If one was asked to find two men who were or had been involved in the criminal justice system it would be hard to find a greater contrast that between the fictional Inspector Harold Francis Callahan (born October 3, 1930), nicknamed “Dirty Harry”, of the Homicide Division of the San Francisco Police Department and the real life Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer, PC, KCB, KC (born 2 September 1962), the Leader of the Opposition and formerly head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)!
The title of today’s blog-post and the video clip featuring the catchphrase, “Go ahead, make my day” is from the 1983 film Sudden Impact.
Why this title? Why this clip? And Why the comparison (betwixt Callahan & Starmer)?
Because of the Tory plotting!
The Tories are planning a “Palace Coup” to dethrone the Unfortunate Sunak and replace him with Ms Mordaunt! Why Ms Mordaunt? Fate. This because the hand of fate delivered for Ms Mordaunt! The death of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second brought about the Ascension Ceremony that was for the first time broadcast. This showed Ms Mordaunt in a prominent leadership role. Then there was the Coronation in which Ms Mordaunt played a prominent role.
You see, when it comes to electioneering, media impact is almost everything! Furthermore, Ms Mordaunt is expendable. Her task is NOT to WIN the General Election….. It is to ensure that the Tories become His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition – with as many MPs as they can muster. IF Ms Mordaunt can succeed in this task, she will have played her role; even if that role is (for her) metaphorically terminal!
There is talk of Ms Mordaunt being a “stalking horse”. I don’t think so. The plotters know that they could not go through the torturous and divisive process of another leadership election with its rounds and the poll of the Tory membership. This would have to be a “Palace Coup” with the Unfortunate Sunak vacating the scene and Ms Mordaunt stepping into his shoes.
Shakespeare put it best in Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII:
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’ld jump the life to come……………….
The Tory plotters have made mention of a “Contract for Britain”. Realising that replacing the Unfortunate Sunak with Ms Mordaunt will force a general election, the Tory plotters have come up with a plan! That is to have a General Election 100 days after Ms Mordaunt takes office.
This is a very clever move!!!!!!!!
Why?
Because it will hand a cleft stick to Sir Keir! You see, 100 days from today is Wednesday, 26 June 2024. But the Unfortunate Sunak has yet to be ousted. Let us say that the Unfortunate Sunak is ousted on April Fool’s Day, Monday 1st April 2024; that would mean that the local elections are 59 days away. The Tories would not want to hold an election on Thursday 27th June 2024 shortly after what will be a disastrous set of results. Of course, Labour would be delighted with this! Thus expect Ms Mordaunt to offer Sir Keir a deal. That the General Election is to be held on Thursday 11th July 2024 and that the local and mayoral elections are held on the same day. This would require an Act of Parliament to postpone the elections from Thursday 2nd May 2024 to Thursday 11th July 2024 – a period of 70 days.
To enact such legislation quickly requires the support of the opposition parties. Labour would have a choice. They could agree to the Tory proposal and have the election on Thursday 11th July 2024 or refuse. If Labour refused then the Tories would state that they had offered to discharge their “contract” with the people but were prevented from so doing by the opposition. The Tories would then feel able to govern until the end of the year.
My own reading would be that Sir Keir would agree to such a proposal.
In proposing this, Ms Mordaunt would know that her chances of serving the good folk of Portsmouth North in the new parliament would be remote and that in all likelihood she will go down with the ship that is the Tory administration! But, IF the Tories are still His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, she will know that her sacrifice was not in vain!
I know I’ve been a little unkind to Captain, the Right Honourable Mordaunt, PC, RNR suggesting that she likes dressing up – especially in a uniform. I do NOT however doubt the sincerity of her support for our armed forces and the Royal Navy in particular. As she ponders her political fate she will doubtless recall a real life sacrifice during the dark days of WW2. That was of the officers and men of the armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay.
HMS Jervis Bay was the sole escort for the 37 merchant ships of Convoy HX 84 from Bermuda and Halifax to Britain (Jervis Bay escorted a convoy from Bermuda which merged at sea with a convoy from Halifax, since larger convoys suffered fewer losses than smaller ones due to the relatively smaller defensive perimeter of the larger surface area).
When the convoy encountered the German “pocket battleship” (armoured cruiser) DKM Admiral Scheer about 755 nautical miles (1,398 km) south-southwest of Reykjavík, the captain of HMS Jervis Bay, Edward Fegen, ordered the convoy to scatter, and set his own ship on a course towards the German to draw her fire. The Jervis Bay was hopelessly outgunned and outranged by the 28 cm (11inch) guns of the German, but it attacked the larger ship with its guns, firing more to distract the German from the merchantmen than with hopes of doing any damage. Although the German’s shells ravaged Jervis Bay, and Fegen was wounded and many crewmen killed, Fegen and the surviving crew fought on until their ship was sunk. Captain Fegen and many of the crew went down with the ship. Jervis Bay’s sacrifice bought enough time for the convoy to begin to scatter.
Captain Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen, VC, SGM (8 October 1891 – 5 November 1940) was a true hero.