Sean O’Callaghan is an author. He was a senior member of the IRA. After becoming disillusioned with terrorism, he became an agent for the Irish police. His autobiography is The Informer: The True Life Story of One Man’s War on Terrorism.
The political establishment, comfortably indulging itself in an elitist myopia, largely do not have a
clue about how it is now mostly perceived by those who live outside the gilded cage which increasingly imprisons mainstream political parties, institutes, think tanks, traditional media, spads and lobbyists: in other words, the network that still believes that there is a central power point and a code that, once plugged into and understood, can be relied upon to make sure that things continue as they always have. Throw in a belief in innate British common sense and love of stability, and what there is not to worry about?
Conservative Ministers, the so-called ‘big beasts’, now complain that they were bullied, cowed and even denied access to the Prime Minister by two unelected advisors without it seeming to cross their minds that, if true, you might wonder about what calibre of people they are. Are they just stupid, supine or so stupendously greedy and ambitious that, senses dulled, they cannot comprehend the seriousness of what they almost allowed to happen on their watch?
As for the big beasts of the Labour Party, they have been outmanoeuvred, faced down, intimidated, and truly humiliated by a handful of dinosaurs from the extreme left at every turn. They have show themselves not just to be paper tigers, but little paper marionettes played and teased with by John McDonnell – and others that most in the establishment have never heard of.
This is what these political and strategic ‘geniuses ‘and ‘big beasts’ in the two main parties have managed to achieve. And their failure needs to be driven into their heads again and again, until it shatters the well-rounded pomposity that is their collective governing condition.
McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Andy Murray, Seumus Milne, Diane Abbott, Len McCluskey and those lesser-known people working with them have come very close to grabbing control of Ten Downing Street, the Treasury, the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, of Culture, of the Environment, MI6, MI5 and every other part of government and administration that you care to think about.
That is how close we came to throwing so much away. The primary responsibility for this lies with self-indulgent divas across the board who are far more concerned with protecting their own careers or interests or, heaven help us, indulging in “blue sky thinking” than they are about the national interest, which seems to me and many others to have the notion of service in its very gut – a sense that appears to be singularly lacking in most of these puffed-up and bewildered second-raters.
The absence of real understanding of the evils of communism, fascism and Islamism is endemic across class, creed and generation. The radar to spot bad things, bad ideas, is all but lost in a pampered society largely more concerned with selfies than possessing any comprehension of the dangers that lurk always in the depths of the human condition.
Hitler, Lenin and Islamist ideologues did not preach their ideas and thoughts to roomfuls of giraffes. They communicated them to ‘us’, and ‘we’ embraced them – or failed to see the danger in time, and consequently inflicted horror on ourselves and mankind.
When fringe issues – marginal even in the hideous world of identity politics – such as gender fluidity can come to dominate mainstream media, intellectual, academic and political debate for days, we are truly in trouble. And when conservative opinion-formers indulge merrily in this debate, as if they were bravely going over the top at the Somme, then flatulence and self-indulgence rule.
In this election, people in their mid-years who have always voted Conservative decided to vote for Corbyn, because they were ‘fed up’. These are people in comfortable jobs and homes who have never known real hardship in any sense – so they believe they can indulge themselves. And they have little fear or understanding of the possible consequences. The reality is that without a lead provided by strong and selfless leadership – and certainly not by the self-indulgent, self-interested positioning witnessed since the election – they may decide to indulge themselves again.
On the Conservative side, it’s blame game time, followed by: who should be the next leader? When should we go for an election? Who is in and who is out? Just show some humility and shut up. There is only one priority: keep the Stalinists, trots, Islamist fellow-travellers, gender and feminist lunatics and, yes, the young deluded idealists out of power.
The wolves are at the door, and any more indulgence of the ‘big beasts’, ‘strategic thinkers’ and parasites that got us into this mess will see Corbyn and his allies rampaging across Whitehall, doling out money and influence to ‘community groups’, ‘charities’, institutes, trade unions – their whole bagatelle of supporters and clients. And the repercussions for Northern Ireland and indeed the Republic simply don’t bear thinking about with these long-time committed supporters of the Provisional IRA in charge.
In the case of Labour, the single defining quality of most moderates up until now has been a distinct lack of guts. They can hide it all they want in clever talk of “strategies”, but the simple truth is that they have had the crap kicked out of them by McDonnell and co. They know, these people, how dangerous Corbyn and McDonnell are – and now they are falling into line in what can only be viewed as sad and pathetic attempts to either hold on to their jobs and influence, or else wait for a miracle. They will get neither, unless they fight and smash this alliance of Trots, Stalinists and Islamist fellow travellers that, for now, has the Labour movement in a stranglehold.
There should be no thought of elections or leadership contests in the mind of Government Ministers or the Conservative Party, Anyone indulging in plotting such nonsense in the face of the real threat from the extreme left must be smashed. Stay in government: don’t move. The longer this bunch are denied power, the greater the likelihood they will be found out. The inherent internal contradictions, flaws and fractures must be given time to be fully exposed. Labour moderates, more likely to come to the fore in the grass roots and middle ranks of the labour movement, must be given encouragement to fight back. Maybe even some of the moderate ‘big beasts’ might rediscover their backbones in such circumstances.
The political establishment, across the board, has got us into this perilous situation. It must face up to this brutal fact, and confront collectively the enemy at the gate. Whether that enemy can win power or not is a moot point. But that it now stands in a position of power and influence, unimaginable to the political and strategic ‘geniuses’ that have come to infest Whitehall, is beyond debate.
Sean O’Callaghan is an author. He was a senior member of the IRA. After becoming disillusioned with terrorism, he became an agent for the Irish police. His autobiography is The Informer: The True Life Story of One Man’s War on Terrorism.
The political establishment, comfortably indulging itself in an elitist myopia, largely do not have a
clue about how it is now mostly perceived by those who live outside the gilded cage which increasingly imprisons mainstream political parties, institutes, think tanks, traditional media, spads and lobbyists: in other words, the network that still believes that there is a central power point and a code that, once plugged into and understood, can be relied upon to make sure that things continue as they always have. Throw in a belief in innate British common sense and love of stability, and what there is not to worry about?
Conservative Ministers, the so-called ‘big beasts’, now complain that they were bullied, cowed and even denied access to the Prime Minister by two unelected advisors without it seeming to cross their minds that, if true, you might wonder about what calibre of people they are. Are they just stupid, supine or so stupendously greedy and ambitious that, senses dulled, they cannot comprehend the seriousness of what they almost allowed to happen on their watch?
As for the big beasts of the Labour Party, they have been outmanoeuvred, faced down, intimidated, and truly humiliated by a handful of dinosaurs from the extreme left at every turn. They have show themselves not just to be paper tigers, but little paper marionettes played and teased with by John McDonnell – and others that most in the establishment have never heard of.
This is what these political and strategic ‘geniuses ‘and ‘big beasts’ in the two main parties have managed to achieve. And their failure needs to be driven into their heads again and again, until it shatters the well-rounded pomposity that is their collective governing condition.
McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Andy Murray, Seumus Milne, Diane Abbott, Len McCluskey and those lesser-known people working with them have come very close to grabbing control of Ten Downing Street, the Treasury, the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, of Culture, of the Environment, MI6, MI5 and every other part of government and administration that you care to think about.
That is how close we came to throwing so much away. The primary responsibility for this lies with self-indulgent divas across the board who are far more concerned with protecting their own careers or interests or, heaven help us, indulging in “blue sky thinking” than they are about the national interest, which seems to me and many others to have the notion of service in its very gut – a sense that appears to be singularly lacking in most of these puffed-up and bewildered second-raters.
The absence of real understanding of the evils of communism, fascism and Islamism is endemic across class, creed and generation. The radar to spot bad things, bad ideas, is all but lost in a pampered society largely more concerned with selfies than possessing any comprehension of the dangers that lurk always in the depths of the human condition.
Hitler, Lenin and Islamist ideologues did not preach their ideas and thoughts to roomfuls of giraffes. They communicated them to ‘us’, and ‘we’ embraced them – or failed to see the danger in time, and consequently inflicted horror on ourselves and mankind.
When fringe issues – marginal even in the hideous world of identity politics – such as gender fluidity can come to dominate mainstream media, intellectual, academic and political debate for days, we are truly in trouble. And when conservative opinion-formers indulge merrily in this debate, as if they were bravely going over the top at the Somme, then flatulence and self-indulgence rule.
In this election, people in their mid-years who have always voted Conservative decided to vote for Corbyn, because they were ‘fed up’. These are people in comfortable jobs and homes who have never known real hardship in any sense – so they believe they can indulge themselves. And they have little fear or understanding of the possible consequences. The reality is that without a lead provided by strong and selfless leadership – and certainly not by the self-indulgent, self-interested positioning witnessed since the election – they may decide to indulge themselves again.
On the Conservative side, it’s blame game time, followed by: who should be the next leader? When should we go for an election? Who is in and who is out? Just show some humility and shut up. There is only one priority: keep the Stalinists, trots, Islamist fellow-travellers, gender and feminist lunatics and, yes, the young deluded idealists out of power.
The wolves are at the door, and any more indulgence of the ‘big beasts’, ‘strategic thinkers’ and parasites that got us into this mess will see Corbyn and his allies rampaging across Whitehall, doling out money and influence to ‘community groups’, ‘charities’, institutes, trade unions – their whole bagatelle of supporters and clients. And the repercussions for Northern Ireland and indeed the Republic simply don’t bear thinking about with these long-time committed supporters of the Provisional IRA in charge.
In the case of Labour, the single defining quality of most moderates up until now has been a distinct lack of guts. They can hide it all they want in clever talk of “strategies”, but the simple truth is that they have had the crap kicked out of them by McDonnell and co. They know, these people, how dangerous Corbyn and McDonnell are – and now they are falling into line in what can only be viewed as sad and pathetic attempts to either hold on to their jobs and influence, or else wait for a miracle. They will get neither, unless they fight and smash this alliance of Trots, Stalinists and Islamist fellow travellers that, for now, has the Labour movement in a stranglehold.
There should be no thought of elections or leadership contests in the mind of Government Ministers or the Conservative Party, Anyone indulging in plotting such nonsense in the face of the real threat from the extreme left must be smashed. Stay in government: don’t move. The longer this bunch are denied power, the greater the likelihood they will be found out. The inherent internal contradictions, flaws and fractures must be given time to be fully exposed. Labour moderates, more likely to come to the fore in the grass roots and middle ranks of the labour movement, must be given encouragement to fight back. Maybe even some of the moderate ‘big beasts’ might rediscover their backbones in such circumstances.
The political establishment, across the board, has got us into this perilous situation. It must face up to this brutal fact, and confront collectively the enemy at the gate. Whether that enemy can win power or not is a moot point. But that it now stands in a position of power and influence, unimaginable to the political and strategic ‘geniuses’ that have come to infest Whitehall, is beyond debate.