Sir Roger Gale
Member of Parliament for Herne Bay and Sandwich (including West Thanet)
Westminster View
Summer 2025
In mid-June I was recalled to plug a gap as an Acting Deputy Speaker and once again found myself restricted by the chains of office until that appointment ended with the rise of the House for the Summer recess on July 23rd – hence this belated omnibus Westminster View embracing June, July and most of August.
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Westminster View
May 2025
April was turbulent, but May delivered us little in the way of calm waters either. If Westminster had a barometer, the mercury would surely have exploded by now. The floor of the chamber is littered with the detritus of broken promises .
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Westminster View
April 2025
All Fools` Day seems a light-year away. The World, surely, was a better place on the first of April. Putin`s illegal war in Ukraine continues unabated of course, the attrition in the Middle East persists and the tide of humanity crossing the English Channel from France to Britain flows on remorselessly as men, women and children flee from persecution in Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, and further East. But Trump had still to launch his assault on world trade, Pope Francis was still alive, the earthquake in Myanmar had yet to send shockwaves through that country and through Thailand and the local government election campaign was just getting into top gear.
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Westminster View
March 2025
Not surprisingly, the fallout from Trump’s attempt to humiliate President Zelensky in the White House continues to reverberate around the world . The spoilt man-brat and `Commander in Chief’, a populist charlatan who has never seen anything much other than self-service, said it all, really, when he opined that “This will make great television”.
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Westminster View
February 2025
NB. This column was written before President Trump announced the withdrawal of US support from Ukraine. I am accordingly attaching a letter from the former President of Poland, Lech Walesa, which may also be of interest.
The last of these columns, written in January, ended with an observation following the Potomac air crash that Mr Trump sought to attribute to a policy of `diversity` pursued by the previous American administration. You may recall that I asked:
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Westminster View
January 2025
It has become custom and practice for the capitals of the world to send, across the time zones as the clocks strike midnight, millions of pounds up in smoke in the form of what are now highly competitive “mine are bigger than yours” firework displays. Where London Mayor Khan`s unsubtle political messages contained within his expensive sparklers rank in this array I will leave others to judge.
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