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Boris Johnson is our new Prime Minister. I know, it’s incredible, isn’t it? Of course, we knew it was coming. It’s been inevitable for weeks now, but now, as the cold, hard, fact stares us in the face, it’s hard not to be quite shocked.

It feels surreal. He was voted in as leader of the Conservative Party by 0.13% of the population, 92,153 Tory Party members. An unrepresentative, privileged crowd, approximately the capacity of Wembley Stadium, has given this chancer the chance to lead our country.

Never mind column inches, I could fill about 5 newspapers with all of the ridiculous, offensive, racist, sexist and homophobic things that Boris has said and done over the last decade. I will, however, mention one thing that Boris has said recently, because it illustrates what kind of person he is.

When asked, in March of this year, about historic child abuse on LBC radio, Boris said: “An awful lot of money and an awful lot of police time now goes into these historic offences and all this malarkey. You know, £60m I saw was being spaffed up a wall on some investigation into historic child abuse and all this kind of thing.”

In North West Durham, we’ve had what is probably the biggest case of historic sexual and physical abuse in the country, at Medomsley Detention Centre.

In the two years since I’ve been MP for the area, I have met many survivors of the abuse and I know how Boris’ comments will have angered and hurt them and what little trust they have left in securing any form of justice for the abuses they suffered. For that alone, he’s not fit to be Prime Minister of this country.

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

But for all the circus that surrounds Boris Johnson; the constant scandal around his comments; the buffoonery and the gaffes; even the way his hair is messy or the way his shirt is untucked from his pants (none of which in my opinion is an accident), the thing that commentators often miss is what he stands for: his political ideas, his values and ideology. Because there is a danger that we get distracted by that circus and get fooled into thinking that Boris has no politics, that he’s just a slightly eccentric character who will do the best for Britain. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Boris will take us down a path well-trodden by a certain former Conservative Party leader, Margaret Thatcher. He will continue her work. Whatever his position on Brexit (and don’t be fooled, he’s flip-flopped on the EU too), whatever little stunts he pulls to try to gain popularity, Boris is a hard-line free market fundamentalist. That means he believes in a ‘sink or swim’ individualism, where the state takes as little interest in possible in people’s lives, withdrawing the safety net and creating a harsh working environment for millions.

For the North East, for Durham and my constituency, this ideology has been extremely damaging, because not only have individuals been abandoned to ‘sink or swim’, but whole communities and the region as a whole, too. Boris Johnson’s Government will prioritise short term gains, whether that is in the City of London, or the South East. Because people with politics like Boris don’t believe in planning or government intervention to help struggling regions, the North East will be left to sink or swim, just like we were in the 1980s and since.

This short-termism will be accompanied by an attack on workers’ rights. Boris does not care about the rights workers in this country have and the Government he leads will reflect that. He once called employment laws such as the working time directive as “back breaking” – for employers. He has also called for the scrapping of the EU’s Social Chapter that protects part time workers, guarantees parental leave and paid holidays. He’s on a race to the bottom and that will damage us greatly right across the country, but in this region especially.

(Image: PA)

Of course, the prospect of a Boris Government is scary. It would be naïve not to be a bit frightened by the carnage that this political agenda will unleash on the country and in our communities. A no deal Brexit means lost jobs, trade chaos and higher prices in the shops. It will be our poorest and most vulnerable that will be hit hardest. A Boris Government threatens the NHS, as the US private health vultures circle to snap up services to make a profit out of our health and, of course, there is a huge risk Boris will join with Trump in ramping up tensions with Iran at a time when tensions should be dampened and the priority should be preventing another catastrophic war.

It is not all doom and gloom. I don’t accept that there isn’t anything we can do about this. There is an alternative, which is about looking after our people, providing a safety net to those who are struggling, investment in the regions and redistributing the wealth in this country in a fairer and more logical way. To make that happen, however, we must stand up for ourselves and each other.

The solutions to all society’s ills exist, but they lie, not in politicians like me shouting and bawling, but in people coming together to fight for a better society and a better world. Labour represents that better world.

It might be that the coronation of Prime Minister Boris is the spark for real change in this country: a wake-up call, as we head for a reckless, no-deal Brexit, the privatisation of the NHS and the decimation of our welfare state and public services. Places like Consett, Crook and Stanhope in my constituency have no interest in a Boris-led Tory Government. His policies will only leave more on the scrapheap and devastate our communities, both rural and urban. It’s time we came together to make Boris’s reign as PM the shortest in British history. Then we can start the job of putting this country back together again.