David Cameron, our previous Prime Minister, managed to bring together a coalition government that achieved some good things, but his legacy will be one of disaster. In my view this is due to his lack of analytical thought. Maybe he just didn’t have the mental toolkit and training to analyse complex policy situations. He shot from the hip time after time, with precious little sign that he thought before opening his mouth. Now we hear that he’s considering ‘coming back into politics’. Please, no. His failures are too obvious.
A typical example is the commitment to ‘immigration in the tens of thousands’. A cheap sound bite, which an hour’s consideration with knowledgeable people would have consigned to the rubbish bin of political history. Instead, this nonsense has poisoned our politics for a decade.
He has a politician’s talent for finding a tactically attractive posture. But he failed. He refused to think and analyse the possible outcomes of his promises. He has a track record of rash and thoughtless commitments, and then sticking to them regardless of evidence and impact.
His ultimate crime against the United Kingdom was to offer a referendum without thinking about the conditions first. And then to be bounced from an ‘advisory’ vote to one where the vote would count and the result be respected. Resigning as Prime Minister was obvious, and necessary - he had already done as much damage as could be allowed.
We were talking in the pub tonight, and the view was that he should never be forgiven. Certainly, he should keep his head. It would only be fair if he wakes up every morning in the early hours screaming in agony as his conscience, if he has one, tells him what irreparable damage he has done to our nation.
