Faster, Higher, Stronger — British Politics in 2016

Our post Brexit politics seem to be speeding up. The landscape is transforming so quickly it’s almost unrecognisable from that which existed prior to the referendum, just three weeks ago.

A week is no longer a long time in politics, it’s an age. Since the British people voted to leave the EU we have seen what is, surely, an unprecedented news cycle of resignations, leadership challenges, more resignations, scandals, reinstatements, withdrawals and more resignations. It would be unfeasible for a script writer to plot such events without being ridiculed a farce.

At time of writing, it has been announced Theresa May will take over as Prime Minister in just two days time. This follows Andrea Leadsom’s withdrawal from the Conservative leadership race earlier in the day after her dubious remarks about motherhood and its impact on a person’s suitability for running the country.

Meanwhile, last week, Labour MPs put forward a challenger to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership in the form of Angela Eagle. A leadership election, fought between the two of them, seems likely very soon. In between times, parliament will vote on whether to renew Britain’s commitment to nuclear deterrent. With all this going on, there’ll scarcely be time to enjoy the Olympics when they start next month.

Yet, in some ways, the Olympic motto of ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ feels apt. All parties are desperate to get ahead of their opponents in a breathless race to re-establish their credentials. The prospect of a snap General Election has acted as the starting gun on a sprint for electability. The underlying concerns of Labour MPs about Jeremy Corbyn’s appeal to the electorate have risen to the fore. Meanwhile, the Tories are clamouring to steady the ship by installing their new leader as swiftly as possible. In this, the Government has clearly stolen a march on the opposition.

But it doesn’t stop there. Following a General Election, there may be further disruption. A second referendum on Scottish independence is a possibility if Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon can’t secure her country’s relationship with the EU, and, lest we forget, Britain still hasn’t triggered Article 50, an act left now to Theresa May who, ironically, backed the Remain campaign.

2016, a year that has already seen the departure of so many talents of music and screen, is also taking its toll on politicians careers. Johnson, Gove, Farage: all have been laid to waste. By its close, we may not only have exited union with Europe but union with Scotland. The foundations of our country are already rocking, given the apocalypse of the first 6 months of the year, who knows what our world will look like come Christmas.

I cannot be alone in finding the rapidity worrying. It feels, very tangibly, like we are reaching a crossroads in modern politics and there’s a very real concern that, in attempting to rush head long into the near present, we may undermine the future, particularly of the Labour party, where a split seems a real possibility, something that could leave our current party political certainties in tatters.

Stretching the Olympic analogy to breaking point, it can only be hoped that, in the personal strive to claim the high ground as we approach the next bend, our politicians don’t lose sight of the greater good; that the white doves and eternal flames aren’t empty symbols in light of our determination to speed, knowingly or otherwise, into an increasingly unrecognisable and uncertain world.