Call me stupid – you won’t be the first person to do so – but I am a little baffled at the decision of Tory MP Zak Goldsmith to resign his Richmond Park seat because the government has decided to build a third runway at Heathrow. We will get a by election now, which will cost the taxpayer at least a quarter of a million quid, in which Goldsmith will stand as an independent, though really as a de facto Tory, given that Theresa May has said the Tories will not put up a candidate against him. No. The anti-third runway will be opposed by the Lib Dems, who also oppose the third runway and, notionally, by Labour whose leader is unsure (who knew?), the puppet master John McDonnell is against, the London mayor is also against and the party is in favour. Or something. This is going well.
I am firmly in the camp that there should be no new runway at Heathrow or Gatwick for all manner of reasons. Firstly, because London is already in breach of EU legal limits of pollution. I know that if the thing ever gets built we will no longer need to adhere to EU limits, but that won’t negate the need to reduce pollution. And how about the 11th century village of Harmondsworth which will be demolished entirely? The £5 billion+ cost to the taxpayer (that’s you and me) and the near certainty that Britain will be unable to meet its climate change targets are also of some importance. I am sick to the back teeth of business interests coming before everything and everyone else.
If you are seeing Goldsmith as a man of principle, then think again. This is the same man who conducted a vile racist campaign against Sadiq Khan to be London’s mayor. He is a charlatan; a self-serving, self-publicist, just like his odious late father James Goldsmith. In short, resigning his seat is an act of supreme egotism. Two A&Es have closed in his constituency and maternity services have been cut. Too bad, says Zac. But a new runway? Oh, such principles.
Goldsmith says his resignation will be a “referendum” on the third runway. No, it won’t. It will be a by election. It may have escaped his notice but we live in a parliamentary democracy and it is parliament that makes these devisions. As we have already observed, the two main parties in this by election will be the Tories, via the laughably “independent” Goldsmith and the Lib Dems, unless a stellar independent figure emerges, which they almost certainly won’t. Between them at the last election,the Tories and Lib Dems attracted some 80% of the vote. One of them will win. What the hell with that prove? Wavering Tory voters are hardly going to cast their ballots for a Labour Party in intensive care, “led” by Jeremy Corbyn, are they, even if he was offering free money!
It’s a waste of time and it’s a waste of money. My guess is that Goldsmith wins, nothing happens as a result and then we have a decade long legal battle about today’s decision. That’s how things work in this country. Or rather, how they don’t.
