Shropshire Star

More important than a game

An open letter to the Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP.

Published

During our correspondence of the last few months, I have often stated that this whole process of trying to get the Brexit deal through is no more than a game to the Prime Minister, the Government, you and your fellow travellers.

As the process grinds inexorably on, you must be reminded more and more of your jolly Eton days and the Wall Game – played in only one place in the world by arcane rules completely unknown to anyone other than the privileged, self-interested bully-boy players and their misplaced sense of entitlement.

The game begins with the players forming an appropriately named “Bully” (one couldn’t make it up), which crabs sideways along the wall, with players losing the skin off their elbows, hips and knees.

They push and shove each other with their bodies, but also place their fists against the faces of the opposition, attempting to lever them backwards.

Tactics include disrupting the opposition, obstructing the progress of an opponent, forcing him down, gaining possession of the ball or, occasionally, kicking it out of play.

So, we are witnessing the Tories waging a game of attrition, with the added variation of the Prime Minister “encouraging” her team by beating them about their heads with a hockey stick in one hand and a polo mallet in the other (no doubt with muttered advice from Boris, a former keeper of the College Wall).

However, there are some major differences between the Wall Game and your Brexit game.

Whilst nobody knows or cares about the result of the former, the people of this country care about, and will be profoundly affected by, the result of the latter.

We cannot understand how you, who are so far removed from any understanding of the lives and concerns of average people, have been given the right to have repeated opportunities to bludgeon your opponents into submission with the Prime Minister’s unchanged deal being brought back, again and again, for repeated Parliamentary votes over a few weeks, whilst denying a vote of approval to the people (heaven forbid that the oiks be allowed to participate).

One thing is certain: you are making a right mess of it.

If you “win” your game, it will be a hollow victory indeed.

We and our descendants will pay the price for generations to come. You will return to the comfort of your estate and your inherited millions and, no doubt, prepare your descendants for the playing fields of Eton.

John Burt, Lydbury North

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