Reeves recounted from her alpine trip: ‘Keir and I were there to talk about our Green Prosperity Plan, our mission to invest in the climate transition and in our energy security . . . We know one country is going to be the global leader when it comes to electric cars, renewables and the technology we need to fight climate breakdown. Why shouldn’t it be Britain?’
Labour maintains the pretence of caring about ordinary people while actively pursuing their impoverishment. Reeves pays lip service to her working-class Leeds constituents by highlighting their struggle with heating bills. But little of the windfall tax on energy companies that she promises will reach the pockets of the poor (and then only for compliant smart-meter users). Reeves berates the Conservative administration for moving at a snail’s pace on the Net Zero agenda. By contrast, ‘Labour will deliver a zero-carbon power system by 2030’.
Wrap up warm, folks. And prepare to own nothing and be very happy with life under Big Brother Keir. The Tories, however, should have no reprieve in ‘better the devil you know’. After the last three years of Covid-19 lockdown, economic recklessness, open borders and pandering to woke puritanism, the Conservative Party deserves to die, a persistent argument of Peter Hitchens which is now gaining traction.
What is the alternative? The Reform party seems to be the definition of controlled opposition, a release valve for disillusioned Conservative voters. Leader Richard Tice drew a scathing response to his article on TCW explaining why he denounced rebel Tory MP Andrew Bridgen for raising concern about the Covid-19 vaccines. Just when you need anarchic punk rock on the jukebox, you get the slick pop of Spandau Ballet.
The electorate mustn’t be fooled again by the false dichotomy of Left and Right. This is a battle of humanity versus a technocratic elite. There would only be cold discomfort in a likely Labour avalanche.
