One thing I simply cannot stand is when politicians refuse to give a straight answer. They’re all at it. Being slippery and evasive is not exclusive to any politician or any party. Some politicians are worse than others, though.
Take Jeremy Corbyn. Please. The Magic Grandpa of the hard left pretends to represent a new kind of politics when the reality is he’s bringing the 1980s Labour Party back to life. Or is it death? Just last week, Corbyn was asked four times whether he regretted taking money from Iran’s state broadcaster Press TV and four times he refused to answer. He added to his evasion by lying about what he always said when he was trousering a small fortune from a country that viciously oppresses women and throws gay men to their death from tall buildings. But that’s not unusual for Corbyn. In August he refused to say whether Brexit would make Britons better off. Six times. And he then refused repeatedly to answer simple questions about the bombing of Syria.
Theresa May is, if anything, worse. She was asked in an interview whether a no deal Brexit would make Britain worse off (it would). She declined to answer. This is what May does. Whatever the subject, she avoids it. Ask Mr Google if there are any more examples and he will tell you there are many. Who do these politicians think they are?
I’ll stick with Corbyn for now and question why he is such a dodgy character. You either regret taking money from a government which oppresses people, or you don’t. The answer must surely be that Corbyn does not regret raking in his £20k whilst men were hurled to their deaths. Why wouldn’t he say whether he felt Britain would be worse off after Brexit? He knows, but he doesn’t care. He opposes the EU full stop and sees Brexit as being a golden opportunity to build hard left socialism in one country. If the poor bloody lumpen proletariat have to pay the price of Corbynism then so be it, as long as it leads to the promised land.
For what it’s worth, I’d like to see interviewers simply fail to accept evasion. I’d like to see Mr Speaker in the House of Commons hold the PM to account at PMQs. “Prime minister: you have NOT answered the question. You will answer yes or no or this session will continue for as long as it takes to get a straight answer out of you.”
These politicians are only in parliament because we put them there to represent us. If they refuse to answer questions, when they are our representatives, well that’s unacceptable. Whilst we understand that the likes of May and Corbyn are sub-standard politicians, it does not give them the right, I don’t think, to not answer the questions we have.
Politicians, they should remember, our our servants, not our leaders. And it’s time to stop the bullshit. Tell us the truth.
