Ukraine: Ugly, ugly political games

This appears not to have registered in the Western press at all yet, and is unlikely to be headline news, especially on the first anniversary of the London bombings. Last night, however, witnessed a new turn in the prolonged games to form a government, and a particularly ugly one it was at that.

Since you probably aren’t aware of the intricacies of the Ukrainian political scene, simply recounting what has happened is unlikely to mean much to you. Instead, let me illustrate things by way of a hypothetical situation in British politics.

Firstly, imagine if you will the following spread of political forces (for the purposes of this exercise, I have split the Labour party in two, which isn’t hard to imagine at the moment!). The comparisons between Ukrainian and UK parties are not very accurate, of course, but will serve their point.

- Blairites (contains head of state, now quite unpopular – Our Ukraine)
- Brownites (contains former colleague of head of state, now bitter and presenting themselves as alternative though their heart is still in a similar place – Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc)
- Lib Dems (party to the left, wobbles around the political spectrum – Socialist Party of Ukraine)
- Tories pre-Cameron (formerly used to power, has solid supporter base but can’t appeal more widely – Party of the Regions)
- UKIP/Socialist Worker Party (either will do for analogy with Ukrainian Communists – point is that they are on the extremer edges of political debate)

Secondly, imagine that three months ago there was an election that created approximately the following result:
- Blairites 15%
- Brownites 30%
- Lib Dems 8%
- Tories 40%
- UKIP 7%

Thirdly, imagine that the Blairites, Brownites, and Lib Dems agreed that they more or less shared some political views and could form a coalition together (especially as they had joined together in protests against the old government only a couple of years before).

Fourth, imagine that forming this coalition drags on for ages because Blair doesn’t want Brown to be PM, the Lib Dems want Menzies Campbell to play kingmaker, etc etc.

Fifth, imagine that eventually, after about two and a half months, they agree to form a coalition.

Sixth, imagine that at this point, the Tories barricade Parliament to stop it from functioning until some relatively unimportant demands about changing voting procedures are fulfilled.

Seventh, imagine that after long negotiations, overseen by the Queen, the Tories achieve their demands and Parliament is finally opened for session.

Eighth (and this is what happened last night), imagine that at the opening session, the Lib Dems suddenly announce that they have had enough of the coalition they have formed, and are going to form a separate coalition instead with the Tories and UKIP.

Ninth, imagine that as they do this, Menzies Campbell announces that actually, there is no difference between being in coalition with the Tories and UKIP and being in coalition with the Blairites and Brownites, as they’ve all got the same policies anyway.

Lastly, imagine that Campbell also claims that only he can unite a divided country, and that otherwise the Blairities, Brownites, and Tories will all continue their childish squabbles!

Sound far-fetched?

Not in Ukraine.

I won’t comment further except to say that we have a political class in this country that is so bloody irresponsible and ugly that it beggars belief. People in the UK like to complain about politicians, and often with reason, but they really don’t understand how lucky they are…