Another chapter in this UK government’s incompetence as it is blindsided by its ‘closest’ ally.

The benefits of the UK’s special relationship with the US are at the best of times often exaggerated. Now under ‘the US is back on the international stage, cooperating with allies’ Biden, they seem as valueless as they were under Trump. How depressing. Biden was a post Trump, much needed breath of fresh air. An emboldened, far-right Republican opposition, (despite being the original author of this foreign policy disaster), to the Biden inspired Afghan chaos is quite frankly scary. We await the US domestic political fallout with trepidation.

But on this side of the Atlantic the UK government’s response to this latest debacle can only be described as complacency blended with ignorance and a seeming inability to influence any aspect of US foreign policy. The Prime Minister was on holiday as 20 years of Western efforts to stabilise and democratise Afghanistan collapsed. The Foreign Secretary was also on holiday, too busy to make calls to his Afghan counterpart. Add a further three Whitehall departmental chiefs absent on vacation and the failure of government foreign policy was complete.

Last Wednesday’s Commons debate was noticeable for Tory backbench criticism of its frontbench. Former Prime Minister May was scathing. Former soldier, Tom Tugendhat, gave a moving and devastating critique of the West’s actions generally and the US and UK in particular. This was not the post Covid packed House of Commons reception Johnson was hoping for. He looked as isolated there as his country is internationally.

Where does this leave global Britain? Having turned its back on Europe it has been knifed in the front by its staunch US ally. It seems a Democrat or Republican president makes little difference at such crucial moments. Britain is impotent on the world stage and such declining status is hastened by the lack of action from this third-rate government. Good, prominent former Tories like Rory Stewart, an expert on this unfolding crisis, are no longer members of the Conservative Party, and today’s Tories should be ashamed of themselves for this reason alone.

As for poor Afghanistan, abandoned to its Taliban fate by the West, the future looks grim. There is little to add to everything written, except one point only just surfacing. Whilst the frustration of Biden et al at such little ‘nation building’ progress is to some extent understandable, you cannot comprehend their belief that there aren’t sufficient geopolitical strategic interests to stay the course. China and Russia rub their hands with glee with China already eyeing up apparently US$3 trillion of rare earths there to be mined. On top of the Taliban’s control of the opium trade, it all spells further major troubles ahead.

And post Brexit, isolated Britain? Under Johnson, perhaps under any leader now, the Afghan debacle is further proof that this country continues to shrink on the world stage.

This represents a change of mind. I have always been wary of State funding of political parties. It feels too cosy, too unaccountable and may cause further alienation of the public from Westminster. No longer.

The FT and The Sunday Times have just undertaken an admirable investigation into the funding of the Conservative Party. It makes grim reading. Huge donations from a myriad of often obscure businesses require more scrutiny. Suggested links with Russian oligarchs, a ‘Tory Advisory Board’ for those who donate more than £250k, allegations of overly close relationships between property developers and ministers leading to favourable planning decisions, all interwoven with alleged conflicts of interest between the current Tory co-chairman and his business activities do not smell good, particularly when overseen by a Prime Minister who hardly makes financial probity a priority…

Then the Labour Party has its own issues. Struggling to get donations from business, it relies far too unhealthily on trade union funding which represented more than 90% of donations for the 2019 General election. This gives trade unions too much influence. The last blog referenced the importance of the Unite leadership election on the Party’s future direction in part due to it being Labour’s largest donor. It shouldn’t be like this particularly when only a minority of its members vote Labour in the first place. It simply hard wires the inability of the Labour Party to undertake the much-needed reforms required to modernise its offering to voters.

Finally, to the Liberal Democrats. Donations at the last General Election were a fraction of the other two parties (£1.2m for the LibDems versus £19.4m for the Conservatives and £5.4m for Labour). It neither has a firm base of business or trade union support. Tough you might say. It is a small party which has never governed on its own for over 100 years. But its parliamentary presence never reflects its share of votes fairly and many would argue we need to move away from the often-stale Hobson’s choice of the two major parties.

This country needs a better political system than we have currently. It has already been seen as not fit for purpose in managing the pandemic. The quality of politicians is falling and the choice of how we are governed is too limited. Voting reform and a written constitution seem huge hurdles to overcome but perhaps implementing an independent review of party funding is reachable.

There have been attempts to introduce reforms in 2006 and 2011. These involved a cap on individual donations supplemented by more state funding, but unsurprisingly self-interest meant such initiatives went nowhere.

Workable solutions are not complicated. A greater element of state funding which to some extent can replace corrosive uncapped external donations might at least breathe fresh air into our politics. It would, of course, have to be overseen and periodically adjusted in a truly independent way by a standalone body free from party political influence.

Certainly, maintenance of the status quo should no longer be an option. Something has to change and embracing reform would be a relatively easy win and positive for the body politic.