Gramsci summarised a political crisis as one where the old was dying but the new could not be born. He went on to argue that in the space created morbid symptoms appeared, or if you prefer another translation from the Italian, its the time of monsters
The Sunday Times reported (17th March) that as the Tories lurch from crisis to crisis caught between calling an Election before things get even worse and changing leader yet again to see if that helps, that the Tory hard right are organising.
On Wednesday 13th March there was an evening drinks reception in the Commons organised by Sir John Hayes who leads the self styled ‘Common Sense’ group of Tory MPs. Hayes is Braverman’s speech writer and she was sacked on one occasion (before her most recent sacking) for leaking documents to him
Around 20 Tory MPs attended including Liz Truss, paying a rare visit to the UK.
The latest Culture War agenda according to the report revolves around ‘biological sex and Rwanda’. Truss tried and failed to introduce a Bill on the former subject in Parliament last week.
Whether this group have the ability to seize the Tory leadership seems doubtful, but they are disrupters with plenty of media outlets ready to carry their latest rants.
They currently seem to have become fixated on the method of selection for a new Chancellor of Oxford University (Times letters 26th March). They are concerned that there is an effort being made to avoid an old white male Tory for the job. It does not seem on the face of it to be a subject which would motivate red wall voters.
A survey of Tory Councillors has found they’d prefer Penny Mordaunt as the next Tory leader possibly because she is ostensibly the least mad and malignant of the potential choices.
However 26th March also saw two more Tory Ministers James Heappey and Robert Halfon step down from their roles and signify their intent to stand down as MPs at the Election. The number of Tory MPs standing down is now well into the sixties.
The crisis as yet remains unresolved but when it is (up to a point) and the new is eventually born it may not look so very different
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