After completely misjudging the whole
Brexit thing last month and resigning as prime minister, David Cameron
found himself having to move out of the official residence at 10 Downing Street
sooner than he’d expected. That’s because the process of choosing his successor
went a lot faster than anticipated—like a couple of weeks instead of a couple
of months. Britain gets only the second female prime minister of its history.
Cameron left Number Ten yesterday after tendering his
resignation to the Queen, who thereupon “invited” Theresa May to form a government.
(Can I just ask: this photo was taken in Buckingham Palace,
the Queen’s home; why is she carrying a handbag? Why am I the only person
asking this?)
May moved in and immediately started making very interesting
cabinet appointments, including Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. BoJo
was one of the leaders of the drive to exit the EU, and May’s putting him in
charge of foreign policy. He can’t even manage his own hair.
She’s also proclaimed her intention to fight for those I
imagine she thinks of as “the little people” (and I don’t mean the leipreachán).
Looking with a studiously sincere face into news cameras she declared, “The government I lead will be driven
not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. We will do everything
we can to give you more control over your lives. When we take the big calls, we’ll
think not of the powerful, but you. When we pass new laws we’ll listen not to
the mighty but to you. When it comes to taxes we’ll prioritize not the wealthy
but you.”
First of all, coming from the ex-Home Secretary who gutted
the UK’s first responder infrastructure and who has repeatedly voted in
Parliament to favor corporate interests, this represents quite the turnabout in
her philosophy. Second, when she talks about giving people “more control” over
their lives, I’m thinking that means “we’re cutting social services even more
than we’ve done in recent years, so you’re on your own, losers.”
And as for turning a deaf ear to the mighty, and not prioritizing
the interests of the wealthy when it comes to taxes—pull the other one, Terri,
it’s got bells on.
Well, May’s the second female prime minister in British
history and she’s a Tory. She’s got to prove herself tougher than Margaret
Thatcher; there’s no escaping it. She could have been Mother Teresa instead of Theresa
May, and she’d still be measured against the Maggatolah.
Meanwhile, although she’s replaced Cameron’s team in the
cabinet and cleared out his kids’ toys or whatever (he and his family,
apparently are temporarily homeless, as their private house was leased in the
expectation they’d be in official digs for a good while longer), May has to
share 10 Downing Street with the resident feline.
Larry
the Cat was brought in from a shelter five years ago because there was a
four-legged vermin problem at Number Ten. While it turns out that Larry isn’t
much of a mouser—but has a bit of a rep for mixing it up with various other
political cats and police dogs—he does go a long way towards making the human
occupants look more, well, human.
(Tweeted officially by Cameron. Honestly.)
However, like Thatcher, May does not strike me as the sort
of woman who intends to share the stage with any creature capable of grabbing
the spotlight, including cute kitties. I think the RSPCA should keep eyes on
Larry, and if he doesn’t show up every couple of days, they should check the
back garden for newly turned-over patches of dirt.
And I'm starting a new Twitter trend: #PrayForLarry.
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