Diary: Government as Performance Art

Anand Menon | 11th October 2021 | Magazine

Anand Menon is back in Portcullis House - but ‘politics as normal' is distinctly absent

Back to... normality? Politics is back. I don’t just mean that my days are once again spent wandering around parliament chatting to anyone who’s willing to talk. Or that MPs are, once again, squeezing like sardines into the House of Commons. Nor that I’m still weary from conference evenings of warm wine and stale sandwiches in Brighton and Manchester. I mean politics – arguing about stuff – has made a comeback from its pandemic-enforced absence. Though, to date, I’ve signally failed to spot any sign of what could be called ‘politics as normal.’

Actually, I’m no longer sure what ‘normal’ even means. For one thing, I no longer know who the Tories are. Yes, of course, they’re the ones not wearing masks. So let me rephrase: I’m not sure what they stand for. Is it a big state or a small one? High taxes or low taxes? The Shires or the Red Wall? Chatting to Tory MPs of late, the lack of consensus is actually quite impressive. Indeed, it’s sometimes hard to avoid the impression that governmen...

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