It's long been said that we've gone past the era of shame now. We're through it. Phew. What an awful relationship that was. Christ. Politics and Shame. Ugh, making us feel bad, judging us for our shortcomings. Toxic. We were probably a week or two away max from leaving shits in each others' beds. Which weirdly would be quite a shameful action. Anyway, I'm glad we've parted. No more shame. I can focus on me now. That said, it does feel like we've lost something. We mourn shame from Politics like it's some bygone musical genre. "Do you remember for those few, brief years when Politicians did that thing, what was it called, ahhh fuck, HUMILITY." "Ahhhhh yeah! I remember that STYLE, that THING they all got into... whatever happened to that?" "Meh, probably doing Butlins weekends with 2-Unlimited or some shit" Politicians no longer feel it. The Media no longer expect it. And we as constituents, as voters, no longer picket or riot in disgust at the poor conduct, or crimes, that traditionally would've pushed for it. Where once an MP having an illicit affair would garner sufficient pressure and indeed, political ostracisation, that the MP would - almost instinctively - do the right thing and resign - now they (and we) merely shrug. It's nothing. It's barely worth taking seriously. It's private. It's just politicking. In some cases there's smirks or sighs or outright dismissals. Meh-mbers of Parliament. "Bro, you got caught using your political influence to further the interests of donors instead of governing in the interest of wider society! WTF!" "Meh. Whatevs m8." "Hey, elected official, what the fuck were you doing, looking at porn in the chamber?!" "Pffffff, I think what the British people really care about is <insert diversionary subject they actually have no intention of fixing>" Whatever the scandal, honestly, forget shame, it's gone. But furthermore, there doesn't seem to be the slightest whiff of even vague embarrassment anymore. People do awful things and... nothing. I'm not even exaggerating and it's not even that new. It's certainly not confined to the vacuous leadership of Boris Johnson. Theresa May, for example, reintroduced Charlie Elphicke and Andrew Griffiths, both of whom had been suspended for sexual misconduct, in pursuit of support in her own Vote Of No Confidence. David Cameron continues to flog books and speaking engagements despite his most famous achievements being "plunging the UK into Brexit chaos and division solely out of a desire to keep twelve Conservative MPs defecting to UKIP" and "getting caught out lobbying Govt on behalf of Lex Greensill". This is a class of people who will literally molest children and try to cling onto another months salary to protect themselves from the trauma the episode might visit upon their bank account. They get busted engaging in cronyism and assume the standards committee can be disbanded. Bloody standards. The instincts of normal human beings to foresee, in Final Destination style, the disgust we would attract from others, were we to proceed with a particular course of action - is the type of built-in, pre-programmed, pre-shame that gives pause to regular people. But for modern Tories, that impulse appears totally absent. In its place? A synapse that fires endorphins at the sight of a thriving foodbank. They get people jailed in foreign countries and swan off to private drinks at The Lords Bar. They attend COP26 and commute home by private jet. They lie, get caught, move on and fuck off. But perhaps more amusingly, more positively - they ALSO care very little about the impact they have on their own club. It's funny, for a group of people who live by collective Whip culture, by their Oxbridge societies, their boarding school ties, their closed-door, almost-masonic 1922 committee; this odd breed of boat club bell-ends, always so quick to profess "I did what was best for my Party", are quite happy to ruin it if in the interest of self-preservation. The Party is the most important thing... until it's not. I guess that's the problem with conservatism. You can take a hundred psychopaths and put them in a room and they'll all agree that "looking after number one" is the priority. But that doesn't make a good party. Unless the theme of your parties is Squid Game Comes To Westminster. I mean, on the face of it they all have that sensibility in common, so it should be a good, tight, little club, right? "Oh, YOU would sacrifice YOUR firstborn for fifty-seven more votes in a marginal too? GIRRRRL, SAAAAAME! God, it's so nice to meet like-minded people. Shall we get Wine & Cheese sometime? I mean, I'd bury you in your constituency's marshes for a Ministerial Car, obviously, but it's nice to make friends, isn't it?" Not to labour the point, but if every one of them looks at society through a prism of "Me First", you have to wonder how long it'd take before they start fucking each other over, or sacrificing their principles to get a more senior position in the club, or breaking or re-writng the rules of the club to serve their own interests etc. You get the idea. If split-the-vote puritanism is the innate problem of the Left, then the Right have built-in backstabbing to grapple with. Shame brings with it a sense, or an acknowledgement, that there's something bigger than yourself to consider; that there's been an impact on others, through somebody's actions, either your own, or by proxy. It's the difference between "I feel shame that I lied to you" and "I'm ashamed to be married to this fucking liar". But both take-in the wider group, family or public's perceptions of unpleasant behaviour. But when you have no appreciation of a greater good, or the repercussions of your actions on others, what are you left with? When your sociopathic need for achievement or winning at all costs goes into overdrive and hurts others, do you resign in shame at your actions? No. Do you quit because you can't bring yourself to be associated with the person who does that? Also, no. You actually kinda wish you'd thought of reintroducing debt houses before he got to it. Prick. Fucker. Bastard. He's always two steps ahead of me. Maybe I'll take him out. What you're left with is a group of people who are willing to set aside others' wellbeing or stability for their own short term gain. Or lie. Or steal. Or support a Prime Minister if it helps them retain their Grace & Favour. People who clutch their pearls, not at the thought of dismantling democracy or lying to parliament, or partying while their constituents died alone - but "what if we lose the election!". They don't even attempt to fake empathy. It's just "What if *I* don't get re-elected because of this?" And inevitably it leads to chaos, betrayal, lying. It leads to careerist sycophants defending the indefensible because it keeps them in the job for another week; to a collapse in loyalty to those at the top. Eventually it reaches a pivot where the party as-is, is no longer conducive to the sociopath's personal needs. For a lot of Red Wall (and presumably now Home Counties) Tories, perhaps we're at that point? The bell-curve of support that climbed when they were benefiting from Brand Boris, from the bluster and the Brexit - has flattened and will now begin to dip, as they each begin to understand (not all will) the implications of continuing to nail their colours to the mast of a man who is polling eleven points behind, who has lost 500 councillors in local elections, who 68% of people agree is doing "very badly" etc etc Perhaps we're now at the point, finally, where those who are powered by "self" (unfortunately others are by stupidity), are beginning to see the writing's on the wall. Perhaps, just like the Windfall Tax - they'll make the right decision, if only for the wrong reasons.
