This appears in my column in todays Argus was written before the resignations of Davis, Baker and Braverman from the Cabinet. Their departure along with the need for McVey and Grayling to go and the prospect of Johnson leaving must place the current Government in an unsustainable position!

The vital need for accountability to be made tangible and effective in modern democracies is emerging this week in a strong manner. Several events that have taken place or are about to happen leave us feeling that a simple vote every 4-5 years does not come close to what we need, yet finding a way forward is not easy. A decade ago I had the pleasure of meeting a new employee in Brighton and Hove Council, Anthony Zacharzewski who for three years was the Head of Policy for our City. One of the areas that Anthony specialises in is how democracy could and perhaps should work, if only we could find our way through a deep muddy field that contains so much historic and social baggage. The people who have most to gain by the status quo are those who have found their way through the existing arrangements including many who add to the barriers for everyone else. They are now content with matters as they are and certainly have no interest in changing the system or becoming held to account in a meaningful way. Every time a politician states that they are held to account through the ballot box, they are in effect sticking two fingers up at those bothering to listen and watch.

As our nation prepares for the arrival of the President of the United States it feels very challenging as the desire to criticise and reject the arrival of a deeply dishonest and morally corrupt man like Donald Trump comes into direct conflict with the desire to strengthen our relationship with a nation that is a vital community within the world we are part of.  The decision to cancel the business of the House of Commons from mid-way through the day on Thursday until the Monday is one way in which Parliament has both acknowledged the importance of American residents and also removed the ability of MPs to speak out whilst Trump is in our nation. The fact that Americans voted for this man to be their leader, and yet once in post he is capable of making the most outrageous and dishonest statements shows that something is not quite right in their politics, unless of course most Americans share his racist, sexist misogynistic and anti-Islamic views and are happy with the way he carries on.

At the same time as Donald Trump prepares to arrive, we should if all goes according to plan be able to see, after more than two years of preparations the white paper which David Cameron and his Cabinet should have published about two and a half years ago. This would have sat alongside a second document that would have outlined the proposed reforms that Cameron and his colleagues were willing to work to achieve if we had voted to remain. These two manifestos would have offered us a meaningful choice to make. That we approached the referendum with no more than a set of lies, exaggerations and aspirations from people who were in no way accountable for their views means that that our decision on 23^rd June 2016 was in effective a false and unreal set of options and irrespective of the outcome of the investigations into the vote leave campaign, the referendum should be seen as being null and void by all of society, both here and in the EU.

We have just heard the National Audit Office challenge Esther McVey for the lies she has told Parliament over the extent to which welfare reforms were working well. Understandably MPs are calling for her resignation or for her to be sacked from her post. By the same token as we continue to suffer the chaos of our rail system, Chris Grayling and Govia Thameslink appear to continue to retain the votes of MPs such as Maria Caulfield, Jeremy Quin and Nick Herbert even though they speak out regularly claiming that GTR needs to go. It is clear to many of us that along with the removal of GTR from the franchise, that Grayling needs to be removed from the Transport Department and Johnson needs to be transferred to the back benches from the Foreign Office. Yet our votes every five years, or less if Prime Ministers like Theresa May decide to ignore the laws that they have passed, make no difference to what the Government looks like unless we manage to change the party in control of the nation. In a similar way, once Trump won the election in 2016, the make up of his team is entirely of his choosing. Few of them are in any way accountable to any voters unlike most of our Cabinet, yet the vote leave team used to regularly argue that the EU Commission was anti Democratic!