The prevailing mood among Labour MPs these days echoes Edgar's law. It affirms that the extent of any misfortune is only measured against unknown future disasters. As Shakespeare has the outcast offspring of the sightless nobleman state within the tragedy: “The direst is absent, provided that we are able to utter ‘this marks the bottom’.”
A Succession of Worsening Problems
As per Edgar's law, you won't find any public opinion measure so dismal regarding the party that won't be succeeded by a subsequent worse one; no budget prediction so terrible that the Treasury won't exacerbate via conflicting messages about levies; no doubts concerning the Prime Minister that cannot be intensified through malicious leaks concerning a bid for power.
Asylum Policy Revelation
In that context, the latest revelation of strategies designed to reduce the amount of refugees granted entry to Britain, based upon a famously strict Nordic approach, went down less badly by representatives than might have been expected. There were sparks of parliamentary discontent but no conflagration of rebellion.
Tightening asylum rules does not represent the party's natural territory, yet the existing framework is obviously flawed and the public is enraged. Most MPs understand the reasoning that tolerance and social unity are more readily developed provided there is trust that the nation's borders are safely guarded.
Increasing Dissatisfaction
Quiet backbenches may also represent foreboding. Representatives have discovered that each issue is discussable under an aimless chief of malleable conviction. Today's declarations might be reversed shortly. There exists no necessity to rush over the top when victories can be won by attrition.
A common complaint concerns the Prime Minister is scarcely operating the cabinet in any meaningful way, after assigning political judgment to his top aide. However, this doesn't mean the head of government lacks executive dynamism, he just prefers to refrain from intervening between ministry conflicts or engage in extended discussions.
Leadership Style
The leader joined political parties at an advanced stage, first entering parliament at the age of 52. He has no feel regarding party traditions – the canon of historical arguments, drives, characters and cultural references that connect a leader to the wider movement and its perception of collective mission.
His most personal values remain unknown even to the cabinet. Per a high-ranking Labour figure puts it: “The leader is remarkably distinct in his role through suggesting that his individual beliefs remain personal matters.”
Political Consequences
The image presented representing the leader in last year's election campaign has also not delivered its purported benefits: administrative capability leading to national renewal. Had the UK maintained a two-party system, the recollection of past problems under the Tories might prolong tolerance for the party.
This foreshadows a devastating defeat of Labour candidates during local and regional polls in the coming spring. It shall represent a moment of extreme peril for the leader, if he endures through that period.
Future Considerations
Absent in these assessments is agreement on the identity of an alternative leader and how their programme might contrast from the current government's agenda. This flaw regarding changeover preparations is cited by supporters of the leader among numerous justifications to continue supporting the existing prime minister.
Although discontented representatives might recoil from those warnings, they also hear within them the familiar, hollow knell of limited aspiration that induces despair with current conditions. It is the sound of inability to characterize the leadership as merely a sequence of tactics for maintaining position.
Ending Reflections
It is hard to inspire faithfulness toward such a purpose. And most Labour MPs have tried. They have followed established policies, justified it to constituents, obeyed the whips, accepted guarantees that their concerns were heard.
Prime ministerial ousting involves significant danger, yet, might it be more dangerous compared to feigning that the current ruler possesses solutions regarding major issues that remain unmentioned? Edgar's law recommends carefulness in ousting a current head of government. The replacement might prove more disastrous.
“The burden of this sad time we must obey; Express genuine emotions, not what we ought to say.”
