William Hague

Iain Duncan Smith

Michael Howard

David Cameron

Theresa May

Boris Johnson

Liz Truss

These are the succesive leaders of the Conservative and Unionist Party of the UK since John Major lost the 1997 General Election.

The first three thankfully did not get the chance to inflict mayhem on the country but got progressively more hopeless and right wing. (Though it is a toss-up between Smith and Howard for both those dubious accolades.)

As for the last four, words fail me. Each much worse than his or her predecessor, but all inflicting enormous damage on the country.* An accumulation perhaps unparalleled in its history.

And they say this is the natural party of government?

*In Truss’s case that is yet to be fulfilled but I have no doubt it will be.**

**Note: I composed this post in early September. The damage wrought by Liz Truss has come to pass much sooner than even I expected.

I type this just after the UK has officially left the European Union.

Given that the Conservative (and Unionist) party has been in government in the UK for the majority of my lifetime (64% of it to be precise; a ratio of not quite two to one) a quote from The Who seems entirely apposite.

“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”

Or maybe this-

Stevie Wonder: Heaven Help Us All

I see Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps has been sniping at the BBC.

Well, sniping isn’t quite the word. Threatening would be nearer the mark.

If you recall before the last General Election I predicted this sort of thing would happen if the Tories were to win office. The only surprise is it’s taken this long for them to get round to it. Too busy demonising the unemployed and telling lies about the mess they inherited (the UK economy was growing in May 2010 when they took over. They immediately set that into spectacular reverse.)

In any case what have they to complain about? I rarely hear much criticism of the government or its policies on the BBC news. It might not be 100% suppportive. But it’s not supposed to be.

I read over the weekend that during the last government Gordon Brown was seen on the BBC twice as much as David Cameron – aka Mr Irresponsible. At the moment it’s four appearances for Cameron against every one for Ed Miliband. As I remember a similar ratio applied during John Major’s time as PM. (Now there’s the return of the undead.)

Whenever there’s a Tory government the letters BBC might as well stand for Bend over Backwards to the Conservatives.

For those of you who don’t know of her Ms Davidson is the Conservative Party’s Scottish leader. She has the distinction of being the first leader of a political party in the United Kingdom to be openly gay. Not bad going for a Tory.

Something about her demeanour has always nagged at me, though. She carries herself with a certain swagger, almost an arrogance. While watching Sunday Politics Scotland on BBC 1 one week I got it. The way she moves is exactly like Benito Mussolini.

I now keep expecting her to cross her arms over her chest and begin to nod as if sagely.