Sally Allen: Gloomy future with political system devoid of leadership

For me it has been a very tough week, and I have at least another three weeks of it getting even tougher.

However, I am sure my personal dramas will not be as bad as a lot of other people are going to face this winter. 

I have to say that I am somewhat baffled, because I have always thought that the Labour party was on the side of the poor. In particular, their focus, which they were shouting about before getting into power, was to help those most in need. 

And yet, their very first policy decision was to turn on the most vulnerable amongst us. With winter looming, when things get increasingly difficult for the infirm and elderly, they cut the winter fuel allowance. 

This thoughtless and cruel decision seems so far removed from the Labour Party Playbook of old. The saving the Government will make, will create little difference to the ‘black hole’ in the finances they keep referring to. 

And just for the broken record, I am fed-up with hearing every Government blame the former one for all the woes of the country. This pathetic blame game is played endlessly by each and every new Government coming into power. Boring. Think of another excuse.

The basic bottom line is that they are all rubbish at what they do and personally I wouldn’t hire any one of them to even clean my toilets. 

You must look back a very long way indeed to find politicians of quality. These days we only seem to be able to dip into a completely inadequate gene pool for our politicians. 

I feel sure that Ramsay Macdonald must be turning in his grave at the policies that Starmer and his crew are intending to launch. 

Nobody seems to have any principles left in politics, and to think that people have died for principles that they held dear and believed in. What a shower! And please note that I include all hews of politicians in my sweeping statement. 

Over the last few years, I have become totally apolitical in my views. No one party has the answers and sadly, as there is no natural leader in the whole of the House of Commons who can take hold of this sorry bunch, we will continue with inadequate, ill thought out and poor governance.

The only politician with any leadership skills, of course, is the highly controversial Nigel Farage. It must have been about 15 years ago that I met Farage at a lawyers’ Livery Dinner in the City of London. 

I was sitting directly opposite him, and we were in the same group, but I never really got to converse with him too much because I had two extremely interesting lawyers on either side of me, who kept me engrossed in conversation. 

What did fascinate me about him was his vast mouth, it is mesmerising close-up. In fact, rather Kermit like. 

Since then, Farage has evolved into a major player and, like him or loathe him, he is a brilliant orator and can very skilfully enthuse large crowds with his rhetoric. I don’t know anyone else who is currently in the House who can do that. 

Boris is the only other brilliant speaker I can think of, and he is not as good as Farage, who always speaks fluently and passionately without any notes. 

The Tory party should plead with him to become leader, it really is their only hope. With the other contenders for the now, rather shabby honour of leading the Conservatives, all somewhat lacklustre, the Conservative Party is likely to be cast to the annals of history.

The suffering that Labour is about to unleash on society, along with prisoners, ill-thought-out taxes and illegal migrants (not refugees who should always be welcomed to our shores) will very sadly have major repercussions for generations to come. 

Those currently in the Cabinet are so far removed from those in need, because they are all on fat salaries and expenses. Even Angela Rayner, who should know better considering the hardship of her youth, is not ruling out scrapping council tax discount for singles. Another target on the backs of the elderly.

Stopping the £11.6 billion spent on overseas climate change, and £8.3 billion on International Development Aid would do more good and fill the ‘black hole’ quicker than scrapping the fuel allowance. In fact, those two savings alone would pretty much pay off our debt completely! In addition, the Home Office is currently paying for 5,000 empty beds in hotels on stand-by for illegal migrants to avoid overcrowding at a detention centre amid high numbers of Channel crossings. 

What about our veterans who end up on the street? This is such a waste of money, as of course, are so many other things. Just far too many to list here! Politicians need to learn that you have to serve your own population before dispensing funds overseas. Charity begins at home after all.

On a happier note, my personal dramas although large to me are nothing compared to all the above. 

I am moving and all of you will know the stress, sheer blood, sweat and tears that accompanies that. 

However, I have been doubly clever because I have doubled the load by having to clear out my brother’s house all this week in London and now face at least two or three weeks doing the same here. 

Clearing my brother’s house has been emotionally draining and extremely upsetting, but it had to be done. I am sure you have all gone through this dreadful trauma at one time or another. It is so sad as there is no happy result at the end of it. Just the reminder that you will never see the person you have loved all your life again, and that they have gone forever, even though they are leaving the most wonderful memories. 

This is now the third time I have been through this horrendous drama, my father, my mother and lastly my brother. I feel deeply for all of you out there who have been through or are going through the same trauma. I have moved a lot of his memorabilia and possessions into our new house and hope to get some solace from that.

I am hopeful that the end result of merging the two households into one in a new home will be worth it all, but that is a long way off yet.