A New Prime Minister for 2019

A new Prime Minister is being chosen. Our constitution declares that the head of government will be he or she who can command a majority in the Commons, and is not subject to direct election, as one might select an American President. Week by week, Conservative MPs whittle down the shortlist until only two remain, the winner of which shall be decided by ordinary party members. I do not envy them their task. For a party that enjoys being tough on crime, a rather disproportionately high number of them have confessed to taking illegal, recreational drugs. The front-runner, Mr Johnson, is known for being a buffoon; Mr Gove, a former Education Secretary is loathed by teachers almost as much as Mr Hunt, former Health Secretary, is despised by doctors. The one who finally becomes the Treasury’s First Lord (the PM’s official job title) has the difficult job of exiting the European Union and raising Tory fortunes in the polls- they are currently fourth in a two-party system.

Across the House, nine years of austerity still don’t offer Mr Corbyn’s Labour Party a lead of any significance. While he continues to preside over a party which dips its toes in the foul puddles of antisemitism and appears to support rogue, foreign nations over his own (like Iran), he renders himself unfit for high office. 

Meanwhile, the good voters of Streatham in London continue to be confused by their MP’s shifting affiliations. Chuka Ummuna was a Labour MP last year. He then quit for join Change UK: The Independent Group. Last week, he entered into the spirit of the name and changed his mind again, becoming a Liberal Democrat. As a pro-European and moderate left-winger, this seems a natural choice. But he is on record as saying in 2014:

“I wouldn't be caught dead in a yellow rosette, and that’s a #chukapromise 

It would seem Chuka Promises are pretty worthless. I wonder which party he’ll join next. Of the Lib Dems he said, in 2013, “you can’t trust a word” they say. It looks like he’s found his political home after all.

British politics is all astir. Nonentities and clowns, anti-Semites and hypocrites all jostle to steer Britannia’s drifting ship. Some might say that politics is not the Christian’s business, and in some respects, they are quite right. Yet we are enjoined to pray for, and obey, those in authority. I therefore watch the current scene with a perplexed interest, while keeping a close eye on scripture’s warnings:

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;

But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29:2