Oh the joy of an undecided public brought tears of relief to my eyes. Well, how could one make up one’s mind about the best of a bad bunch. But I bet the liars are relieved that they did not have to live up to their false promises.
So where does that leave us? In the eyes of the country, fairly rudderless with a leader that promised so little and lost so much and a challenger who promised so much and doesn’t have to deliver any of it.
In the eyes of Europe, we are weak, can’t make our minds up about ‘Should I stay or should I go now’ and can’t even pull together to bring Britain back from the brink of failure. A far thornier issue.
Perhaps the Danish idea of consensual politics is a better bet, where the parties get together to create a 25-year plan, which they all buy into and then whoever gets voted in carries on the plan, with small changes being introduced. Can you imagine however the Theresa May Party; as that was ostensibly what it was, as the Conservative Party barely got a mention as the cult of one rolled on. Or even the delusional court of King Corbyn the 1st, where anything goes as long as we don’t get elected. God help us if Corbyn trips over his own beliefs.
So much self-interest, so much hate of everything red or blue depending on your view and so many empty vessels surrounding the real issue which are what about Great Britain, what does it mean to the country. Voting for the Fonz or Lee Mack would have been preferable as at least their comedy is honest.
With Danish politics, it is all pretty much straight forward with similar policies being delivered in different ways depending on the party in power. Each party comes into power with new ideas and innovations taking the main stage but following the main generic policies through. This bring 80% of the people out to vote.
A little leaflet goes through the door in many Scandinavian countries which says ‘This is what we spent your taxes on’, and it goes on in detail to identify where the money has gone. If we did that on a regression basis today, many politicians would have red faces or even end up behind the kind of bars that don’t sell G&Ts.
So where does it leave us? In a place where we should have gone many years ago.
Get the political parties in the same room behind closed doors and write a plan for the country for the next 50 years laying out possible tax rises and what they would mean for the people’s high agenda items such as the NHS, Pensions, Social Care, Schools, Colleges and Universities and give people the confidence that they need to believe once again that Britain could be Great.
Professor Chris Kemp is CEO of Mind over Matter Consultancy and runs Extreme Corporate Away Days for high performers.
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