by Rab Bruce’s Spider

Yesterday, the newspapers were full of headlines proclaiming insights into what Theresa May really thinks of Brexit. This followed the leak of a recording of a speech she gave to some city bankers before the EU Referendum. According to this report, she was against Brexit because of the risks it presented, some of these having already come to pass in the wake of the Leave result.

But is this what she really thinks? This is, after all, the woman who told the triumphant Leavers that "Brexit means Brexit"; who told Nicola Sturgeon that Scotland’s views would be taken into account during Brexit negotiations but who then told the UK media that there would be a united UK stance; and who told the Little Englanders of the Tory Conference that foreign doctors would be booted out of the UK as soon as practicable.

Just about the only thing we can conclude from these statements is that Theresa May will say whatever she thinks her current audience wants to hear. Her reason for doing so is fairly obvious; she wants them to like what she is saying, which is political code for wanting them to vote for her. Of course, all politicians want people to vote for them and they choose their arguments accordingly. Few, however, so blatantly alter their opinions depending on the audience they are addressing. It is the sort of tactic which may have worked well in the Victorian era back to which the Tories seem determined to take us, but in today’s world, where every word and gesture is liable to be on the internet within minutes, all it does is reveal the naked cynicism and hypocrisy of politicians who change their views more easily than a chameleon alters its skin pigmentation.

NO doubt the BBC and other Right Wing media outlets will do their best to minimise the damage, but surely more and more people will soon begin to realise that all the Tories in general, and Theresa May in particular, are interested in is remaining in power.