A Government that can govern

At 5.06 am this morning, Friday December 13, 2019, the Conservative party, led by Boris Johnson, passed the line at which he will have a majority for his party in the House of Commons. The only question still to be answered is how big a majority the Tories will have.

What became clear is that the majority will be at the very least, of a size that makes governing the country eminently workable. That is something no government has had since the days of Tony Blair.

For that, Mr Johnson deserves congratulations; he is deserving because he has consistently confounded his critics – he delivered a new withdrawal agreement with the EU; he has won a general election in his own right and can no longer be accused of being an un-elected Prime Minister. What is also clear is that – finally – the UK will leave the European Union.

But this election has not just been about Brexit and we sound a warning to the Prime Minister.

Your task is not only now to deliver the country’s departure from the EU but to also deliver a sound working relationship as a partner nation, one that can stand alongside the EU and work with it, relate to it and ensure that UK and EU citizens can travel freely to live, work and visit without let or hindrance. But there is more to it than that - much, much more.

Prime Minister Johnson has to re-unite the country and level up the differences in society; not level them down as would have happened under Jeremy Corbyn and his version of Labour. The PM has to deal with those things that Mr Corbyn rightly drew attention to; homelessness and the absurd cost of having a home; food banks and the price of merely staying alive; restrain the excesses of the agents of the state; to ensure that the UK can be defended against any form of threat, and yet so much more.

Most importantly Mr Johnson must remember that people who would vote otherwise have not ‘lent’ his party their votes. All voters lend their support and all voters are the ones in charge.

The politician must remember that they are politicians because the people say they can be.