So, the Supreme Court finally told Theresa May, that in order to restore the British Parliament’s "sovereignty" - since that’s what she claims to want - she has to get its backing. This is merely stating the obvious. But, it took four months for the courts to reach this earth-shattering decision!
Of course, it won’t change much. May won’t face much opposition in the Commons, since, for electoral reasons, Jeremy Corbyn has chosen to go along with the Brexit process. There may be some resistance in the Lords, where May hasn’t got a majority, but they don’t carry much weight anyway.
Nevertheless, in return for the vote she needs, May will probably have to agree to some form of scrutiny over the Brexit process - which she wanted to avoid at all costs. After all, for her, this process will be a balancing exercise: she will have to please her party’s warring factions, avoid exposing herself to the criticisms of the opposition, while keeping the lid on any discontent among public opinion. And the last thing she wants, is to expose the fact that in her horse-trading with the EU, the only interests she will be defending will be those of British capital!
Trump - helping hand or noose?
This is why May is so keen on making use of Trump’s megalomania. Hasn’t he put Britain "first in the queue" (but in the queue, nevertheless!) while hailing Brexit? And isn’t May the first head of state to be allowed to officially pay a visit to the "Great" man? Isn’t this proof that Britain is becoming "Great" again, as the Brexiteers had promised?
Well, not really. When a big shark like Trump, who now sits on top of the world’s most powerful state machinery, summons small fry like Britain to his dinner table, (with May rushing obediently to oblige) his aim can only be to swallow it! After all, hasn’t the "special relationship" between Britain and the US always been based on British subservience to US "great power" aims? Have we forgotten the war in Iraq and Blair acting poodle to Bush?
May and Trump are supposed to share common ground - promoting what they call "free trade". But what does this really mean? Nothing but the law of the jungle. In a capitalist society, which is ruled by the frantic race for profits between individual capitalists, "free trade" is merely the law by which the strongest wins. It is the law of the largest multinational companies, mostly American, each of which is richer than entire countries - so rich, that to all intents and purposes, they can afford to buy whole governments, lock, stock and barrel.
In this "free trade" neither May nor British capital carry much weight. For Trump, they’re easy prey - stray sheep who’ve lost the relative protection of the European flock...
Let’s deal with our very British Trumps!
Of course, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a number of British politicians, especially among the most bigoted Brexiteers, should be enamoured with Trump and keen to follow his lead - that is, of course, if we allow them to get away with it.
Trump’s first decrees were hailed by the British tabloids - not surprisingly, given their blatant anti-working class nature: these decrees initiate the abolition of the current health insurance system, freezing of all hiring in federal administrations (including replacing retirees), deregulation of workplaces, putting a ban on all visas for people coming from a number of Arab countries and forbidding NGOs in the poor countries, which offer abortion for unplanned pregnancies, from getting US funds.
Of course, Obama had primarily designed his health system as a huge profit booster for insurance companies. But it provided minimum cover for the poorest working class households. So they’ll soon have none. Likewise, Obama's administration had already made drastic cuts in public services - but Trump’s freeze threatens them with catastrophe. As to his visa ban, it is just an outright racist measure, branding the citizens of these countries as potential terrorists - when most recent attacks in the US were carried out by US citizens!
But there’s no shortage of politicians here, from Ukip to a whole range of Tories, who would love to take similar measures. Like, for instance, the 50 Tory MPs who declared their support for an anti-strike private members bill: against disputes such as the current one at Southern Rail, this bill wants all strikes in so-called "critical public infrastructure" to be authorised by a High Court judge and a 50% minimum service to be guaranteed!
These are the same people who are 200% behind May’s "red line" in the Brexit process - against migrant workers, wherever they may come from. These politicians and their rich backers are our class enemies, as are May, Trump and their capitalist masters. It is their rule that we, the working class, need to overthrow, if we are to build any kind of future for this society!