The prevailing sentiment among parliamentary Labour members these days echoes Edgar's law. It affirms that the extent of every hardship is only gauged in comparison to yet-to-come catastrophes. As the playwright lets the outcast offspring of the sightless nobleman declare in King Lear: “The worst is absent, provided that we are able to utter ‘this is the worst’.”
A Series of Intensifying Difficulties
Per Edgar's law, there exists no public opinion measure so dismal regarding the party that it can't be coming after one even bleaker; no budget prediction so terrible that the exchequer can't aggravate through conflicting messages regarding taxation; no doubts concerning the Prime Minister that can't be amplified by malevolent briefing regarding a contest for leadership.
Immigration Rules Declaration
Considering this situation, the latest revelation of strategies that aim to restrict the quantity of asylum seekers granted entry to Britain, based upon a notoriously mean Scandinavian model, went down better with Labour MPs than anticipated. There appeared glimmers of backbench anger but no conflagration of rebellion.
Hardening immigration policies is far from the party's natural territory, however the present arrangement is evidently broken while citizens are furious. The majority of representatives comprehend the reasoning that acceptance and intercommunal harmony are easier to cultivate if assurance exists that the nation's borders remain protected.
Increasing Dissatisfaction
Quiet backbenches can also be threatening. MPs have learned that all matters are debatable under an aimless chief with flexible principles. Today's declarations could be withdrawn tomorrow. There exists no necessity to charge forward when victories can be won via endurance.
A frequent grievance involves the leader is hardly managing the cabinet at all, having delegated policy decisions to his chief of staff. That isn't to say the head of government misses managerial vigor, he just prefers to avoid arbitrating in departmental disputes or participate in protracted arguments.
Management Method
The leader joined party politics at an advanced stage, initially becoming an MP at the age of 52. He has no feel regarding party traditions – the body of past debates, initiatives, figures and cultural references that bind a head to the larger group and its perception of collective mission.
His innermost beliefs stay concealed including to ministers. According to an experienced Labour figure puts it: “The leader is remarkably distinct in his role by creating the perception that his private opinions remain personal matters.”
Governmental Outcomes
The image presented representing the leader during the previous electoral contest has also not delivered its promised advantages: managerial competence resulting in societal regeneration. Assuming Britain possessed a two-party system, the recollection of previous difficulties under the Tories might prolong patience with Labour.
This foreshadows a massacre of Labour candidates in council and regional polls next May. It shall represent a time of great danger for the leader, if he endures that long.
Future Considerations
Missing from these evaluations is agreement on the identity of an alternative leader and their proposed policies could vary compared to present strategies. This defect regarding changeover preparations is cited by the prime minister's defenders as part of various arguments to remain with the current leader.
Although discontented representatives might recoil from such cautions, they also hear within them the recognizable, hollow knell of low ambition which causes hopelessness regarding present circumstances. It represents the noise of inability to characterize the leadership as simply a series of strategies for holding power.
Final Considerations
It remains challenging to summon loyalty toward such a purpose. The majority of representatives have tried. They have stuck with official positions, defended it on the doorstep, followed party discipline, accepted guarantees that their worries were considered.
Leadership removal involves significant danger, yet, might it be more dangerous than pretending that the existing prime minister holds responses regarding major issues that remain unmentioned? The literary maxim suggests prudence in ousting a current head of government. The replacement may turn out poorer.
“The burden of this sad time we have to accept; Speak what we feel, rather than expected statements.”
