When the politicians abandoned Westminster, grabbed their buckets and spades and headed off for their summer holidays, it traditionally signalled the start of the “Silly Season”. Faced with a lack of serious news, the media would resort to reporting more frivolous stories, often involving animals doing strange things or long-dead former celebrities mysteriously putting in fleeting appearances in unexpected places.
The occasional item of genuinely important news might still intervene, but in general the Silly Season could be relied upon to provide August entertainment.
Not any more. Just as the old rule about oysters only being in season during months containing the letter “R” has been abandoned, so it seems the boundary around silliness has also dissolved. Even before August arrived, it had become almost impossible to make the distinction, since serious developments come bathed in frivolity and inconsequential goings-on are given huge significance.
A meeting between the president of the United States and the British prime minister to discuss, among other things, the appalling conditions in Gaza and the continuing Ukraine war, merges into a Fawlty Towers pastiche, although not even John Cleese could have dreamed up such a surreal scenario. One of the world’s most powerful leaders holds court at a golf course, mixing politics with business promotion, completely oblivious to any ethical considerations that might be associated with the office he holds.
While Starmer was suffering the indignities of being a bit player in the Trump sitcom, his chancellor was trying to demonstrate that the UK really is getting serious about backing business. She travelled to Cornwall, a popular spot at this time of year and an area with a flourishing population of “technology nomads”, people who enjoy being able to combine a surfing, beach-orientated lifestyle with an entrepreneurial online career.
So it seemed a touch unfortunate that Rachel Reeves chose the resurrection of a tin mine, South Crofty, that started producing more than 400 years ago, to demonstrate the UK’s renewed go-getting spirit that will be benefiting from the National Wealth Fund. She somehow managed to almost capture the silly season vibe while also spending nearly £30m.
Just days later, a former chaotic character from reality TV, who had originally found fame as a rock musician who took pride in being dubbed “The Prince of Darkness”, was celebrated with a funeral procession through the streets of Birmingham that would have done justice to a major civic dignitary. As the stately progress of Ozzy Osbourne’s cortege was dutifully covered as the lead item in some news bulletins, listeners were told how members of his family had stepped away from their limousines to regally accept the sympathies of the crowds who had gathered to pay homage.
Meanwhile, a story which should be very serious – a former leader of what was then one of the country’s two main political parties, a man who was vying to be prime minister, announces that he is setting up a new party – played out as farce. Jeremy Corbyn, for it is he, and his co-conspirator, the MP Zarah Sultana, have still to agree on a name for their nascent organisation and say they will leave it to members to decide.
This might be funny if only it did not have such potentially serious implications. If Corbyn can cobble together a slate of candidates for such a disorganised group by the time of the next election, more than a few people might vote for it, seriously jeopardising Labour’s chance of winning a second, albeit significantly reduced, majority.
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Conversely, Nigel Farage continued to say the silliest things without waiting for August to arrive, and yet he is taken remarkably seriously. Hence the leader of Reform managed to place himself at the centre of one of the main political stories to grab attention as Trump headed back to his US fairway. Farage declared that the Online Safety Act, which has just made it on to the statute book after a painfully convoluted process involving significant amendments, would make the UK “a borderline dystopian state”. This was clearly hugely hyperbolic.
Demands for limits on the dangerous content that can be peddled online to youngsters have come from almost all quarters. The law is not perfect and will, undoubtedly, have to evolve to cope with a changing environment.
The UK’s technology secretary, Peter Kyle, should have acknowledged that need for evolution. Instead, he gave an interview in which he blundered on, accusing Farage of aligning himself with the likes of Jimmy Savile, the notorious child abuser. Kyle had fed Farage exactly what he needed to hoist himself on to his high horse. He saddled up and started loudly demanding an apology.
Giving credence to anything Farage says helps to convince people that he, and his Reform party, are to be taken seriously. The fact that there are just four Reform MPs in the Commons, the other two having been suspended amid allegations of bad behaviour, seems to have no impact on voter sentiment.
Reform is treated seriously in the media, although it has few policies and lacks any experience of running things. That is beginning to change as the party now has control of Kent County Council where it is beginning to learn that posturing may not sit easily with practicality, particularly where immigration is concerned.
Faced with actually having responsibility for running Kent’s social care operations, the county council leader and the cabinet member for adult social care have written to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, voicing “grave concern” about the clampdown on work visas that the government is implementing. So while Farage is implying that immigration is a threat to society and responsible for the rise in rape cases in the UK, simultaneously his party is acknowledging the essential role immigrants play.
Reform gets away with such inconsistencies, and Farage is increasingly given the kudos of being accepted on his own terms as a potential next prime minister. And there is nothing sillier than that.
