For this particular article, I thought that I would run through the various elements of the shambles that is the Tory Government at Westminster. I make no apology for doing so as it’s become clear that this lot have now completely lost the plot. You may be thinking, ‘didn’t they lose the plot some time ago’? Well, you’d be forgiven for thinking that, but in recent days, Government Ministers and the Burst Couch masquerading as the Prime Minister, have outdone themselves in bringing this country to the brink of total collapse and the very real possibility of a summer which will be characterised by mass protests and civil disobedience. Let’s start with Northern Ireland

For the first time ever, an election in Northern Ireland was won by a nationalist party, Sinn Fein. For some people, this was only a matter of time in the making, and it has raised the very real prospect of a border poll in the future to determine whether the country should be unified or not. No surprise then, that the Democratic Unionist Party immediately stated that they would not be entering into any agreement to set up an Executive in the Northern Ireland Assembly until the Brexit Protocol which controls the flow of goods between Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland was torn up. Yes, that’s right, the protocol which was negotiated and agreed by the Tory Government and the EU.

Now, rather than wait and enter into negotiations to see whether a compromise could be reached which would see the Assembly set up and the people of Northern Ireland at least given some hope of stability and continued peace, Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, yes, she really is, stated that she would have no choice but to alter the protocol. In other words, the DUP ransom demand would be met, and the UK Government would be willing to act unilaterally to scrap the protocol as it stands. The EU has stated that it has no intention of re-negotiating a protocol that was agreed and signed in good faith and warned of a potential trade war should the Tories make good on their threat. Then there’s Jacob Rees-Mogg.

In an interview on the BBC, Mogg was asked whether the 100 fines which had been imposed on Downing Street reflected well on the Government. Mogg’s immediate response was that this was “a non-story.” Pressed on whether it was a non-story that thousands of people had obeyed the rules his Government implemented while their loved ones died alone, Mogg, with a completely straight face, said that perhaps the rules that were imposed were a little bit strict. In other words, the Prime Minister, the Chancellor, and shed loads of staff had actually been a bit hard done by. It’s beyond crass, it’s beyond parody, the man is a complete James Hunt.

Mogg has also had another brilliant wheeze to mitigate the effects of the cost of living crisis. He’s planning to cut 90,000 civil service jobs. That’s right, people are struggling to pay their bills and feed their children, so Mogg’s solution is to make 90,000 people unemployed. Apparently, this will provide the Government with around £3.2 billion. Asked how this money would be used to help those most affected by the cost of living crisis, Mogg sneered, well you’ll have to ask the Chancellor about that. In other words, it will probably be squirrelled away on some dodgy contracts which will be handed out to Tory cronies who won’t fulfil the contracts and simply stuff the cash into their offshore bank accounts. Now for the James Hunt of the week. Lee Anderson MP.

Lee Anderson is a former miner, and former Labour councillor who defected to the Tories and is now an MP. In a recent speech which beggars belief, he suggested that poor people use food banks because they can’t cook. The Trussell Trust are the main food bank charity in the UK. In 2010, they gave out 40,000 food parcels, by 2020, that figure had risen to 2.6 million. So, did 2 million people suddenly forget how to cook, or did successive Tory governments condemn millions of people to food poverty who previously could put food on the table? We all know the answer.

Enjoy your summer, it’s going to be a riot. ■

Did 2 million people suddenly forget how to cook, or did successive Tory governments condemn millions of people to food poverty?