One of Great Britain’s contributions to culture was the Carry On movie franchise – remember those cheeky rouges, careening around scripts loaded with innuendo, household names (like Sid James and James Robinson Justice) sprinkled with younger faces like Anita Harris or Jim Dale, giving us ‘light-relief’ from more weighty matters. Well, it looks like we are now in a new political paradigm. The UK appears to have lurched into government scripted by the Carry-On team.

We stand at a critical crossroads. The UK is experiencing some sort of nervous breakdown. Brexit has broken Britain.

Sid James is in No. 10, James Robertson Justice is the Attorney General, Jim Dale is in No. 11. Joan Simms (as Leader of the Supreme Court) is giving the PM a ‘hard time’. Kenneth Williams, as Leader of The House, will drape himself over the leather on the front benches as Kenneth Conner spanks the executive from the safety of the opposition dispatch box. Terry Scott, as deputy leader of the Lib Dem’s, will attempt to ‘get it together’ with the SNP’s Bernard Bresslaw and the Green’s Anita Harris. Hovering over this motley crew is Brexit Minister, the Chancellor of The Duchie of Lancaster, Charles Hawtrey, and the villain of the piece Dominic ‘Jack Douglas’ Cummings. Supporting cast include Barbara Windsor as the BBC’s chief political commentator, Lesley Philips presenting STV’s Peston program, and Hattie Jaques as Speaker of the House of Commons.

To some, this is the people verses the government, to others it is the executive verses the judiciary. It used to be the Tories verse Labour.

But, I think it’s a struggle for power between two ideologies; I think we are standing on the brink of a moment in time that will decide whether the UK maintains its long evolved democratic balance or whether we lurch, finally, into US style market driven unrestrained capitalism.

The Supreme Court, unanimously, pronounced the Prime Minister had illegally suspended Parliament. The Labour Party, the opposition, has decided at Conference to work towards a second referendum which will ask us to decide between a Remain position or accept any sort of deal other than a No Deal. But the government (wounded by the judiciary, without a majority, against the wishes of most of The House) looks like it will press on over the No Deal Brexit cliff edge feeling that it has the support of a majority of the UK population.

The way forward is not clear – nothing new there!

As the drama continues the stakes seem to get higher. A small cadre of right wing Tories look like they are willing to bet the house on wining the hearts and minds (and votes) of enough of us to crash-out regardless.

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I am about to visit another EU member state – Cyprus. But before I do I just want to say something about the situation here in the UK.

In my last Post I suggested that, ‘the new Westminster administration [had] made … a bold move’. Well, since then it has been difficult to keep abreast of the latest moves and counter moves in British politics.

Initially it looked like Her Majesty’s Government of choice had caught the Opposition Party on the hop. A bold move to suspend parliament that looked like it was designed to steamroller a No-Deal Brexit through at the end of October. Now this all made sense strategically as Johnson’s Tory government have put themselves squarely behind getting Brexit done – this would neutralize the threat from the Brexit Party, and squash the Labour party as they would look dithery (probably loosing core voters to the Liberal Democrats as they look like the Remain party).

This move caused general disapprobation and has resulted in a series of defeats for the government in the House of Commons, back bench Conservative rebellion, and further defections and resignations.

Parliament has rearranged the furniture and pushed through a Bill to make No-Deal Brexit a lot more difficult. This Bill got through by a majority of nearly thirty (astonishing considering the current numbers in the House – as the Tories have lost their slim majority; and the House has been unable to agree on anything).

The positions seem to be hardening, with the government willing to loose long serving Conservative MPs and put all their eggs in one basket (the Brexit at all costs basket). The opposition,, currently The Labour Party, are still looking a bit weak and were caught on the hop (again!) when the prime minister offered them a General Election – something they had been calling for since the last General Election.

The House of Commons will be hard pressed to maintain a No-Deal Brexit defense. They will also find it difficult to avoid the trap of an early election (which would suit the government as they could fight it on the single issue of being the only creditable party able to deliver withdrawal on the 31st of October), and negotiate a more suitable date for the next election.

Maybe the government has a secret plan that will see the EU give Mr Johnson the new deal he says he wants – he will be meeting the EU leaders on the 17th of October, or maybe he is just setting up a No-Deal crash out (which the government has been preparing for), or maybe he is hoping to change the numbers in the House by leading a new government that has the majority required to give him the whip hand.

There are a lot of ‘maybes’ in there. I still think Johnson and his close advisor(s) think they can push Brexit through on the 31st, as promised.

However, it could just be that UK politics is broken, democracy is dead, the only thing left is some sort of radical re-alignment of British political life. No one seems to be able to agree on a way forward, the country is divided down the middle, dark forces are gathering in the wings – it feels like a serious moment in UK history. This could weaken both the Conservativs and the Labour parties, it could fracture the UK (with Scotland pushing hard for Independence and the island of Ireland waiting to see what happens next).

I, for one, will be out of the country on the 31st of October testing re-entry for the sake of this very Blog (you’re welcome). But there is still much to observe, and learn, before then.

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