Monday, August 19, 2024

US money will drag leading Conservatives further to the right

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Suella Braverman has made £60,000 on the international speaking circuit, says the Guardian. Reading between the lines of its report, this money was made over the last parliamentary year.

Braverman is not taking part in the current Conservative leadership election, but for most of that year she will have been intending to do so. And she will certainly have her eye on the contest after this one.

And if such a lacklustre figure can earn this figure, think how much must be on offer to the few remaining big beasts of her party.

If you're not sure, the Guardian helpfully spells it out:

Boris Johnson in, 2023 declared an income of £4.8m within the first six months of leaving No 10, including an advance payment of £2.5m for an unspecified number of speeches.

Most of this money is American, and a study of Twitter tells us what the American right wants to hear about Britain at the moment. It's that we are ruled by mullahs and all live in fear of arrest for saying the wrong thing.

If you're old and worldly like me, you may say that saying one thing to one audience and the opposite to another is one of the most important political arts. But it has become much harder in the age of the net and social media.

But the temptation to tell American audiences what they want to hear, and to earn the big bucks that this will bring, is will prove hard to resist.

Heard back in Britain, such sentiments will sound extreme, even unpatriotic. to most voters. And so the Tories' shift to the unelectable right will continue.

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