Welcome to the doom loop of Tory Britain: an austerity that kills, a democracy routed
As you may have heard, this country has a new ruler. Jeremy Hunt now sets the government’s course; Liz Truss is merely his barely-human shield. But very few of this week’s tributes to the “real prime minister” mention that precisely 18 people voted for him to take that job. That is the grand total of MPs who backed Hunt in this summer’s Tory leadership contest, from which he was ejected in the very first round. Out of eight contenders, he came eighth. “Who voted for this?” Truss was asked when she unveiled her mini-budget. As Hunt dismantles her entire programme we know who voted for him, down to their very names. They make up 0.00003% of the population.
Yet rather than dismay, what pours forth from the politico-media classes is undiluted relief. “It is just so good to have a grownup in the room, someone who commands respect,” gushes one senior Tory MP. Others praise the new boss as a “calming influence” on all-important financial markets, because they must be appeased and Hunt fancies himself as the gilt-whisperer.
In just over a week, the new chancellor will return to the Commons armed with £30bn or more in spending cuts aimed at restoring credibility with investors. For the vast array of politicians and pundits this is terrible – and essential. After weeks of City chaos, and scoldings from Larry Summers and the IMF, even the most liberal and tofu-loving of commentators have bought into a dangerous idea: that you can never buck “the markets”.
Behind this mentality lies a whole mix of things, including the very understandable schadenfreude that comes with watching the Britannia Unchained lot find out that the markets don’t actually love them back. And who wouldn’t find joy in seeing the double-breasted, vacant-eyed,
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