A Government that can govern Part II
With all the results of the general election declared, the Conservative Party have a majority in the House of Commons of 80. This is a majority that makes governing the country eminently workable. That is something no government has had since the days of Tony Blair.
What makes the election result so remarkable is the number of former Labour seats won by the Tories. Seats that, up until now, could never have been anything other than Labour.
For that, Mr Johnson deserves congratulations; he is deserving of them 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, incorrectly or otherwise, of being an un-elected Prime Minister.
Whether some like it or not, Boris Johnson is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 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. His 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. That business and tourism continues.
But there is more to it than Brexit - 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, John McDonnell, Momentum and their 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, among other aspects of life today.
The PM also needs to restrain the excesses of the agents of the state, including the DWP; including the police yet at the same time, drive down the activities of the criminal minority; to end the devastation caused by untrue 'historic' allegations of sexual offending while still investigating those that are and doing so without bias or presumption - to reaffirm the commitment to the ideal of innocent until proven guilty; to end the pursuit of former servicemen and to ensure that the UK can be defended against any form of threat.
But there is yet so much more to do.
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.
Politicians must remember that they are politicians because the people say they can be.