As Nadine Dorries resigned from the Government, her resignation letter read like the synopsis of the book that she is shortly to publish. It was a very public letter although I have heard others describe it as personal but to me, it was written for the public and not for Mr Sunak’s benefit. From the cringeworthy claim of declining his phone call on his first morning of taking office it continued to throw shade as the kids would say, continually alluding to the book and how all would be revealed. The book appears to be a cross between Blair’s memoirs and Harry Potter with its tell-all gossip mixed with dark forces and the letter has succeeded in promoting the book across the country without having to touch a penny of the marketing budget, possibly the best idea that she has ever been credited with.
Sunak himself faces criticism from other quarters too. Not too long after the scandal where it was discovered that his wife was not paying tax to her husband’s government, more claims were made about his decisions significantly empowering the business interests of his wife. It was not surprising. Time after time we hear that businesses awarded contracts from the government have family ties or government shareholders simply because of the small circles they inhabit where from the days of their university education it has been a matter of who you know not what you know.
The by-election will be interesting to put it mildly. Because of the timing, none of the potential candidates are particularly well known outwith their local area and in by-elections it is generally the person who has made the biggest impact campaigning, rather than the party, that gets elected. Scotland’s equivalent high profile by-election is also very interesting. With Labour desperate for a win, they are throwing everything at it as are the SNP who are hoping to regain it. This one really could go either way – I would normally just assume SNP would get it but I know the Labour desperation and how it will be the doorstep impression that counts. I’m in two minds over this one; I sort of understand why it was called but if I’m honest, I disagree. While it was not latterly a SNP politician in the seat, it was an independence minded one and from all accounts a hard working one. I remember when she was well and truly in the inner circle and if this by-election doesn’t go in our favour, I do think that we will have brought it on ourselves.
If we were to unfortunately lose it, I don’t think it will have any relation to the next general election. I think we will have a much reduced share of the vote as people make protest votes to other independence parties to show their disillusionment with the Scottish government (perfectly understandable after the astounding length of time that we have been in power) but not enough of an impact to lose our current seats. In our own constituency we were unsure of whether the incumbent would be standing again as he often spoke of his impending retirement – that would have been a bonus to us as his replacement is not particularly well known outside of her own home area but a recent telephone call from a polling company confirmed that they would be standing again. It was always going to be an election that I was looking forward to getting stuck in to and for us to regain the seat but the opposition is obviously worried themselves now, so it looks like it will be even more entertaining!