There is much talk at the moment of a standard of living crisis in the UK – with energy bills set to balloon to…

At this time there is also a leadership contest for the Conservative Party – which by extension means that the current Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) will be replaced in a matter of weeks.

Despite calls yesterday from the ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown to have all candidates discuss and establish a plan on which they can all agree – many Conservative MPs are saying that no action can be taken until there is a new Prime Minister.

This suggests therefore, that no governmental decisions can be taken during this leadership contest – so what would happen in the event of an invasion?  Who would be making decisions if the United Kingdom had to go to war?  Surely someone would?  Surely there remains some vestiage of government which can act in such a crisis?

If we assult that the answer to this is “Yes, someone would make those decisions” then clearly government can continue (to at least some degree) during a leadership contest.  This being the case – it is not sufficient for MPs to state that a decision cannot be taken, the question that must be answered is why they are not taking any action…  Does the current UK government not believe that the country is facing a crisis?  Or does it simply believe that this crisis is not sufficiently pressing that it can wait for 3 weeks?

This government has actively decided not to act.  I am not judging this decision, I am merely pointing out that the government cannot rely upon the excuse of a leadership contest for not acting – such an argument is entirely specious.