• HERE is an object lesson for any future Labour leader – dream up trite slogans and, having done so, stay light on policy and just keep on banging on about them in mantra fashion.

Now Jeremy Corbyn is removed as the straw man and hate figure in England, perhaps the prime minister will enjoy being in this role as hate figure in Scotland.

It is a pity that so many former Labour voters have allowed their votes to be bought off them via trite slogans and a dishonest claim of being out of the EU, all negotiations completed by the end of 2020, when the reality is far more likely to be years for any final stage(s) to be concluded.

As part of that dishonesty is what the Conservatives said about the NHS and its sister policy of social care. It may be the British government will be able keep the NHS off the table during any trade talks with the US and, if so, this will shouted from the rooftops. Rather less fanfare will accompany the quiet awarding of contracts for services in NHS to US firms.

Perhaps it is wrong to accuse the Boris Johnson government of dealing wrongly with the social care system in England as their manifesto had little to say on this running sore that has bedevilled successive governments.

What seems to be their policy on this? The answer would appear to be to outsource it to others to make the decision, never mind the urgency that should go with this.

What was that again about the bold decision-making promised by this government or is this more of “drift, dither, delay,” to quote one of the trite but successful phrases attributed to Dominic Cummings.

H BOURNE,
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