I’ve often disagreed with Jeremy Corbyn but there are some of his comments from Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon that I want to welcome and pay recognition to today.
He said:
“I’ve often disagreed with [David Cameron] but there are some of his achievements I really want to welcome and pay recognition to today. One is helping to secure the release of Shaker Aamer from Guantanamo Bay and legislating to achieve equal marriage within our society. And I’m sure he would like to acknowledge that it was Labour votes that helped him get it through on that occasion!”
Arguably, if you leave the European Union out of it, that is a pretty decent summary of Mr. Cameron’s legacy.
Of course the House of Commons was filled with gushing praise for the outgoing PM today, as is customary, but when even the Daily Telegraph is celebrating Cameron’s “modernisation” agenda, it is worthwhile bearing in mind how he has presided over the leftward drift of the Conservative Party, which in turn led to UKIP successes, which in turn led to him having to promise an EU referendum, which in turn saw him having to resign.
The truth is you can only keep digging for so long before there’s no way out of the hole.
And that is Theresa May’s challenge now.
She has to prove – and she has it rather easy at the moment – that her Conservative Party offers something to grassroots conservatives out there in the country. I don’t mean Tory members or even voters. But the people who might balk at the fact that the last PM’s legacy can be best summarised by Jeremy Corbyn talking about the release of a terror suspect and gay marriage.
May doesn’t have any real opposition right now.
As Mr. Cameron barbed during PMQs, while the Conservative Party turned around a new prime minister in about a week, the Labour Party are still struggling to work out the rules of their leadership contest.
The same applies to UKIP, who really do think they can be the “real” opposition to the government given Labour’s disarray.
But UKIP has spent so long gawping at the other parties and chuckling about their misgivings that it has forgotten to keep its own house in order.
So a Remain campaigner, Theresa May, is the Prime Minister just a few weeks after Brexit, and she has no real foes to concern herself with.
Unbelievable. And to be fair, another thing worth holding David Cameron responsible for.