An Unhealthy Relationship

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

In my previous career as a divorce solicitor I was obviously accustomed to dealing with people escaping unhealthy relationships. Indeed, there were any number who sought advice as retirement loomed and they could not face the prospect of years at home together. I had never expected, however, to find myself in a similar predicament.

Nevertheless, on returning from the Isle of Man on Monday evening, I began to have my doubts and then last night sealed it. Never before have I been witness to such despicable behaviour.

We have disagreed over Yemen, with him insisting that the Government would never supply Saudi Arabia with arms that would be used illegally.

We have disagreed over measures to improve children's literacy, with him claiming that the problem could be solved if all parents (even those who are illiterate themselves) simply read to their children.

But, neither of those compares to how we have disagreed over Brexit, with him campaigning from the outset to leave the EU and then this year pushing hard for the option of a No Deal whilst failing to offer, in response to my invitations, any reassurance as to the well being of my family, friends, neighbours or even society at large.

You see I live in what is commonly regarded as a "pin a blue rosette on a donkey" constituency and have been disenfranchised forever. 

"They work for you," we are told, but in my case he simply doesn't.

At the end of August I sent him an e-mail telling him how I was appalled by the decision of the Government in which he is a minister to prorogue Parliament to avoid its scrutiny at a crucial point in the country's history. A written response was awaiting my return, advising me of all the wonderful plans the Government has for us and how a Queen's Speech and therefore the prorogation of Parliament was vital and in the country's interest. Seriously, it was like receiving my own bespoke election flyer.

Of course it failed to stand the test of time when the very next morning the Supreme Court held that the  prorogation was "unlawful, null and of no effect."

I think my MP owes me an apology but, after watching the scenes in Parliament yesterday, he can keep it. Some relationships, even those conducted in writing, simply aren't worth the effort.