General Election Year and new Mayor of London imminent

 General Election Year and new Mayor of London imminent.

Already we can hear the decisive foot stamping of politicians, the pavements of Britain about to be pounded quite seriously by the great and good of the House of Commons. We've yet to be told the precise date of this year's General Election but it can't be that far away now. Then there's the small matter of the election of a new Mayor for London who, barring a miracle or so it seems, will almost certainly be Sadiq Khan who is now poised to retain his position against a huge tidal wave of disapproval and hostile comments.

But this is General Election year and if you were to believe some media and social media outlets, the Labour party will simply casually wander into 10 Downing Street without so much as batting an eyelid. This has to be the most calamitous Tory government in recent political history and you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Tories have just been walking around with their eyes closed, totally oblivious to events around them and convinced that come General Election day, the keys to power will be handed to them almost automatically. And yet a vast majority will wake up on Election day and simply give the Conservative party the bloodiest of noses. Of  that there can be no doubt. But public opinion may be misleading.

For the last 14 years though Britain has been subjected to the most feckless, deceitful, shifty, conniving, scheming, pretentious and downright patronising Tory government in recent times. These, it would seem are just the Tories good qualities. We've always known about the Tories overriding obsession with capitalism, feathering their own nest, hoarding millions of pounds away in private accounts and just treading on the downtrodden and working class as if they simply weren't there. We knew what we were going to get with the Tories and it almost became a self fulfilling prophecy.

The questions are innumerable and the inquests after the event have been deeply probing and embarrassing at times. The Conservatives were supposed to represent financial prudence, safe housekeeping, complete investment in the young and injecting vast sums into ambitious projects that would not only benefit school leavers and university academics but the next generation and future generations. Margaret Thatcher, for she was the one, once guaranteed potential homeowners their own property and then boasted about this notable achievement when council homes were confirmed.

Fast forward four decades on and  Boris Johnson committed one of the most horrendous cock ups that would ever befall any political party worth its salt. When Johnson became Prime Minister at the end of 2019, he must have thought it would be the proverbial piece of cake with plenty of chocolate and cream. Sadly, the global virus known as Covid 19 would destroy Johnson's brief moment of euphoria. For the next two years, Johnson would fabricate, prevaricate, totally mislead, lie quite naturally, make it up on the spot and then bamboozle even himself with the kind of language or lack of coherent language that you simply couldn't have made up.

Then Johnson eventually fall on his own sword, driven out of Downing Street with a barrage of criticism and facing the kind of humiliation that used to be reserved for deposed queens and kings during medieval times. Johnson was replaced with Theresa May, only the second female Prime Minister, who braved the elements honourably but then discovered that nobody was on her side when it came to delivering action on Brexit.

So, with an emotional croak in her throat and a hint of tears, May fell by the wayside before Liz Truss took over and the third female Prime Minister was in office for roughly the same length of time as the legendary Brian Clough at Leeds United. It may have been slightly more than 44 days but Truss committed the cardinal sin of making a complete mess of the economy with one financial statement that rebounded on her fatally. Now we were in the land of gross incompetence and ineptitude. The voters of Britain didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It hardly seemed to make any difference.

Now though Britain faces what look like the dying embers of a Conservative government. Rishi Sunak has now been entrusted with the job of papering over cracks, disguising himself as Superman and remaining steadfastly delusional against all the odds. He may be Prime Minister but the vast majority of the nation may already have made up their minds. Sunak reminds you of one of those cartoon figures who tries to climb over a wall only to find electrical barbed wire barring his way. This may not be the way he thought things would pan out for his Conservative party but no amount of bluffing will seemingly save his job at 10, Downing Street.

At some point the date of the General Election and the great British public will be requested to stroll down to their local village hall, community centre or school and cast their vote. In the old days they used to be confronted with that now distinctive black metal box that was so scratched and rusty looking that you half suspected that we were supposed to be voting for either Gladstone or Disraeli. During the evenings every TV and radio station will extend saturation coverage to the General Election results in over 650 constituencies and in the small hours of Friday evening the new Prime Minister will take up residence in 10 Downing Street. It's a long, drawn out and laborious process but somebody's got to do it.

Meanwhile in London the new Mayor will also be occupying the hot seat in the early days of May. For those who regard this whole process as something of an amusing charade, it may be a waste of a lovely day. First there was Ken Livingstone, the former leader of the GLC, a man so vile and obnoxious in the eyes of those who knew what they were talking about that perhaps they simply imagined it. Livingstone became Mayor of London but, after a brief honeymoon period, became reviled and despised for his rabid anti Semitic outbursts.

Then of course there was Boris Johnson, who memorably presided over London's Olympic bid in 2005 and took great pride in admitting that he was the one who made it possible. After a  cheap but clever piece of patriotic chest bumping, Johnston accepted the Olympic flame and the rest as they say is history. Boris was our Mayor of London, our saviour, the Old Etonian comedy act who left most of his audience distinctly underwhelmed. We all know what happened next.

So there we are Ladies and Gentlemen. It's General Election year but then we may be bored silly with that same old jingle in our heads over the coming months and weeks. Whatever you do don't forget to smile warmly when somebody knocks on your door and promises to lead you into the land of Shangri La with roses around your cottage, substantial sums of money in your bank account and lots of exciting opportunities for self improvement. Babies will be kissed inevitably and soap boxes employed almost repeatedly for momentous announcements about either the Conservative or Labour party turning our lives upside down. The soundbites and pathetic platitudes will just begin to grate on us because we'll all have heard the same message over and over and over again. But hey, it'll be fun.