Planted by Water

I thought we’d have a slightly political reflection today, for a change!

So the Tories have rejected Ken Clarke. Are they mad? They have booted out the most experienced, able, affable and popular politician they have, and the one that the government front benches would have been most afraid of. I remember thinking when they first rejected Ken in 1997, and even more so in 2001, that they were consigning themselves to the political wilderness in doing so - he was their best hope by far. They may have done the same again, unless David Cameron really does prove to be the Tory Tony Blair.

It seems to me that the reason for rejecting Ken - as demonstrated by the ‘Anyone but Ken’ group arises out of the almost-irrational Euroscepticism that continues to dog the Tory Party. There are certainly many problems with the EU but isn’t it this rather narrow, ‘Little Englander’ attitude that has been really harmful to the Tory party? You may not care, if you don’t have much sympathy with the Tories, or if you are not interested in politics, so does it matter? Yes, because the success of parliamentary democracy relies on there being a strong and effective opposition. And parliamentary democracy is the best of a bad bunch of options for governing countries in a fallen world.