A characteristic of the political elite most noticeable by its absence.
In the last few days we have witnessed:
- Oliver Letwin disposing of government papers in a public waste receptacle;
- Chris Huhne admitting 'briefing' against a cabinet colleague, Theresa May, whilst simultaneously being the object of a police investigation;
- Liam Fox admitting that his conduct as a Secretary of State had not been of the exemplary standard which is required of that high office;
- Jonathan Djanogly, Justice Minister, failing to declare a conflict of interest;
What the above four examples demonstrate is both a contempt for and arrogance of their political position. Coupled with that we have a Prime Minister who continues the pretence that he has a mandate to rule pretty much as he damn well pleases, even though he lost the 2010 general election. The fact he appears unwilling to punish displays of misbehaviour by members of his government is probably due to that same contempt for and arrogance of his own position. His government promise that they will work towards arresting natural climate change - a statement that makes his government sound like God, yet seems to overlook the fact that they are but a collection of very, very inferior men and women.
Not that those named members of the present government are the only ones guilty of contempt and arrogance, becuse that charge can be laid at the door of virtually every politician in the House of Commons. To paraphrase George Orwell, they are guilty of the most flagrant violations of reality because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, neither did they possess the expertise to deal with that enormity; and most arrogant of all they were not sufficiently interested in what occured outside their own little 'bubble' world.
