FACT NOT FICTION

OLDER readers will probably remember TV comedy The New Statesman starring Rik Mayall as Conservative MP Alan B’Stard which ran from 1987 to 1994.

According to Wikipedia, B’Stard was a selfish, greedy, dishonest, lecherous, ultra-right-wing Conservative backbencher who intentionally mismanaged a Tory election campaign so Labour would be blamed for an economic crisis.

During the period that the comedy was first on TV and then took to the stage, almost anything and everything happened to take the rise out of the Tory Party and politicians in general but even the writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran would have been hard pushed to dream up what has now become reality.

In 1865, politician and reformer John Bright said “England is the mother of parliaments” and certainly until recently, Westminster was considered a beacon of democracy around the world for centuries but sadly no longer.

The last 10 years or so have seen so many scandals and misjudgements by the UK parliament especially with the Brexit referendum that for many of us it reinforces the fact that we are lucky to have found a new home in our adopted country of Spain.

Naturally, not everything is perfect here and there have been plenty of allegations of corruption, nepotism and simple mismanagement but things don’t appear to be as bad as they are in the UK.

There will be a general election in Spain before the end of 2023 and there could well be some changes but whilst many are calling for a British general election now rather than another leadership competition, it seems unlikely when so many Conservative MPs face losing their seats according to opinion polls.

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