Who Governs Now?

The British Constitution as we have understood it in the past has changed in crucial ways and there are few, notably in the media, who understand what the present situation is.

Firstly, we no longer have "Cabinet Government" where the Prime Minister and senior ministers form a small group at the head of affairs politically.  What we have is a Prime Minister with a team of highly paid appointed advisers and media operators.  These relate to the big beasts in finance and the corporations firstly and others secondly.

Other senior ministers, notably at present, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, might have parallel teams which may overlap and interchange with that of the Prime Minister but they are ancillary  and in effect subordinate.

Secondly, the House of Commons no longer represents either the people as a whole or the major supporting groups of voters of the political parties.  It is now largely composed of members of a professional political class who know little and understand less and seek to apply a body of theory that is divorced from real needs.

In terms of the structure of membership of the House of Commons, the first past the post system has never delivered balanced entries but the situation is now much worse.  The electoral system required updating regularly.  This has not been done and the membership of the House is increasingly at odds with the electorate.

The House of Lords represents nobody except the inner circles of major parties, the quangos, and the major corporations with a few legacy hereditary peers.  Because the appointments made in the past reflected previous situations it has become a vehicle for the opposition parties to prevent the government from governing.

Thirdly, in its most senior ranks the Civil Service is neither civil nor a service.  It is almost a form of business operation with many and various subsidiaries.  They are given policy guidance largely from financial and lobbying bodies that are now part of the system, who are also meshed in with top party ranks, but finally answering to the Prime Minister's team and other teams.

This is how the real work is done.  The political reports you have in the media and the press are largely of incidental, minor, personal interest and quasi entertainment elements that arise and are given publicity.  What happens in the Commons and Lords is either theatre or going through the motions.

This is the way "Botcher" Cameron and "Ozymandias" Osborne run the show.  It is not the same as Blair and Brown before them but an extension and expansion of their way of working.  During the period of the Coalition, 2010 to 2015, the Lib Dems ensured that there was more than enough blundering and stupidity to disguise the reality.

But none of the three parts above of the government system are in charge.  They might pretend or claim to be but they are not.  Because there is not only Europe, but all the other bodies in the world and obligations made, some using Europe as a post office, that not just limit but determine what our government can or cannot do.

For Ozymandias see the Shelley poem of near 200 years ago.  The good news is that this cannot last and any major crisis will finish it off.

The bad news is what is all too likely to succeed it.