… and knows that honour must be the foundation of any future we might have.
The Background :
This latest little poem records actual events and an eloquent speech in the UK’s House of Commons in the Spring of 2015.
For a video of an excerpt of the speech, see : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32073791
For an article published soon afterwards see : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11497116/Who-is-Charles-Walker-Tearful-Tory-MP-played-as-a-fool-over-botched-Bercow-plot.html
The “last day” mentioned in the first line is a reference to the last day of the Coalition government under David Cameron, in March 2015.
There was a little plot in operation, involving a cast of Tory characters (see below) and aiming at the eventual unseating of John Bercow, still the Speaker of the House of Commons. John Bercow is another Tory, but is unpopular with some of his colleagues, presumably because he insists on keeping them as much in order as those Labour people on the other side of the House.
The plotters’ aim was to spring a Commons vote concerning the election of the Speaker, on this last day, when a significant number of the Labour opposition would already have left to return to their constituencies. But Labour got wind of it and held back enough of its MP’s. Also a number of Tories objected, enough to vote the government motion down.
The “honourable fool” who made the speech was Charles Walker, MP for Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, and Chair of the Commons Procedure Select Committee.
The “clever men” in the plot included the Right Hon. Michael Gove, Chief Tory Whip at the time, the Right Hon. William Hague Leader of the House of Commons on this his last day in post, and the Right Hon. David Cameron, our Prime Minister at that time, who was hurrying back from a meeting in Coventry, in order to take part in the vote.