An open letter to Gagan Mohindra, MP for SW Herts

I have taken the time to review the Prime Minister’s apologia addressed to you and your fellow Conservative MPs earlier today.

Taking his points in turn.

The 2019 mandate that you jointly won, was in fact a contrived outcome built around the immigration boogeyman which appealed to the red wall voters, supported by the congealed attitude of many “old Tories” in the south-east, not least in your electorate. As a non-white UK citizen, how does this sit with you?

The resolution of the Brexit “crisis” could be likened to Fahrenheit 451 – manufactured, mis-managed, and flawed from the outset. The Brexit “benefits” have yet all to come home, but, as with homing pigeons, I feel sure that these will involve more guano than upside for the wellbeing of your electorate. What do your small business owners say about Brexit? Have you held surgeries on this topic?

The Covid vaccine rollout was at best a C+, not world beating, and comparable to the results in other industrialised countries, including the USA, which also produced two vaccines in the same time frame. It rolled out the program to a population six times that of the UK, without the benefit of an NHS – the very institution that Mr Sunak and Tufton Street wish to dismember. In fact the record on mass vaccinations is to the credit of the NHS, its staff and management – nothing to do with Downing Street, which only functioned as an ersatz White House to provide a confused and non-credible impression of control in those painful nightly bulletins. Notably absent is reference to the test and trace program which should have been grounds for mass resignations and enquiries on its own merit. Literally billions of pounds squandered, and in all likelihood with criminal implications in many cases; certainly, extremely poor stewardship of the public purse.

This myth of the lowest unemployment since 1974 is particularly galling. I was here in 1974, unlike yourself and Mr Johnson. Measurements, data collection, definitions in place at that time render the comparison risible. The classic concept, “lies, damn lies and statistics” should be aired here. To this point, despite record immigration “since Covid”, untold numbers of employed people have retired, resigned, or dropped out of the counts – the truth is you, as our Government – do not have the numbers. What gets measured gets managed, and I see very little management in place.

The economy has not reopened speedily. Have you tried to buy a car or a sofa recently? It should be agreed that the pandemic created a global supply chain problem, but the reliance on JIT procurement, the lack of investment in leading technology “smart” private business support by Government, the “Singapore on Thames” attitude underpinning the Brexit mantra has not supported the allocation of UK capital resources to anywhere close to an optimum long term national plan. This is because you have a Cabinet bereft of individuals capable of taking on these challenges. A CBI secret ballot on the competency of elected representatives would be enlightening. This continual fluff of the fastest-growing economy in the G7 is patently untrue, and frankly insulting. Instead, the Government has persisted in its denigration of permanent civil servants, questioning the their competence and loyalty - notably when they did tow the political line – Channel 4, Home Office, DEFRA to name three.

The Ukrainian conflict has provided Mr Johnson with a shameless cloak of righteousness, to the extent that Cabinet Ministers are on record with phrases like “while we are at war”. May I remind you that we are not at war. While the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces are inexcusable, and while the Ukrainian nation and people are fully deserving of our support, the sabre rattling and hollow threats from the PM and Foreign Secretary are merely a self-serving distraction at the expense of Ukraine. The focus should be on humanitarian and diplomatic aid, and coordinated military aid – working with NATO and the UN – not faded jingoism.

The Rwanda issue is a source of national shame, and I leave this for you to consider given your heritage and the high likelihood of the UK being judged negatively in histories to come.

The second page of Mr Johnson’s letter is - frankly - more of the same. It is a painful reading of promises and failings. Missing is the promise to bring back pounds, shillings and pence, but it does underline the pitiable backward-looking and indolent approach to Johnson’s administration, and that of preceding administrations during the past decade. The failure to manage the energy market (not the current crisis), over the past decade sowed the seeds of this price shock.

In summary, I believe that you can detect a pattern here of “Government by Netflix”. This Prime Minister clearly believes in his own script of Churchillian prowess tinged by the one-liner and metaphor on the basis that the hard work is not required. I feel sure that you have come across this type in your career? To Mr Johnson, life is but a joke. You may find that your voters are not laughing.

Gergory Ayres

Highfield Way, Rickmansworth