The Dalek knight and a border poll

When I take down my well-thumbed dictionary and turn to ‘Hypothetical’, I find it’s something based on possible ideas or situations rather than actual ones. Like, if I came home drunk as a skunk and singing loudly, the present Mrs C would very likely lock the door and shout some home truths from an upper window. Or if I don’t put petrol in my car, I’ll probably end up stranded somewhere inconvenient.

I focus on the h- word because it’s one that the present leader of the British Labour party has used in recent days, and he has applied it to a border poll in Ireland. Sir Keir Starmer has said any questions about any referendum on a  united Ireland were “absolutely hypothetical” at present. He also said that he would “Make the case for the United Kingdom” in any future UI referendum – even though any such referendum wasn’t “in sight” right now.

There are two aspects of the good knight’s response that ask for scrutiny.

First, the hypothetical one. This is a stock answer from politicians when faced with a question which makes their little hearts beat faster and a spasm of panic run through their frame. They use it to suggest that asking a question about something that hasn’t yet happened is cloud-cuckoo stuff. Which is a response full of gas and foul smells. An awful lot of hypothetical questions – especially in politics – are important and require response. Ask Leo Varadkar – If Sinn Féin win the next general election, would Fine Gael form part of a coalition with them? Leo is quick to give a thumbs-down ‘No’.  If Joe Biden gets most votes and most delegates in the next US presidential election,  will Trump declare the election was rigged? A hypothetical – the 2024 election isn’t a reality yet, but the question of Trump’s response is one that should be pondered and action plans put in place should It happen.

The second aspect of Starmer’s response is that, having dismissed the idea of a border poll as an airy-fairy idea, he then makes it clear which side he’d be campaigning on. While the first aspect is misleading, this second is kind of outrageous.

The Good Friday Agreement has made it clear that if a majority of people in the North wish to merge with the South and form a new state, that will be facilitated. Meanwhile Britain is expected to be what it claims it is – the referee in the fight, the even-handed supervisor, the champion of democracy and local choice. Declaring he’ll throw his weight behind continued entrapment of the Irish people in the United Kingdom,  he’s making it clear he has little time for anticipated nationalist majorities – because don’t forget, the UI poll only takes place when the British Secretary of State believes a change in NEI’s constitutional position is likely to be won in a border poll.

Of course, Starmer doesn’t give a damn about the future of NEI, as long as it keeps quiet while he methodically rejects every notion of socialism that may linger in the Labour Party.

There are days when I feel sorry for the British people – they must choose between a mult-millionaire who’s been an ardent Brexiteer and a Tony Blair 2.0 who sounds like a Dalek only duller.

Please remember the Labour Party in your prayers.