Campaign for Conservative
Democracy
Stop Press
Our Fight for Democracy
Our Fight for Democracy explores the history of
our democracy and uses it to inform an assessment of the present. John Strafford charts the history of
democracy from the 6th century to the 21st century. He analyses the weaknesses
of our democracy today and suggests ways in which it can be improved. At a
time when our political system faces moral bankruptcy this book is a much needed
contribution to the debate on what can be done to restore the people's trust.
Destruction of the Tory Party
A large number of safe Conservative seats will soon be
choosing their Parliamentary candidates. I hear that Central Office are
proposing that the candidates will be selected in open primaries with every elector in the
constituency having a postal vote. This is madness. On top of the
proposal that the Candidates List is now open to anybody, even if they are not members of
the Conservative Party, we are seeing the destruction of the Party.
Ordinary Party members cannot understand why members of the
Labour Party should be choosing the Conservative Party candidate. They also
cannot understand why someone who does not believe in basic Conservative philosophy should
be a Conservative Candidate. There is resentment building up in the grass
roots of the Party. What is the point of being a member if anyone can select
the candidates of the Party. What has been lost sight of is that party
politics is tribal. Someone with no allegiance, no commitment to the tribe,
has no loyalty. What will happen is that Party membership will continue its
inexorable decline. Does this matter? In the short term - No.
The Tory Party will form the biggest Party after the General Election and
will almost certainly form the Government. It will then have to take some very
unpopular measures to get the economy straight. Within a year it will be
highly unpopular. It is at times like these when a strong voluntary party
comes into its own, giving you that core support that is essential to carry out your
program. That support will not be there. It will consist of
Councillors, whose anger will be rising as they lose their seats as a result of the
unpopularity of the Government. The Tory Party as such will cease to exist.
For some years there have been those in Central Office who
would like the voluntary Party disappear. They want to see American style
politics in the United Kingdom. Their blueprint is the Republican Party, which
does not have members, it has supporters who come together at an election. The
difference is that they then get paid for their help. This is why the last
Presidential election cost $4 billion. It will not work in the UK.
We do not like money in politics.
What is the answer? It is very simple but has so
far been unacceptable to the Party hierarchy. Reverse the decline in Party
membership. How do you do that? Make the Party a democratic
organisation. David Cameron wants to give power to the people. He
could show his credentials for a start by giving power to ordinary Party members.
Will he? We shall see, but if he doesn't watch the Tory Party go
into a slow decline.
Gordon's Dilemma
While stitching up
the hand of a 75 year old Devon farmer, who cut it on a gate while working cattle, the
rural doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to
Gordon Brown and his appointment as Prime Minister.
"Well, you know," drawled the old farmer, "this Brown fellow is what they
call a fencepost tortoise." Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him
what a fencepost tortoise was.
The old farmer said, "When you're driving along a country road and you come across a
fence post with a tortoise balanced on top, that's called a fencepost tortoise."
The old farmer saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain,
"You know he didn't get up there by himself, he definitely doesn't belong up there,
he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just have to wonder what kind of
idiot put him up there in the first place".
|
21st June
MP's Expenses
Concern is being expressed with the Conservative Parliamentary Party about unequal
treatment of MPs over their use of expenses. This saga will not be resolved
until there is a list published by the Scrutiny Committee of every Conservative MP showing
what action is being taken if any action is required. There is now sufficient
information published in the public domain to give a provisional judgement on MPs.
If the Party does not publish a list we will do so, basing it on the criteria
we set out our below on the 7th June, using our own judgement. It will also
show those MPs who have acted honourably throughout this crisis. It is time
they were also named so they are not tarred with the same brush as the dishonourable ones.
How to behave!
Yesterday, 20th June, Dominic Grieve MP for
Beaconsfield, held a public meeting to discuss his expenses and electoral reform.
Over 170 constituents turned up. He gave everyone present a
schedule of the expenses he has claimed and then went through them line by line explaining
the expenses. So thorough was this presentation that when he finished nobody
had any questions about his expenses. The meeting went on to discuss electoral
reform. The meeting was excellently chaired by Earl Howe who was charming but
firm in his conduct of the meeting. This was a brilliant example for all
Conservative MPs. Well done.
Candidates
We are hearing disturbing things about the selection of Parliamentary candidates.
Will we repeat the same mistakes we made in 2005 by parachuting candidates
into seats and imposing them on the Constituency Associations? There is some
resentment about opening up the list to anyone, even if they are not members of the Tory
Party. That resentment also applies to Open Primaries where anybody can
participate even if they are members of the Labour Party. What is the point of
being a member of the Conservative Party if a member of another Party can choose our
candidates? Rumours abound that the Shadow Cabinet have been asked to put
forward five names each of potential candidates. Will this give them priority
treatment? The Chairman of the Candidates Committee should be elected by and
answerable to Party members. We cannot go on like this. David
Cameron talks about giving power to the people. He could set an example by
giving power to Party members. One other question. Why are we
having to wait until September for selection meetings to take place? The
quicker candidates are in position the better they will become known to their electorate.
14th June
First Past the Post
This week David Cameron firmly supported First Past the Post as the electoral
system for the House of Commons. More precisely, he went on to say we must
keep the constituency link. You can do this with the Single Transferable Vote
or with the Three Member Seat or even the Alternative Vote so all is not lost.
Ironically if the Conservative Party had used First Past the Post for the
Conservative Party Leadership Election the Leader today would be David Davis and not David
Cameron. If you remember the votes on the first ballot were as follow:
David Davis
62
David Cameron
56
Liam Fox
42
Ken Clarke
38
Ken Clarke and Liam Fox were eliminated and in the second and third rounds.
David Cameron went on to win.
European Elections
Which region of the United Kingdom had the highest turnout in the European
Election? Answer - Northern Ireland, which has consistently had the highest
turnout in every European election which we have had. It is the only part of
the United Kingdom that uses the Single Transferable Vote method of election rather than
the List system used everywhere else. This means that in Northern Ireland the
electors can vote for individuals rather than parties. It is extraordinary
that we have two different methods of voting for the same Parliament. This
must be changed. The turnout in Northern Ireland was 42.8% compared to 35% in
the rest of the U.K.
Tony's Lavender List
We hear that part of the deal between
Tony and Gordon was that Tony's friends would be rewarded in the next Queen's Birthday
Honours List. Pass the sick bag Alice. Update: It didn't happen, but that only
leaves one more honours list before the next General Election. Will it happen
then?
7th June
Referendum on the Electoral
System
Last week we called for a referendum on
the electoral system to be held on the same day as the General Election. On Any
Questions this week Caroline Spellman said it was Conservative policy to have
referendums and when pushed she agreed to having a referendum on the electoral system on
the day of the General Election. Is this now Conservative policy?
Incidentally Caroline Spellman is so much better in her new position. She
should never have been moved in the first place!
MPs Expenses
Now that the police have shown a
reluctance to prosecute MPs over their expenses it is incumbent on the House of Commons to
take action. The level of offences and the punishments need to be graded.
The House of Commons has so far shown no inclination to do this so we set out
our suggestions below. Not every category is included so if you have any
further categories let us know, together with appropriate penalties.
Any monies incorrectly claimed should
be repaid. In addition the following should be applied:
Expulsion
Where an MP has claimed money, which is
not a reimbursement of money paid out by the MP, they should be expelled from the House of
Commons. e.g. monies claimed for a non-existent mortgage, or a mortgage that
has been paid off.
Suspension without pay
Where an MP has spent money on a second
home and then sold it at a profit more than once in five years they should be suspended
without pay. The length of the suspension depending on the severity of the
case.
Where an MP has sold a second home at a
profit but has told the Inland Revenue that is is the main residence to avoid Capital
Gains Tax.
Suspension
Where expenses have been claimed over
£5,000 but have not been wholly and necessarily incurred in the performance of
parliamentary duties the MP should be suspended from the House of Commons - the length of
the suspension depending on the severity of the case. e.g payment of costs of gardening.
Severe Reprimand
Where expenses over £1,000 have been
claimed but have not been wholly and necessarily incurred in the performance of
parliamentary duties the MP should receive a severe reprimand. e.g. purchase of a
duck house for £1,600.
Reprimand
Where expenses under £1,000 have been
claimed but have not been wholly and necessarily incurred in the performance of
parliamentary duties then the MP should be reprimanded. e.g purchase of dog food.
31st May
Referendum
We need to have a referendum at the
same time as the General Election on whether the people want to change our electoral
system. The people should be asked to rank in order of preference the
following:
First past the post
Alternative vote
Three member seats
Single transferable vote
Phantom MEPs!
18 "ghost
MEPs" to cash in on £6!m. Due to the fact that the Lisbon Treaty has not
been ratified, 18 MEPs elected in June's European elections will receive normal MEPs'
salaries despite the fact that they will not be able to take up full political office for
at least two years. The Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty means that after June's
election 736 instead of 754 MEPs will take office. However, 18 further MEPs will be
elected under the Lisbon rules, despite the fact that the Lisbon Treaty is yet to be
ratified.
Amid
confusion over when and how they will take up their seats, the European Parliament has
decided to give the MEPs only "observer" status from next year. These 'observer
members' will receive a normal MEPs' salary, and collectively account for a £6m bill,
including their salary, assistant and office allowances, as well as tax-free allowances on
a daily basis. (Telegraph, 22 May; Mail, 24 May)
MEP's Expenses
| MEPs
are entitled to expenses and allowances of up to £363,000 a year |
Open Europe has found that in total, MEPs are
entitled to expenses and allowances of £363,000 a year, including a £261 daily
subsistence allowance and £45,648 in general office expenses even though they are
provided with offices in Brussels and Strasbourg . This equates to £1,816,250 per
MEP over a five year term and no receipts are required. (Sun, 26 May; Times, 29 May; Open Europe blog) This comes on top of £83,282 in
salary, £29,309 in pensions and £41,641 in transitional payments. In contrast, UK MPs
claim up to £144,000 on average in expenses. (Telegraph, 31 March)
Swedish Left Party
MEP Jens Holm has provided a candid account of how the current travel expenses system can
lead to MEPs pocketing thousands of euros a year because no receipt is required to account
for the actual cost of a journey. He said, "I know that until February this year, the
European Parliament has paid me about 200,000 in travel allowances and I'd say that
I have donated around 150,000 to charities and also to my own party." (Open Europe blog)
Under new rules,
from June onwards, the travel allowance system will be reformed so that MEPs need to
provide receipts for their tickets. However, for the majority of their expenditure (office
expenses, daily subsistence allowance, staff allowances) MEPs will still not be required
to produce receipts.
In the wake of the
Westminster expenses scandal, Gordon Brown has ordered all Labour candidates for the
European election to agree to publish all receipts for claims made under the MEPs' office
allowance. Conservative MEP candidates have taken a pledge to disclose details of their
expenses online but they will not provide receipts, while the Lib Dems have made a similar
commitment to publish an audited breakdown of their MEPs' costs but also will not publish
receipts. (FT, FT, 24 May)
However, it should
be noted that none of the parties' manifestos mention publishing receipts. (Open Europe blog)
Meanwhile, it has
emerged that more than a third of British MEPs are paying one or more relatives. The
wives, husbands and children of MEPs are earning up to £40,000 a year to work as
secretaries and researchers at a total annual cost to taxpayers of more than £700,000. (Times, 29 May) |
We need to also focus on the scandal of the expenses of MEPs.
We are in the process of cleaning up Westminster. Let us not forget to clean
up Brussels at the same time.
Newsnight
View the Chairman of COPOV on Newsnight arguing
for the expulsion of MPs rather than just allowing them to stand down at the next
election.
Recall
MPs: we're making them listen
Dear friends
I'm supporting this important campaign from 38 Degrees and I thought you might like to as
well.
In the wake of the MP expenses scandal, we need new powers to make sure MPs answer to
us. At the moment we're stuck with disgraced MPs until the next election, no matter
what they have done. A new "recall law" will give local people the power
to call a fresh vote and sack disgraced MPs. Please
click here to add your name: www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/recall/
How many other jobs do you know where once you've
been hired the people who employed you can't sack you for five years, no matter what
you've done? In other countries including the USA and Canada, "recall
laws" allow voters to call a fresh vote when an elected official has lost their
trust. Now we need the same in the UK so that politicians remember who they work for.
Let's seize this opportunity to make MPs more accountable to us, for good.
Thanks for getting involved.
|
24th May
Action from the House of Commons
An increasing number of MPs caught up in the
expenses scandal have announced that they will no longer be standing at the next General
Election. Very cosy for them. With the General Election possibly
twelve months away they will pick up £100,000 plus in salaries and expenses plus their
termination bonuses of about another £100,000. Nice work if you can get it.
What needs to happen is for the House of Commons to expel these MPs
immediately and force a by-election in their constituencies. There are at
least two precedents for this action. I
show an extract from my forthcoming book "Our Fight for Democracy":
In December 1930, Thomas Jones, Labour MP for Pontypridd, gave his wife Margaret and their
twelve year old daughter two House of Commons vouchers that had been issued to him for his
exclusive use for rail journeys between his constituency and Westminster. They
were stopped by ticket inspectors, who decided to prosecute Jones. He
was forced to resign from Parliament, and the following day he and his wife Margaret were
fined £2 and ordered to pay costs at Marylebone Magistrates Court or face prison.
The last Member of
Parliament to be expelled from the House of Commons was the Labour MP Gary Allighan in
1947. Not only an MP he was also a journalist and wrote an
article for the World Press News exposing the means lobby
correspondents were using to obtain leaks and inside information. The
technique was to ply MPs with drinks until they collapsed and leaked stories to
journalists for rewards or favours. A motion was tabled to the
Privileges Committee to discharge Allighan for contempt. Allighan
was accused of leaking stories himself. The Privileges Report,
censuring the MP severely, said Allighan had aggravated his contempt by trying to cast
suspicion on other MPs beside himself.
On 30th October 1947, with the Privileges Report on the table, the
Commons voted to expel Gary Allighan. Allighan, had wrongly
accused fellow MPs of accepting money for disclosing to the press the proceedings of
private party meetings. It turned out that this was precisely
what he had done himself.
The Leader of the House recommended that he be reprimanded and suspended without
pay, but the Conservative MP, Quentin Hogg, moved an amendment calling for his expulsion.
It was passed. At this time there was also
also concern about outside bodies, such as trade unions, attempting to instruct an MP so
the House passed a resolution restating its principles:
It is inconsistent with the dignity of the House, with the duty of a
member to his constituency, and with the maintenance of the privilege of freedom of
speech, for any member of the House to enter into any contractual agreement with an
outside body, controlling or limiting the members complete independence and freedom
of action in Parliament or stipulating that he shall act in any way as the representative
of such outside body in regard to any matters to be transacted in Parliament; the duty of
a member being to his constituency and to the country as a whole, rather than to any
particular section thereof.
What a contrast in the standards of Parliament that these cases illustrate
compared to the standards applied today.
A Short Guide to Deselection
The following article appeared on conservativehome.com this week:
A
Short Guide To Deselection
by
John E. Strafford
(Chairman,
Beaconsfield Constituency Conservative Association 1985-1990)
Just
before the 1997 General Election Tim Smith MP was readopted as the Conservative
Parliamentary candidate for Beaconsfield. Five
days later he resigned. What lessons can be
learned?
After
the adoption meeting a group of members were unhappy at the decision to readopt Tim Smith
due to his admitted involvement in the Cash for questions affair. They decided they wanted a new candidate. (This was not a light decision and was only
taken after serious consideration.)
Constituency
Association Officers are quite rightly, instinctively loyal to their Member of Parliament. They are usually friends, so cannot be relied
upon to be at the forefront of a reselection campaign.
What
is critical is that the campaign has to have momentum and be seen to have momentum to the
point where reselection appears inevitable. How
is this achieved?
The
threat is to call a Special General Meeting at which a motion of no confidence in the
sitting MP will be tabled. (It is essential to know the rules by which this can be done. Get a copy from the Association office.) It is important to stress here the threat
that if a meeting is not called the electors will decide the issue and throw out the MP,
whereas a new candidate would more likely be elected.
You
then need a list of those members who want a reselection and are prepared to go public in
their demand for this. Once the campaign
is launched you need at least three of them to go public each day - the more senior the
members the better. This gives a fresh
impetus, every day, to the campaign.
Get
the media on board radio, TV, national press, - in Beaconsfield we got The Times and the Daily Mirror and most of all the local
press. It is essential that you have
several people that will talk to the media. Unless
you can give other names than yourself the media will lose interest.
Increase
the pressure on the Officers of the Association by getting your supporters to telephone
them. You will be surprised how after a
few calls the Officers become convinced that the whole Association is up in arms.
Put
the phone on the hook for calls from Central Office.
Party members do not like interference from Central Office. This is the members decision about who
is to represent them at Westminster.
In
Beaconsfield, after five days of intensive campaigning the pressure on the Officers and on
the MP became so great the MP honourably resigned.
Beaconsfield
selected Dominic Grieve as their candidate. He
went on to win the election. It has
proved to be a wise choice.
17th May
Democracy
Another week, more revelations about
the way our MPs have behaved. We are now in a serious democratic crisis.
If the people cannot trust the MPs to handle their personal affairs where
they impinge on the public, why should they trust them to handle public issues.
The main requirement from an MP is high moral standing and good judgement.
In both cases our MPs have been found wanting. This issue goes
far beyond just expenses. Our whole democratic system is broken.
To get the trust of the people we have to do a number of things. First of all
we need to sort out the mess on expenses. The key to this is accountability,
so the steps required to bring accountability are as follows:
Total transparency showing all the
receipts for payments made to MPs. This also include showing second home
addresses. If MPs have a security problem that is a matter for the police to
deal with.
Every Constituency Association should
hold a General Meeting of members by 31st July and at that meeting there should be a
motion to re-adopt the sitting MP. If the motion is lost the MP should be
de-selected. This act brings accountability to the Party members, but this is
not enough for those MPs that do not have the support of members will continue to stay in
Parliament until the next General Election. This is not acceptable.
They should resign forthwith.
Legislation should be introduced
immediately so that if 10% of the electors in a constituency sign a petition calling for a
by-election the MP is recalled from Parliament and a by-election is held within one month.
This makes the MP accountable to their electors. It is no longer
acceptable that an MP should only be accountable once every five years at a General
Election.
For the longer term it is now essential
that our political parties are made democratic. The cosy oligarchies which
control the parties have to be brought to an end. This will bring
accountability into the parties at a National level.
The other long term measure must be to
set up a Constitutional convention to create a fair democracy in this country.
It is long overdue and now it has become critical.
Hear a discussion on these issues on The World Tonight programme of
15th May
Referendum
The Conservative Party should
promise the people a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty when they get into power regardless
as to whether it has been ratified or not.
A
new Populous poll for the Times has found overwhelming support for a referendum on
the Lisbon Treaty, even in a situation where it has already been ratified by Ireland and
the rest of the EU. 82% of people agreed with the statement, "If Ireland and
other countries ratify the Lisbon Treaty on the future of the European Union, Britain
should hold its own referendum on the issue", with 52% strongly agreeing and only 14%
disagreeing. 92% of Conservative voters, 76% of Labour voters and 85% of Liberal
Democrats voters agreed that Britain should have a referendum on the Treaty. (Times, 13 May)
10th May
Parliament's Moral Bankruptcy
Over the years COPOV has warned that
the issue of MP's expenses was a scandal waiting to happen. This week it did.
Whenever I raised the issue I was told that only a tiny minority of MPs were
guilty. The great majority were honourable people. Now we know, it
is the other way round, a minority are honourable, but the culture of the majority see
Parliament as a get rich quick scheme. Under their own rules expenses should
only be claimed by MPs if they have been "wholly and necessarily incurred"
in the performance of their duties. It is quite clear that this has not
happened. So what should be done?
First of all criminal prosecutions
should be brought for fraud against all those MPs that have abused the system.
Secondly The Head of the Fees Office
that paid them out should be dismissed for failing to perform their duty.
Next, the Inland Revenue should examine
all the expenses and those that have not been properly incurred should be taxed as
remuneration. Where Capital Gains have been made they should be taxed.
Where second homes have been manipulated in order to claim expenses the MPs
should be charged with tax evasion and charged, with penalties imposed.
Next, the rule recently brought in to
hide MPs addresses should be scrapped. It is clear that this rule would make
it much more difficult to see where MPs were manipulating their second homes.
Finally any expenses that do not meet
the criteria of "wholly and necessarily incurred" should be recovered.
This week it has become clear that our
political system is morally bankrupt. Parliament should be dissolved and a
General Election called. Immediately after the General Election there should
be a Constitutional Convention to devise a new, fair Constitution, where every vote
counts. Whilst that Convention is sitting legislation should be brought in
allowing the recall of an MP from Parliament. If five per cent of the
electorate (polled over a period of one month) in an MP's Constituency demand the recall
of the MP there should be a by-election called within two months. It is time
MPs were accountable to the people. Democracy demands nothing less.
One final point, the rottenness in our
political system starts in the political parties. They should be made
democratic organisations where the ultimate control rests with their members.
We must see an end to the cosy oligarchies that now control our major parties.
Much needs to be done to clean up the whole stinking mess.
3rd May
Ulster Unionists
I am hearing some disturbing
reports regarding the joint working party of the Ulster Unionists and the Conservative
Party. The disgraceful treatment of the Northern Ireland Conservative's Deputy
Chairman, Jeffrey Peel increases my concern. There has been a denial of
natural justice which must be remedied. Watch this space!
Iraq War
With the withdrawal of British
troops this week a ceremony was held at which the names of all the British troops who have
been killed in Iraq was read out. It was very moving, but marred by old
fashioned class distinction. The officers had their rank, surname and initial
read out; the other ranks had their rank and surname read out. Couldn't they
have been treated the same? They all gave their lives for their country.
Ireland's Example
To reduce the costs incurred by the political system the
Irish government decided to reduce the number of Secretaries of State from 20 to 15.
On 22nd April the 20 Secretaries of State therefore presented their
resignation to Prime Minister Brian Cowen who then appointed 15 "new" ones.
In addition to this measure the remuneration of Ministers and Secretaries of State,
MPs and the chairman of Parliament was reduced, travel expenses were reduced by 25%, other
expenditure was reduced by 10% and the spending regime is now more transparent.
Why don't we do the same?
Gordon Resign!
Sign the petition asking for
Gordon Brown's resignation.
If you'd like to tell your friends about this petition, its permanent web address
is: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/
April 26th
***** Star of the Week***** - David
Cameron MP
For the best speech from a Party Leader
that I have ever heard. Speaking at the Spring Forum, his speech was sober,
serious, no tub thumping, but set out where we were and what the Conservative Party had to
do. This was the speech of a Prime Minister in waiting. It was a
privilege to hear it.
Support our Troops
I heard the following story.
I do not know whether it is true, but it is a nice story, worth re-telling:
Last week I was in West London
attending a conference.
While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to
clap and cheer.
I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have
ever seen.
Moving through the terminal was a group of soldiers in their uniforms, as they began
heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with
their hands waving and cheering.
When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for, it
hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded Briton who still loves this
country and supports our troops and their families. Of course I immediately stopped
and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the
line everyday for us so we can go to school, work, and enjoy our home without fear or
reprisal.
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and
women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers.
He knelt down and said 'hi,' the little girl then asked him if he would give something to
her daddy for her.
The young soldier didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what
did she want to give to her daddy.
Suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she
could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was Courtney, told the young
soldier that her husband was a Corporal and had been in Afghanistan for 5 months now.
As the mum was explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young
soldier began to tear up.
When this temporarily single mum was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers
huddled together for a brief second.
Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie.
They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent
down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.'
He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a Kiss on the cheek.
He finished by saying 'Your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything
and he is coming home very soon.'
The mum at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to
his feet he saluted Courtney and her mum.
I was standing no more than 6 feet away as this entire event unfolded.
As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause.
As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my
own.
That young soldier in one last act of moment turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney
with a tear rolling down his cheek.
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them
and their sacrifices.
At the end of the day, it's good to be an Englishman.
|
|
April
19th
George Orwell's 1984
George Orwell starts his book
"1984" in April 1984. On this 25th anniversary we show
below an updated report on 1984:
The "Ministry of Truth"
which of course was set up to tell lies is now called "The Cabinet Office".
We had a spectacular success
with the Iraq War when everybody believed our lies.
Our policy of continuous war
looks like it will be achieved with the war in Afghanistan. This war has so
far gone on for eight years and soon will be longer than the First and the Second
World wars put together. Of course with continuous war we keep our defence
industries in full production.
Telescreens are now
called CCTV cameras. The United Kingdom ( we still have this name,
but we are trying to get it subsumed into the European Union) has 20% of the world's CCTV
cameras including 800 between Victoria Station and Parliament Square. We
are perfecting the technique of issuing instructions through the cameras. This
is being trailed in Middlesborough.
The Inner Party of
privileged oligarchs is now called "The Political Class".
We continue with our sole objective of pursuing power in order to exercise power.
Our Newsspeak language
is developing. We are adding words such as "collateral damage".
Doublethink is also
making progress. Our political system is now accepted as democratic but of
course it isn't.
Freedom of speech is now a
thought crime, as is liberty and justice. We have had some spectacular
successes in these fields.
Our policy of keeping the Proles
happy with a continuous supply of football and pornography is highly successful.
So Big Brother I hope you
will be satisfied with our progress. We will keep you informed!
Winston Brown
April
12th
MPs Expenses
For years we have said that MP's
expenses were a scandal waiting to happen, but whenever it was raised we were told that
only a tiny minority were involved. Indeed this is the answer from every
commentator and every MP. Now we know different. It has become
clear that the House of Commons is morally bankrupt. The people have been
taken for a ride. Its motto is "How much can I get away with?".
As was pointed out this week on the "Today" programme the
Commons only sits for 165 days a year so how can a second residence near the House be
justified as the main residence if costs allowed can only be incurred in carrying out
parliamentary duties?
One question I would like to have
answered is this: When our MPs cease to be MPs will they return all the goods they
have purchased with taxpayer's money? After all,they will not then need them
to carry out their parliamentary duties.
Kettling
During the demonstrations in
London during the G20 meeting, the police used a technique known as kettling.
What happens is that the crowd is herded together and held for 4-5 hours
without any body being able to leave. Whatever happened to Habeas Corpus?
It is a disgrace. If a person, unmasked so they are identified
and not carrying an offensive weapon wishes to leave to pursue their lawful business what
policeman has the right to stop them? The police are out of control and should
be told that this practice should cease forthwith. Liberty has to be defended.
In addition to the above it should
be a disciplinary offence for any policeman to obscure his or her number and swift action
should be taken if this offence is committed. Finally, the ridiculous offence
of photographing a policeman should be repealed. This legislation is the
latest pernicious assault on our liberties.
Fact
There are more Councillors over
the age of seventy that there are Councillors under the age of forty-five.
April 5th
A Question of Accountability
When are those politicians who got
us into the present economic mess going to be held accountable and why should we believe
that the ones that got us into the mess are capable of getting us out of it?
Congratulations
To Eric Pickles for having the
courage to acknowledge that he was wrong on MP's expenses and now believes that they must
be reformed and reduced.
Don Porter
After nine years on the Party
Board, Don Porter retires as Chairman of the National Convention at its next meeting.
This week he gave an interview to conservativehome.com We publish an extract
from the interview below:
Changing the leader's mind on the A-List
One issue which he found himself addressing during his chairmanship was that of
the infamous priority list - or so-called "A-List" - of parliamentary
candidates, where the party leadership decided that Conservative associations in the
safest seats would only be able to select a candidate from a favoured one hundred or so.
This provoked a hostile reaction from a large number of activists, as Don explains:
"I was getting messages from all around the
country saying 'This is not working as well as it should, This is the centre
dictating too much and I was also picking up huge numbers of comments from competent
white male candidates, many of whom asked me for a cup of coffee, carefully to put their
case to me... Over a period of months I picked up all these messages and then I asked
someone who I have enormous respect for, John Strafford, if he would come back to me with
a report of what he thought should happen. John came back to me, I had other people
feeding in to me, I spoke to [1922 Committee Chairman] Sir Michael Spicer and eventually I
walked into David Camerons office with a 12-slide PowerPoint presentation and I
gently, quietly and hopefully professionally put the case to him."
His case was that huge progress had been made on selecting more female candidates,
but that in order to address the widespread concerns of activists and candidates not on
the A-List, associations should be free to select from the entire candidates' list (albeit
with the proviso of a minimum of half the interviewees being women at all stages in the
process).
"My point there was that we needed these key
players feeling on side and feeling at least that they had a fair chance... I put the
proposal to David, which we worked on together and effectively. He went away, thought
about it, said he was very grateful for the evidence that was presented in a very calm,
professional way and we did then provide associations with option of looking at the whole
list... It completely took the sting out of the situation."
First Past The Post
One of the myths of First Past the Post is that
a Strong Government with a working majority can be replaced by a strong opposition with a
working majority. False. This has happened only once in the last
hundred years and that was in 1970. In view of this the most likely outcome of
the next General Election is a hung parliament.
March 29th
Stuart Wheeler
Stuart Wheeler announced this week
that he is to donate £100,000 to UKIP. He says he wishes to remain a member
of the Conservative Party. This is not possible. Rule three of the
Paty's constitution states quite clearly that "Membership of the Conservative
Party is not compatible with Membership of or association with any other registered
political party". Donating money to another political party is
clearly an association with that party.
This is all rather sad.
Stuart has donated large sums to the Conservative Party and has made many
attempts to defend democracy in this country. He must be expelled from the
Party but hopefully after the European elections he can be invited to return.
Central Office needs to take action now.
***Star of the Week*** - Daniel
Hannan MEP - for a superb speech to the European
Parliament attacking Gordon Brown and Labour's economic policies. Dan then put
the three minute speech on You Tube where it was a huge success recording two million hits
and rising. Now why hasn't a Conservative MP delivered a similar speech in
Westminster?
Wally of the Week - Eric Pickles
MP - for an abysmal performance on Question Time.
Eric, when you are in a hole stop digging. The Party Chairman
should concentrate on the organisation of the Party. Political presentation
should be left to others. Once again we have a Chairman who is concentrating
on the wrong thing. The sooner we have a Party Chairman elected by the members
and accountable to the members the better we will be. When will our MPs
understand the anger of the people about their expenses? They may be sticking
to the rules, but morally they have no case. It is time we had a totally
independent body to supervise and audit MP's expenses and set the rules for them.
22nd March
European Parliament Election
Fundamentally, the
European Union is an undemocratic organisation.
In a normal representative democracy individuals stand for election as
part of a political party. The party
publishes a manifesto showing what it would do in government. After the election the party with the largest
number of seats in parliament forms a government.
The government passes legislation in accordance with its manifesto and
governs the country through the civil service. After
five years there is another election and if the electors disapprove of the way the country
has been governed they throw out the government and a new one is elected. The new government can change or reverse any
laws passed by the previous government.
How does the
European Union fit into this template for democracy?
It doesnt.
First of all the
political parties do not form a government in the European Union. The main arm of government is the European
Commission whose members are appointed by the member states.
Secondly, it is
the unelected European Commission which proposes legislation.
Thirdly, as the
European Parliament cannot propose new legislation, the political parties that are
standing in the election cannot say in their manifesto what they would do in government,
because they will not be in government. Legislation
proposed by the Commission has to be accepted by the Parliament, which has only limited
powers to change it. Legislation, once
passed, is very difficult to reverse as it becomes known as the aquis communautaire (law, which all member states
must comply with.)
When another
election is called the electorate cannot throw out the government, because it did not
elect it in the first place.
So, if a Party
cannot say in its manifesto how it will govern, if elected, and if it cannot say what laws
it will pass or will reverse, what can it say? This week I put the this question to
two candidates for the European Parliament. The first one, a Conservative,
said "What a good question" but didn't answer it. The
second candidate, Labour, said that they would put in their manifesto what they were
campaigning for. So now we know, on June 4th all we will be doing is electing
a bunch of lobbyists.
Why Vote
Why do
people vote? Is it:
to protest,
to judge the powerful,
to say thank you,
to express fear,
to hope,
to demonstrate idealism,
to obtain personal benefit,
to confirm your political identity,
to show you belong to a political tribe,
to show you are an adult,
to express shear cussedness?
It
may be some or none of these things, but in voting we are expressing a view and
collectively we create the wisdom of the crowds in determining our future, but only if
those votes count.
Naughty Fiona
This week Fiona Hodgson sent out an
email asking for support for her election as a Vice President of the National Convention.
We support her and hope she succeeds. However her email went out
on a standard Conservative Womens Organisation template and at the bottom is the usual:
Promoted by Alan Mabbutt on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at 30
Millbank, London, SW1P 4DP
Now, Fiona it may be Alan Mabbutt
supports you, but you should not be sending out emails on CWO templates when you are
campaigning in a personal capacity.
Euro Subsidies
Every cow in Europe receives 2 Euros a day in subsidy.
Half of Africa's population live on less than 1 Euro a day. Its a
crazy world we live in.
15th March
Shambles
Ballot papers have been sent out to
members of the National Convention asking them to vote on changes to the Party
Constitution including the discredited vote for more members of the Parliamentary Party to
sit on the Party Board. Just one snag, no date has been given for the return
of the ballots. One Area Chairman has told members that the ballots have to be
returned by April 6th. A Regional Chairman has said "as soon as
possible". The establishment are telephoning everybody to try to get them
to vote as it looks as though there will be a low turnout and will not get the necessary
50%. What a shambles. First of all to have a ballot without a
debate is a disgraceful way of proceeding. Secondly, not to give a date for
the return of ballots would surely make the whole exercise invalid in any democratic
organisation. Once again we have had a clear demonstration that the Party's
Constitution needs a complete overhaul. It is no longer fit for purpose.
Did You Know (1)
The United States of America has 745
military bases in 137 countries. I wonder how many will survive the credit
crunch?
Did you Know (2)
The top 500 dollar billionaires own
half the entire wealth in the World.
Voting in the European Parliament
Each electronic vote costs 400 Euros
and takes 30 seconds longer than a vote by hands. Pressure is put on MEPs to
vote by hand a) to save money, b) to speed things up, c) although there is a greater error
with voting by hand they say it does not matter because the surpluses cancel out the
minuses! Oh, yes, one more thing when MEPs vote electronically we know how
they vote, when it is by hand we do not. All nice and cosy for the MEPs.
Ulster Unionists
Watch this space for further
developments.
March 8th
Northern Ireland
What is happening to the merger
between the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists? It is starting to get
messy.
Repeal of Legislation Act
When the Conservative Party gets
back into power it intends to bring in a Repeal of Legislation Act. What Acts
would you like to repeal? Let me know on johnstrafford@btinternet.com We
could start with scrapping the smoking ban and letting individuals decide for themselves
whether they want to go into a pub that allows smoking.
Nuclear Submarines
Last week a British Nuclear
submarine collided with a French Nuclear submarine. If they cannot even detect
each other it doesn't give you much confidence that if one of their missiles goes off it
will hit the right place, does it?
The Surveillance Society
If you walk from Victoria Station
to Parliament Square you will pass 800 CCTV cameras. Who is watching you?
All Party Groups
In the last week the following All
Party Groups have met at Westminster:
Slimming World
Weight Watchers
Motorcycling
Obesity
Beer
Flag
Archive
Rural Services
Primary Headache Disorders
Sex Equality
And Many Others
If our Parliamentarians spend so
much time with all these groups is it any wonder they are not in the chamber?
March 1st
Convention on Modern Liberty
This was an excellent Convention.
1,700 people attended the London event. It was sold out. I was
delighted at the Conservative presence. David Davis MP was the main speaker at
the end of the convention and he received a lot of applause. Other speakers
included Dominic Grieve MP, Edward Garnier MP, Douglas Carswell MP. The
Conservative Party is now leading the fight to protect our freedom and
liberty. Billy Bragg, a life long socialist, even paid a compliment to David
Davis. In the morning session I had the unusual experience of getting three
rounds of applause whilst asking one question. The question was:
Do we need a written constitution to
defend our liberties and freedoms (applause) from being destroyed by transient politicians
elected by a rotten political system (applause) which gave us a government with a majority
in the House of Commons of 65 when only 22% of the electorate voted for it. (sustained
applause)
Froth, Pure Froth
Sir Graham Bright is a candidate for election as the Chairman of the
National Convention. He sets out his aims. They are typical of
candidates. All froth and no substance. When will we get a
candidate that makes some specific pledges to do something to enhance the position of the
voluntary party? The following is taken from Graham's website. You
will note that at the end he says "Comments closed". So
thats it then!
Grahams Aims
Graham is determined to see the
Conservatives back in power which is why he is standing as the Chairman of the
Conservative Partys National Convention. Graham enjoys working
with all sections of the voluntary party and in particular would like to:-
- Bring back the fun in voluntary politics recognizing that there are so many demands on
peoples time
- See the voice of the volunteer heard by the professional politician more often in both
political debate and in the running of the Party
- Increase the quantity and quality of training available to the voluntary Party ensuring
it is relevant to todays campaigning methods
- Find a better way of involving experienced members in the activities of the Party and
representing the Party on outside bodies at the end of their three year term in office
- Increase the dialogue with local and regional media making our campaign more effective
as a result
- Ensure the Conservative Party is the Party of the highest integrity by adopting and
enforcing the highest standards in public life
Comments Closed
An Open Letter to Gordon Brown
From:
STEVEN KATIRAI
B E L L A M O U R , L O N G H O R S L E Y , M O R P E T H ,
N O R T H U M B E R L A N D N E 6 5 8 R B
e - m a i l - S t e v e n @ k a t i r a i . c o m
The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP
10 Downing Street,
London
SW1A 2AA
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Prime Minister
An open letter demanding your resignation.
Your position is untenable and, I as a citizen of Great Briton demand your
instant resignation.
You are unelected, have no popular mandate and lack the moral authority to
be Prime Minister. Your terms as Chancellor and Prime Minister have been a total disaster
for this nation and your attempt to cling on to power at all costs show a complete
contempt for this nation and displays your absolute vanity and thirst for political power.
I list below some of the mistakes made by you during your time in public
office. If as a director of a limited company you had made similar mistakes you would be
subject to criminal prosecution and banned from being a company director. As a Government
minister the standards exercised should be significantly higher than those exercised by a
company director, you have failed to maintain those standards and are unfit for public
office.
?
Banking Supervision: You transferred responsibility for banking supervision to the
Financial Services Authority from the Bank of England so directly laying the seeds of the
current banking crisis.
?
Banking Crisis: The initial response to the Northern Rock crisis was so slow as to
be glacial and ultimately led to the damage done to the
whole banking sector. A strong Prime Minister would have provided
depositors with a guarantee that their deposits were safe and the
bank run would have stopped. Ultimately the same guarantee would have
ensured that the HBOS and RBS debacle would not have been
so severe.
?
Criminal Negligence: The entire UK banking crisis has been caused by a lack of
supervision under the regulatory regime set up by you, any
man of honour would have resigned upon seeing the damage caused.
You however have tried to blame everyone else and accept no
responsibility. You are criminally negligent.
?
Vanity: You have used the banking crisis to attempt to advance your
personal standing and political career at the expense of the nation.
?
Lack of Judgment: You have made three serious errors of judgment in your appointment
of advisers on the current financial crisis.
1.
Your choice of banker to compile a
report on ideas for improving public health was Sir Derek Wanless. a Northern Rock
director when
it imploded in 2007.
2.
You appointed Sir James Crosby,
the former HBOS CEO, to the board of the FSA who then had to resign after becoming
embroiled in the
row over failings of risk management at HBOS.
3.
It now also appears that Glen
Moreno will be forced out of his job, as chairman of UK Financial Investments Ltd, the
company set up to
oversee the governments stake in the bailed-out banks, because of
his links with a Liechtenstein trust accused of tax evasion.
?
You Fantasize: By clinging to the idea that, thanks to your genius British
citizens are far better placed than competitors to handle this crisis. The following two
facts demonstrate that this is a fantasy:-
1.
The Office for National
Statistics' revelation that while the number of foreign workers getting jobs in the UK
continues to grow (up by
175,000 to 2.4 million last year), domestic unemployment is rising
sharply.
2.
According to Business Monitor
International, a research company specialising in country risk, "Britain is facing an
unprecedented fall in
its economic world ranking
from 12th place in 2007 to 21st in
2010". "Despite enjoying 11 years of growth between 1997 and
2007, the UK ran a budget deficit of 1.7 per cent of GDP over this period,
fuelling a fiscal time bomb. Faced with the financial burden of
bailing out the banking sector and kick-starting the economy, the budget
deficit will swell to an unsustainable 9.3 per cent of GDP in 2009."
?
Public spending: Your 2000 Spending Review presaged a major expansion of government
spending, without any significant benefit to
public services, directly leading to the UK being in the worst shape of
any industrialised nation to weather the current financial crisis.
?
You have colluded in hiding the
full extent of public borrowing by using PFI initiatives to hide the borrowings off
balance sheet. PFI is the most
expensive and inefficient form of finance possible, and you have saddled
the country with a debt that you cannot even quantify. Jeremy
Pocklington, leader of the Treasurys corporate and private finance
team, could only give a rough estimate to Richard Bacon that the total
liabilities, but not debt, from the vast majority of PFIs, but not all,
from 2006-07 to 2032-33, but not beyond, is £157.9bn.
That is not only
astounding but unbelievable.
?
Public sector Employment: The office for national Statistics shows Public sector
employment was 5,846,000 (20.4 per cent of all in
employment) in June 2005, 680,000 (13.2 per cent) higher than in June
1998, whereas from 1998 to 2005 private sector employment only rose by 1,241,000 (5.7 per
cent). This growth is unsustainable and wrong.
?
Growth: An OECD report shows UK economic growth averaged 2.7% between
1997 and 2006, lower than in any other English speaking country.
?
Gold sales: Between 1999 and 2002 you sold 60% of the UK's gold reserves at
$275 an ounce, close to a 20-year low, a disastrous foray into
international asset management.
?
Your spectrum auctions gathered £22.5 billion for the government which caused a severe
recession in the telecoms development industry
leading to the direct loss of 30,000 UK jobs. Two auctions were run in the
USA, the first being cancelled and re-run (for less revenue) due to
damage caused to the industry. The Americans realised their mistake and
tried to rectify it. The British and German chancellors copied the
North American first auction; which had failed. To copy a failed economic
model is normally considered a serious error of judgement.
?
Your East Coast Mainline franchise auction led directly to the demise of GNER, an excellent
company, which was replaced by National Express who offer East Coast mainline users a
significantly poorer service. Your duty was not only to maximise revenues, you also had a
duty to the shareholders, employees and customers which you completely failed.
?
Anti-poverty: The Centre for Policy Studies found that the poorest fifth of
households, which accounted for 6.8% of all taxes in 19967,
accounted for 6.9% of all taxes paid in 2004-5. Meanwhile, their share of
state benefit payouts dropped from 28.1% to 27.1% over the same
period.
?
Tax: According to the OECD UK taxation has increased from a 39.3%
share of gross domestic product in 1997 to 42.4% in 2006, going to a
higher level than Germany. This increase has mainly been attributed to
active government policy, and not simply to the growing economy.
?
You pledged to not increase the
basic or higher rates of income tax however in all but your final budget, you only
increased the tax
thresholds in line with inflation, rather than earnings, resulting in
fiscal drag.
?
You abolished the 10% tax band so
that you could reduce the basic rate from 22% to 20%, to make it look like you were
decreasing taxes.
However in fact it led to increased tax for 5 million people, and, left
those earning under £18,000 as the biggest losers.
?
Pensions: Your changes in 1997 in the way corporation tax is collected,
directly led to the taxation of dividends on stock investments held
within pensions, thus lowering pension returns and contributing to the
demise of most of the final salary pension funds in the UK.
?
This act alone has single handedly
damaged the pension of every person with a pension in the UK but also saddled UK
corporations with
a an ever growing pension liability, so much so that many companies
futures are imperilled by these debts.
?
Falsehoods: You used the Laura Spence Affair to beat up Oxford and Cambridge
about their admissions procedures, Lord Jenkins, then
Oxford Chancellor and himself a former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer,
said "nearly every fact you used was false.
?
Inappropriate links: Given the finding that the government did not carry a proper
public consultation on the use of nuclear power in its
2006 Energy Review, your brother Andrews is links to one of the main
nuclear lobbyists, EDF Energy could be construed as inappropriate.
?
The father-in-law of your closest
adviser Ed Balls, Tony Cooper (father of the Labour minister Yvette Cooper) has close
links with the nuclear
industry. Cooper was described as an "
articulate, persuasive and wellinformed advocate of
nuclear power over the last ten years" by the
Nuclear Industry Association on his appointment as Chairman of the British
Nuclear Industry Forum in June 2002.
?
IraqWar: You supported British involvement in the Iraq War against the
wishes of the UK population and helped to justify that involvement by publishing false
intelligence. This war has directly increased the odds of terrorist attacks on British
subjects and the financial cost has had a
significantly detrimental effect on the British economy.
?
Military Covenant: You have not adhered to the 'military covenant', leading to a
significant decline in the moral of the armed forces due to
poor housing, lack of equipment and adequate healthcare provisions.
The lack of equipment has directly led to an increase in the loss of
lives, and serious injuries, compounded by a lack care following serious
injury.
?
The 15% VAT Rate: introduced to counter the effects of recession demonstrated a
total naivety and breathtaking stupidity. Far from
digging the nation out of a hole, it has saddled the country with a
hugeunsustainable debt.
?
No one should benefit from
failure: You have on numerous occasions stated
that no one should benefit from failure, however your tenure as chancellor was universally
recognised as a failure, but you were rewarded with the Premiership and had the gall to
accept.
?
There will be no more Boom
& Bust: In your hubris you made a statement
that was patently untrue, and counter to any economic
theory. You either knew that statement to be untrue and lied or if you
believed it then you clearly demonstrated your foolishness and proved
that you were unfit for office.
?
The UK is in a better
position than any other developed country: this
again is completely untrue, we have more than double the debt per
head of population than any other country in Europe.
?
Public Services: You have destroyed Public Services by a raft of inappropriate
targets, which have led to resources being wasted by the
attempts to meet those targets.
?
Surveillance society: You have presided over and led to the creation of a surveillance
society in which any perceived wrongdoing is used as a
pretext to pass oppressive laws. You and your predecessor have both single
headedly succeeded in making the UK an unpleasant place to live
in.
These are but a small sample of your failings any of which make you unfit
for public office and for which you should immediately resign. You sir are a fraud and I
am forwarding this letter to as many people as I can, via the internet in an effort to
shame you into accepting your failures.
Yours faithfully
Steven Katirai
You could not make it up!
Fitness centre for MEPs to cost 9.2m euros. The European Parliament is
planning to spend 9.2 million euros refurbishing its fitness centre for MEPs and staff,
including an aquagym and a 'chill out' room. Gerard Onesta, a French Green MEP
and Vice President of the Parliament insisted that the new gym would have "nothing to
do with luxury" and that the facilities would save money by cutting staff absenteeism
by up to 30 per cent.