The decision of MPs to reject the Assisted Dying Bill is, quite apart from being one of the biggest injustices of modern times, appears to confirm my longstanding suspicion that those on the fringes of politics are far closer in their philosophies than they dare to admit. They always attack each other vociferously, yet on so many issues they sing from the same song sheet.
My first experience of this strange phenomenon was when I joined the Labour Party in the mid/late 1970s, where I have stayed more on than off ever since. My politics have barely altered during the ensuing half a century. I was a Blairite before there was a Blair as prime minister, firmly believing as I still do in the third way of politics, bridging the differences between full-fettered capitalism and the myriad of comrades on the other side.
My first MP, who I saw a great deal of until he lost his seat in the Thatcher election landslide of 1983, was Anthony Wedgwood Benn, an elite establishment politician educated at Westminster School and Oxford University. Benn, who later called himself Tony Benn was of the hard left, yet was hugely respectful of, even reverential towards, Enoch Powell, the often openly racist MP whose politics were somewhere between the mainstream right and the far right, particularly when it came to immigration. Benn would frequently praise Powell and indeed was happy to campaign against the Common Market (later the EU) referendum in the 1975 referendum. It was the equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn sharing a platform with Nigel Farage in the 2016 EU referendum (which given his apathy on Brexit he might as well have done). The Assisted Dying Bill is a modern day example.
I have long argued that supporting Assisted Dying was both a non-brainer and not the business of people who don’t believe in Assisted Dying. If someone wants to legally end their own life because of their worsening health, amid acceptable safeguards which there were in the latest bill they should be allowed to. But the hard right and hard left once again met in the middle.
The few Reform UK Party Ltd MPs who bothered to vote (the Fagash Fuhrer Nigel Farage and his deputy, the posh dimwit Richard ‘Dick’ Tice didn’t) opposed the bill, as did most Conservatives. To be fair, almost as many Labour MPs voted against as voted for, but here’s the thing. Labour’s hard left MPs, like Richard Burgon, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Diane Abbott and Labour’s worst leader the wretched Jeremy Corbyn (Independent of intelligent thought) voted against, too. The horseshoe effect in action, voting against liberty and freedom, saw the extremes of left and right join forces. If you’re looking for a new party, Jezza (Corbyn), then why not have a word with your new found mate Nige? He’s just been given an extra £36 million. Maybe he could help you out?
They’re closer in many other things too. Google AI points out: “Soviet communism (far-left) and Nazi fascism (far-right) both relied on total state control, secret police, severe censorship, and the crushing of individual liberties, despite opposite economic goals.” It adds: “Both radical left and radical right groups reject mainstream journalism, labelling standard news outlets as corrupt or manipulated tools of the establishment. Far-right nationalists and far-left protectionists both oppose international trade deals and global bodies (like the WTO or IMF), seeing them as harmful to local workers or national sovereignty. Both extremes use intense anti-elite messaging, claiming that a corrupt ruling class steals from the common people and must be overthrown by a moral collective.” AI created words, for sure, but all demonstrably true. And now the forces of extremism have got together to wreck a parliamentary bill that would have made many people’s deaths more bearable. God, I hate extremes.
You know my broken record arguments by now. If you don’t agree with gay marriage, then don’t marry a gay person. If you don’t agree with abortion, then don’t have one. If you want to believe in one of the many available Gods, please do so but on no account get any privileges that I as an atheist won’t get and if you don’t agree with assisted dying then don’t deny it to everyone else.
MPs had a “free vote” on this subject but it doesn’t matter. Enough of them blocked the rest of us having the ultimate choice as to whether we should live or die. The comrades, the fascists, the religious bigots and every other MP who voted with their so-called consciences should hang their heads in shame. They’ve condemned goodness knows how many people to die unimaginably awful deaths, denying people the chance to die at a time of their own choosing. The horseshoe effect is here and it’s real and yesterday your Corbyns and Farages proved it beyond reasonable doubt. Tony Blair might have shat the bed since he left Number Ten but the political ideals he stood for still stand strong. The extremes prove that every single day.
