Songs bring back memories. For me the above brings back memories of childhood and that includes going to the cinema with Mum and Dad to see the film “Summer Holiday” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Holiday_(1963_film)). Mum was a great fan of Cliff Richard, as for her he seemed to be that perfect combination of features, a handsome young man with a talent for making so many people happy with his gift for music and yet a man who was a professed Christian who was able to live a life according to Christian principals and not bed every available woman who presented herself to him. Sir Cliff has never married which of course prompted the inevitable questions about his sexuality. Mother you see was a lay/local preacher in the Methodist church. For mother, bearing Christian witness was very much a case of “walking the walk” and not just “talking the talk”.
When first I heard the song it conjured up a happy vision of balmy carefree summer days. This was as a boy. As a man drawing his state pension, it still does. Today however it conjures up memories of happy holidays with Mum and Dad. Memories are important. They are part of what makes you as a person.
It has been reported that the holiday that Rishi Sunak is taking with his wife Akshata Murty and their two daughters Anoushka and Krishna is Mr Sunak’s first time off since he became chief secretary to the Treasury almost four years ago. It is therefore very important that this family has some time off for themselves.
The press report that Mr Sunak owns a penthouse flat worth an estimated £5 million in Santa Monica, California. Clearly, the Sunak’s have no accommodation issues whilst on holiday.
Do you remember the hoo-ha about Mr Sunak’s Green Card (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61044847)? A US “Green card” once abandoned/renounced can be reapplied for (https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/returning-resident-visas/). Such a process would of course take time (approx. 3 months).
Yesterday I returned to the much ploughed (by Moi) ground of the LGM (Little Green Men – who are probably not little, not green and not men) when I posted about the Greenpeace trespass at Mr Sunak’s constituency home. There are some curious and obvious aspects to this which I did not cover at the time. Today, I do!
Firstly, the apparent lack of security! Of course, one can say that a heavy presence by armed response police officers is not going to occur when the PM et la famille, are not in residence. However the “security services” (aka MI5 and Special Branch) will have taken adequate precautions vis-à-vis covert surveillance. In other words, I would be completely and absolutely “gob-smacked” if the “security services” were not aware that the Greenpeace activists would have “cased the joint” beforehand! These people would of course have been checked out and the “security services” would have satisfied themselves that these people were not the type who were going to plant a remote (mobile phone) detonated IED (improvised explosive device). Thus that these people were allowed to go ahead and plan and carry out their publicity stunt raises questions.
Secondly the timing: Greenpeace staged this in reaction to the Prime Minister’s authorisation of 100 licences to extract “fossil fuels” from under the North Sea. This was announced (by Mr Sunak) on the 31st July (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66354478). Presumably that meant that the Greenpeace activists had four days to organise this. This is dubious! Most knowledgable observers would suggest that it would need a longer period. Of course, the protestors might have “got wind” that the Sunak’s were planning a holiday and had prepared the publicity stunt some time before the PM made his announcement about the oil licenses and the protestors simply took advantage of the news. It would not have taken too much time to make or remake the banner they displayed.
Given the political situation “back home”, I would not be completely and absolutely “gob-smacked” were the PM to make a surprising announcement whilst in the USA.
Let us face it, many Tory MPs are now making plans for their future careers outside Parliament!
The Right Honourable Esther McVey, the Member for Tatton, her husband Philip Davies, the Member for Shipley, the Right Honourable Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Member for North East Somerset and Mr Lee Anderson the Member for Ashfield have all managed to line up jobs as presenters with GB News. Mention of Mr Anderson requires us to make mention of Ms Gloria De Piero the former Member for Ashfield (pre 2019) who had represented the Labour Party, Mr Anderson being her former office manager before he defected to the Tories. These five have been joined by the more experienced (as a TV presenter and as a politician) the Right Honourable Michael Portillo the former cabinet minister who left the Commons in 2005 being sometime Member for Enfield Southgate and later Kensington and Chelsea. I would have thought that with six former MPs, GB News’s capacity for employing ex-MPs is now somewhat limited!
You know, sometimes the wise thing to do is to throw in the towel and walk away.
The present state of politics in the UK is dire! The pursuit of “Net Zero” appears to be the Road to Economic Perdition. Unless of course “First Contact” takes place and the economy is transformed! Of course were it to occur, “First Contact” might not to appear to be an overwhelming panacea! In any event, it will more than likely NOT appear before 2030. Thus, whoever is in #10 Downing Street they are going to have to preside over a tale of woe until at least the end of the decade!
Maybe Mr Sunak is planning on manoeuvring the Unfortunate Sir Kier Starmer into accepting this very British poison chalice?
Were Mr Sunak to announce his resignation as PM and as the Member for Richmond (Yorkshire) from sunny Santa Monica, the Unfortunate Oliver Dowden Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Member for Hertsmere will become “acting Prime Minister”!
There is of course the education of the two girls to consider. In the USA, classes in the first semester usually begins in August and lasts until the end of December, including exams. The second semester runs from January/February to may-June. Winter vacation lasts 2-3 weeks, summer 10-12 weeks. Usually during the semester students study 3-5 subjects in accordance with their schedule. This year (2023), in California, the First Semester starts on Tuesday 15th August. In other words; around the end of the two weeks holiday.
Faced with such an unlikely but not impossible scenario, the Tories would be faced with going through yet another leadership election! Unless of course they opted for a “coronation” and sought to make the Unfortunate Dowden Prime Minister! However, the Tory party does not appoint the UK’s Prime Minister! That is the job of HM King Charles III! Normally the monarch is required to take the advice of the outgoing Prime Minister. However there can be circumstances where this is not the case. The King might decide to dissolve Parliament and call a General Election!
The chances are however that such will not take place and that we will see the return of Mr Sunak et la famille to Dear Old Blighty in a fortnight or so!