BRITISH nationalism continues its descent into hard done by lunacy.
Former lettuce losing Prime Minister Liz Truss is back in the UK after her trip to the USA to address a conference of far-right conspiracy theorists who manage to be even more dangerously crazed than she is.
That is very dangerously crazed indeed.
A former British Prime Minister who (unaccountably) remains popular and influential amongst significant sections of the governing party in the UK was spouting deranged conspiracy theories about an imaginary "leftist deep state" and courting the approval of a bunch of extreme right-wing god-botherers who make no secret of their desire to end democracy and turn the USA into an intolerant racist theocracy.
Yet the current British Prime Minister is so weak and so afraid of the powerful faction in his party that worships Truss that he refuses to suspend her from a party that still claims to respect democracy.
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Truss told the approving crowd that the UK is run by a leftist deep state cabal which apparently includes the Bank of England, international currency traders, the Environment Agency, the Office for Budget Responsibility, and the Judicial Appointments Commission.
All these devotees of Marxism- Leninism conspired to bring down Truss's government when she was doing such an amazing job. She went on to include "trans activists" and "environmental activists" who are infiltrating the civil service as another important component of the conspiracy ranged against her. The delusion is off the charts.
Obviously it's going to be psychologically difficult for someone as vain and self-regarding as Liz Truss to accept that she will go down in history as the UK's worst prime minister in a list that includes Boris Johnson and David Cameron.
But that is why it is all the more important that those who are currently in charge of the Conservative Party do not condone her self-indulgent and dangerous delusions which risk bringing outright fascism into the mainstream of British politics.
Truss also gave an interview to Steve Bannon, Trump's former far-right advisor and the human embodiment of a diseased liver, during which she did not demur when Bannon referred to far-right race-baiter and convicted criminal thug Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, AKA 'Tommy Robinson', as a hero.
Truss also spoke about how she would welcome Nigel Farage back into a leading role in the Conservative Party.
In a self-regarding article published on the website of the American far-right 'news' channel Fox News, the not-disgraced-enough former prime minister claimed that agents of "the left" are active in the administrative state and "the deep state".
She wrote: "I saw this for myself first hand as they sabotaged my efforts in Britain to cut taxes, reduce the size of government and restore democratic accountability."
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Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow Paymaster General, on Starmer's front bench team said:
"It is anyone's guess what Liz Truss thinks she is up to, but we now know that she is spending her time hanging out with a bizarre cast list of far-right characters, while spreading conspiracy theories and refusing to challenge the idea Tommy Robinson is a 'hero'."
He added: "That Rishi Sunak still hasn't withdrawn the Tory whip from his predecessor shows how weak he is.
“By allowing her to bring these divisive, deluded and dangerous views into mainstream British politics, the Tory party is poisoning public discourse."
Lindsay Hoyle struggles to maintain authority at PMQs
The issue of Truss and Sunak's refusal to withdraw the Tory whip from her was Starmer's main attack line during Prime Minister's Questions.
This provoked a predictable retort from Sunak about Jeremy Corbyn, which was not the own that Sunak thought it was.
The most striking aspect of PMQs today was the silence of speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as MPs barracked, jeered and generally behaved like boorish adolescent public schoolboys off the leash in the pub having successfully brow beaten the bar staff into serving them a cider.
Hoyle's authority has evaporated and he has lost the respect of much of the House.
SNP MPs are in no mood to be lectured to by him, many Tory MPs smell his blood in the water and are circling like sharks, while Labour MPs know that the Speaker is a weak patsy who can be brow beaten into doing their leader's bidding.
More than 90 MPs, including all Plaid Cymru and SNP MPs, have now signed a motion of no-confidence against him. His position is now untenable.
Given that this all centres on Hoyle's contemptuous treatment of the largest party by far in terms of Scottish representation in the House of Commons, you might think the story would warrant extensive coverage on BBC Scotland news, instead there has been scarcely a mention of it.
Like the Tory party, Hoyle is a parliamentary lame duck who knows he's facing extinction come the next General Election. He's already thinking about being bumped upstairs into a cosy retirement in the House of Lords.
George Foulkes is at it again
Labour's disgrace to democracy George Foulkes is reportedly looking at ways to force an early Holyrood election should the Labour party overtake the SNP as the largest party in terms of seats won in Scotland at the next Westminster General Election.
Scots have a long history of voting differently in Holyrood and Westminster elections but Foulkes hopes to capitalise on a Labour victory in Scotland at the next Westminster election in order to precipitate early Holyrood elections in the hope of depriving Holyrood of the pro-independence majority that he loathes and fears so much.
The current Scottish Parliament has a mandate from the people that does not expire until May 2026. That does not change no matter what happens at the next Westminster election.
READ MORE: MPs sign no confidence motion in Speaker - see the full list
Foulkes has strived for years to ensure Scotland knows its subordinate place, and he is quite happy to override Scottish democracy in order to get what he wants.
He is as dangerous and deranged in his own way as Liz Truss, yet remains a full member of the Labour Party.
Like Truss, Foulkes is unable to accept the democratic verdict of the people when they vote in a way that he doesn't like.
If Starmer wants to criticise Sunak for harbouring anti-democrats in his party, perhaps he ought to get his own house in order first.
This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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