Knowledge

Thatcher 2 – the sequel

As a feminist I’m thrilled that we have yet another female prime minister. It is a fantastic sign of our ever increasing modernising world and that women are getting the chance to stand up and show their strength, but did it really have to be May of all people?

Whilst I’m glad we actually have someone who is in a position to steer the rapidly sinking ship that we’re all clinging to, I’d rather it not be the most anti-gay rights, anti-equal rights, anti- working rights, anti-human rights, anti-privacy rights voters. So on the 4^th September 2013 May voted against calling on the governments to get more people into work and introducing a compulsory jobs guarantee and against banking reforms. She also constantly voted to raise VAT and against acting on soaring energy bills. She voted against building 100,000 affordable homes in 2013, voted against creating more jobs for young people funded by bank bonuses in 2011, in April 2016 she voted against proposals to reduce tax avoidance and evasion.

Yes, she may have been in office for the past six years but that hardly means she’s an appropriate candidate for Prime Minister. For the next two years Britain needs to develop some form of plan to leaving Europe and whilst he may not be the one dealing with that, he has now been appointed into our Foreign Office responsible for the relations between our country and those that we may need to be working with in the future if we want to survive. Yes May has decided that class clown and all round joke of Britain Boris Johnson is the best man for the job. Johnson’s many eruptions and indiscretions over his long career as a columnist will certainly be a cause for occasional embarrassment for Downing Street and, well, Britain in general and yet he’s now going to be the global representative for the UK.

Another interesting move by May is her appointment of Liz Truss into the position of Justice Secretary. Whilst her position in Environment, Food and Rural affairs was certainly interesting, with the first search result on Google being her ‘cheese rant’, does this really make her qualified for the Justice role as she will now be responsible for improvements to the Criminal Justice System and prisons? I mean I’m sure they’ll be very happy to be receiving local home grown meals, but I think there’ll be a little more to it than that.

Now, after four very controversial and rocky years for Jeremy Hunt in the position of Health Minister, May has decided to keep him on yet again… decision that I’m sure will make many junior doctors shudder and curse over. It has been suggested that there will be more strikes to come and with more and more cut backs to the NHS, should it not really be time for Hunt to take a hike? Obviously in the position that she’s in it’s better to seem strong as opposed to a push over but personally I feel it would be better for her if she listened to the people, given that’s what her job is all about.

Her most interesting appointment I’d suggest would be Andrea Leadsom, her most iconic recent statement being that “men should not be hired to do child care as they may be paedophiles”. I guess we can thank whatever gods that she’s not been appointed into health or education as we could potentially have seen a huge overhaul of the teaching and doctor professions. Many are now calling for her resignation and personally I feel that couldn’t come sooner. Now her position calls for her to ‘safe guard the natural environment, support our world leading food and farming industry and sustaining a thriving rural economy’ an interesting position for someone who voted for us to leave the EU and so drastically alter our abilities to trade our ‘world leading food’.

Now I’m not just going to sit here and list off every individual MP she’s appointed. I’m sure they all have their strengths as well as their weaknesses but I feel that in the wake of Brexit, and although I in no way agree with the decision, many people will find they’ve chosen to leave one un-appointed leader only to have gained another. In a country that boasts democracy and the people’s right to choose, I don’t remember ever voting for this anti everything voter and yet it’s she’s the person we’ll have in charge for the next four years as she’s said she won’t be calling for an early election.

I clearly don’t agree with May or her choices for the Cabinet, but I do recognise that she now has a hard job to do and I don’t envy her. I don’t claim to be any sort of politics expert, but as a citizen of the UK I feel somewhat worried about the state of our future and will certainly be keeping a close eye.