George Osborne's defeat over proposed cuts to Tax Credits in the last week of October is the first major defeat for the Cameron government, and as such it is also a significant puncturing of its inflated hubris and wholly imaginary 'mandate'.
That the House of Lords should have hamstrung and blocked such a crudely apparent act of class war from above is no small irony, in addition to resulting in some foot stamping from Cameron who claimed it had broken a 'constitutional rule', despite the UK never having had a constitution.
Indeed, the sound and fury of Cameron and Osborne at not getting their own way was emphasized further in claims that an 'unelected house' should not be able to stop the will of an elected one, deliberately ignoring the fact that this has never bothered the Conservative Party in the past.
Spurious claims of 'democracy' being frustrated by the undemocratic House of Lords acting against a completely undemocratic act of class war from above only threw more light on the fact that Cameron's government has no democratic mandate to do what it is attempting to do, and all of 24% of the electorate voted for it.
Tax Credits have long been an employer subsidy for paying the lowest wages and giving the fewest hours possible to employees, and a 'top up' for material survival for around 3.5 million, 7 million being eligible for them however. Osborne's naked display of Bullingdon Club 'born to rule' hubris suffered an unwelcome reality check at the end of October: the Lords seeking to block proposals set out by an individual representing only a tiny minority at the top acting against the needs and interests of the poorest section of the majority at the very bottom.
Democracy meaning in the Greek origins of the word, 'rule by the people', a party and a ruling clique from the 0.5% never mind the 1% acting directly in the interests of that same 0.5% and against those of the 99.5% scarcely needs much elaboration as to its 'democratic' nature, although the laughable claim that since the Tory party 'won' the election in May, whatever it decides and imposes is 'democratic' is one that has previously been made by both Cameron and Osborne.
The fact that even Tory backbenchers have come out against Osborne's plans further weakens an already weak position and underlines the weakness of the incumbent government which unexpectedly scraped a majority smaller than John Major's in the 90s which it should be remembered, was subsequently lost.
Since 'winning' in May, the Cameron government has ludicrously tried to claim it is 'the party of equality' and unbelievably, 'the workers' party' - the sniggers being audible - and the crude attack on those same workers which the proposed cut to Tax Credits embodies, found much emphasis in the defeat inflicted on Osborne's plans in the Lords - one might say in fact, something much more like 'democracy' than would have resulted in their successful and expected rubber stamping.
A further point of interest over Tax Credits and Osborne's proposed £4.4 billion in cuts is the part this employer subsidy has played in the Tory 'self-employment' scam for 'reducing unemployment' and 'record numbers in employment'. The said erroneous claims for 'record falls in unemployment' and 'record numbers in employment' are based primarily on mass registration of Job Seeker's Allowance claimants as being 'self-employed' by having an eBay account or selling catalogues door-to-door, or indeed doing some other kind of poorly-remunerated piece work, topped up by Tax Credits.
That such cynical means for cooking the ONS statistical books should not be picked up on by the media, is perhaps unsurprising acting as it does, as a de facto PR conduit for the incumbent government, the BBC repeating whatever it is told, and the press - certain right-wing tabloids especially - always acting as Tory party cheerleaders.
For Osborne to have suffered such a significant defeat can be seen as the first major setback for the Cameron government, and the Tory 'self-employment' scam, the latter seeing 80% of the 'newly self-employed' listing themselves as sole director, since they are indeed the 'director' of little more than their own individualized penury, Tax Credits helping them struggle to survive.
The war on the poor has continued unabated, but when that overlaps with sections of the majority - some of whom may have previously voted Tory - the serious problems for that party really begin, the 'self-employment' scammers not apparently realizing that the proposed Tax Credit cuts are sawing through the branch on which they are themselves perched: : the sound of the coming crash when they hit the ground promises to come with all the shock of blunt impact.