The despotic and terrorising 19th-century Victorian mill owner in many 21st century Conservative ministers rears its ugly head in bully boy Dominic Raab.
It isn’t only the persecution of civil servants, although the independent report is damning on the vindictive former Deputy Prime Minister’s vile behaviour at the Foreign Office and in the Ministry of Justice.
From resisting food for hungry pupils during school holidays to smearing key workers fighting to protect living standards from soaring prices, or demonising poor households needing the welfare state to desperate refugees risking their lives to cross the Channel, hostility is the hallmark of 2023’s Tories.
They bend the knee to millionaire bankers while lecturing the masses to tighten their belts and be grateful for what they’ve got.
The NHS and state schools are suffering because Tories at the top aren’t sympathetic to public services, looking down on them as a cost rather than an investment.
The same applies to social housing and renters. The landlord mindset of many Tory MPs who are part of the rentier class by letting out properties is an echo of the despised mill owners.
But it is the aggressive attitude towards workers that most betrays the Conservatives.
The party of the latter day mill owners is not representing the interests of the grafters.
Rishi Sunak is head of a disintegrating UK Government that must divide to rule and will fight dirtier than ever.
Hopefully Keir Starmer won’t roll in the gutter with them again, punchiness no excuse for bad judgement.
Hammering the arrogance of self-pitying Raab and others will help put these mill owners out of business.
We’re still waiting for Labour to paint in vivid colours what a better Britain looks like. But anything would be an improvement on what we see now.
