The day that did not shake the world but revealed a lot

This Green and Surprisingly Pleasant Land wonders why the governance of Britain is in such a mess

If you want a snapshot of Britain today and have a sneaking suspicion that there is no such thing as coincidence look no further than the events of 22 May 2024.

Because these events took place in Britain there was, of course, rain and water leakage providing  a typically damp backdrop.

Outside the glossy front door of Number 10 Downing Street the Small Rich Fella was literally drenched as he hopped up to the lectern to announce his own death sentence by calling a general election.

Not far away in a functional office building an unnecessary fire alarm was followed by the steady drip, drip of water splashing from the ceiling onto the sober suit of Sir Wyn Williams who is presiding over the inquiry into the Post Office sub-postmasters scandal, arguably the most infamous miscarriage of justice in modern British history.

So, in Westminster the deluge of rain signalled the opening bars of the death march which will progress ingloriously towards the defeat of the Tory government and the rapid exit of no-mates Rishi Sunak to the hinterland of failed prime ministers writing autobiographies with a remarkably short shelf life.

Over in Holborn the Post Office inquiry was ‘treated’ to a literal leak greeting the first appearance of Paula Vennells, the ex-Post Office Chief Executive who presided over the remorseless prosecution of sub-postmasters accused of stealing money from their employers, even when it was clear that the alleged missing cash was a consequence of a crummy computer system wrongly recording their takings.

What unites both Sunak and Vennells, besides the damp, is an insight into the rickety nature of governance in Britain.

Mr Sunak is a prime minister who only secured the job because the previous incumbent was so spectacularly incompetent that even members of her own party realised that a change of guard was the only way to stem the damage. She is now to be found in the darkest corners inhabited by swivel-eyed political fantasists. From there she regals them with stories of her fate as a victim of a cabal,  insisting that if mistakes were made it was most certainly not her fault.

Her unelected successor has picked up the mantle of protesting against the unfairness of the world after discovering that securing the top job is not the same as securing top friends. To make things right he has courageously tried defying Einstein’s famous maxim that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

In place of trying something that might work, the Small Rich Fella’s exercise of leadership involves clinging onto madcap schemes to ‘stop the boats’, blaming Britain’s many problems on foreigners and insisting that he has a ‘plan which is working’, except that it patently is not. The simple fact of the matter is that the average Brit is less well off today than before the Tories came to power 14 years ago.

Ms Vennells is the other side of the Sunak coin. She is a perfect example of the kind of person who thrives in the corridors of power, both the private and public sector, where she has wafted her way through an impressive number of jobs and influential roles, marked not so much by achievement as by her ability to impress other powerful people in a position to offer preferment.

Her unconvincing testimony to the Post Office inquiry consisted of dramatic tear-filled remorse, which was part self pity and much bigger part buck passing. Yes, she conceded, mistakes had been made but that was only because others had kept her in the dark, because she was ‘too trusting’ and because, well, how could she possibly be expected to know in detail about the organisation she was allegedly running.

On 22 May we discovered, although arguably we already knew, that the governance of Britain is a mess.

On the one hand is a prime minister so staggeringly lacking in self-awareness that he is seemingly unaware of presiding over a twitching corpse awaiting burial, hoping that it can be induced to rise from the grave.

On the other hand is the ex-boss of one of Britain’s biggest companies, once one of the most trusted in the land, created by the state to provide an essential part of the infrastructure. She excuses her many failures by underlining her ignorance of the company she was running and revealing a remarkable lack of concern to find out more. In her defence it might be argued that she is lying, not the kind of defence that usually goes down too well in a court of law.

Thank goodness that Brits are so phlegmatic and march to the tune of ‘mustn’t grumble’, otherwise the backlash against our leaders would be a lot more terrifying than loss of office or a slap over the wrist for causing real suffering to honest people who were not only working bloody hard but were being paid modest sums of money for doing so.

And, in other news, the rain continues, although there is a possibility of relief in the form of scattered showers.