Whom the Gods wish to destroy ....
The Labour party and UKIP seem to be having a competition to see which can run the most destructive leadership contest.
Allies of the former leader Nigel Farage and supporters of would be candidate to succeed him Steven Woolfe have been threatening to "declare war" on their opponents within UKIP, with three members of UKIP's national executive resigning in protest.
They issued an excoriating letter of resignation accusing the majority on the committee of putting “personal ambitions, loyalties and jealousies at the heart of their decision-making” and displaying “escalating megalomania”.
Meanwhile the Labour leadership contest continues to get increasingly nasty: challenger Own Smith alleges that there will be a "disastrous split" in the party if Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected.
He may of course be right about that: there could also be a split if Smith himself wins.
The things which really frightens me about all this is that the country actually does need a credible opposition and it is generally best if this does not come from the government's own backbenches, especially where the government only has a majority of 12.
The Conservatives have some huge challenges to steer the country through and make a success of Brexit. We cannot afford an atom of complacency and we particularly cannot afford to conclude that because several opposition parties seem hellbent on making themselves irrelevant it would be OK of the Conservatives started fighting among ourselves.
Allies of the former leader Nigel Farage and supporters of would be candidate to succeed him Steven Woolfe have been threatening to "declare war" on their opponents within UKIP, with three members of UKIP's national executive resigning in protest.
They issued an excoriating letter of resignation accusing the majority on the committee of putting “personal ambitions, loyalties and jealousies at the heart of their decision-making” and displaying “escalating megalomania”.
Meanwhile the Labour leadership contest continues to get increasingly nasty: challenger Own Smith alleges that there will be a "disastrous split" in the party if Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected.
He may of course be right about that: there could also be a split if Smith himself wins.
The things which really frightens me about all this is that the country actually does need a credible opposition and it is generally best if this does not come from the government's own backbenches, especially where the government only has a majority of 12.
The Conservatives have some huge challenges to steer the country through and make a success of Brexit. We cannot afford an atom of complacency and we particularly cannot afford to conclude that because several opposition parties seem hellbent on making themselves irrelevant it would be OK of the Conservatives started fighting among ourselves.
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