My good friend Johnny – horrifically self-indulgent column this week and I do apologise – at the age of 59 has just discovered Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Seminal work. Hunter S Thompson. Huge influence on a lot of journalists I know – me included – and author of one of the best politics books ever. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, about the American Presidential election between Nixon and McGovern.
You only need to read three books to understand politics: The Thompson one, A Choice of Enemies by George V Higgins and Julius Caesar.
The Thompson one is more fun: “Politics has its own language, which is often so complex that it borders on being a code, and the main trick in political journalism is learning how to translate – to make sense of the partisan bull*** even your friends will lay on you – without crippling your access to the kind of information that allows you to keep functioning.”
Perfect, no?
Anyways, I mention this because I wonder what Dr Thompson would have made of Liz Truss’ visit to Washington this week.
Remember Liz Truss? The Brian Clough at Leeds of Prime Ministers. Came in, redecorated, tanked the economy, left again. That one. She was in the US. Giving a speech to some Conservative think-tank.
Incredible, really. You’d think the most disastrous PM in living memory would keep her head down. But no. Out and about.
Nobody watched it but it was an incredible spectacle. Ms Truss blamed everyone else, and I mean everyone, for her being booted out. Nothing to do with being ill-equipped for the job, nothing to do with messing with the markets, nothing to do with any sort of policy. It was The Establishment.
It was a nothing speech. Nothing. But it’s a revealing insight into a couple of things. First, the fact it was hardly covered at all is something. A former PM resurfacing is usually a big deal but Ms Truss slipped under the radar.
Second, her choice of subject is indicative of the trend infecting politics at the moment. The economy crashing wasn’t her fault. It was Macron, Biden, the civil service, China, Russia and - God help us – “woke culture”.
Ring any bells? Carbon copy of Trump/Johnson, all that populist lot. Don’t engage with the argument, try to undermine the whole thing.
People are starting to see through it, though. Tories blaming the ills of the world on everyone but themselves. They have been in power – somehow – for more than a decade now. They don’t have anyone else to blame.
We’ll see at the local elections how fed-up people are. Then, hopefully, the General. Long way to go, though, and it’s going to be a tough few months. Hang in there.
