Tuesday - May 01, 2012

a socialist conservative party?

This Conservative Party is more socialist than any government I have seen in my lifetime

By Peter Mullen, Politics

The Rev Dr Peter Mullen is a priest of the Church of England and former Rector of St Michael, Cornhill and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London. He has written for many publications including the Wall Street Journal.

The Tories will not recover from the catastrophic election defeat which faces them this week. They don’t deserve to – because they have spent the last two years alienating their core supporters. These supporters, of whom I used to be one, are very largely old-fashioned, traditional middle class voters. I suppose we can be described as “respectable” – before, as GK Chesterton said, that word became very unrespectable.

What we old Tories stand for is the defence of the realm against foreign enemies and the maintenance of law and order at home. In these matters the Tory party under Cameron has betrayed us. The armed forces have been run down, even to the extremity of a proposal that we might have to share an aircraft carrier with the French – thus prompting the question of what we do with our half of it when their half surrenders.

One person posting under comments took serious issue with the remark, very funny tho it was, about the French and surrender.

conchobar said:

I get very irritated when I see the French get slagged off
once again about their defeat and surrender in 1940. The author shows serious
ignorance regarding the strategic realities facing both Britain and France in
1940 – they faced an unequal battle from the moment that Germany and the Soviet
Union signed their non-aggression pact permitting Germany to throw its entire
military weight against the West as Stalin clearly intended (hoping for a long
war in the West which would enervate all his enemies simultaneously!). The
rapid collapse of the Allied armies spared Britain and France the terrible losses suffered in the First World War.
The subsequent horrendous losses suffered by the Soviet Union were largely
caused by Stalin’s own savagery, incompetence and meddling. In 1940 France did not
have the luxury of a 25 mile wide anti-tank ditch behind which it could wait until
the strategic balance of forces became more favourable. I acknowledge that the Vichy regime was far too
enthusiastic to cooperate with its victorious enemy but that is a separate
matter.

The Rev. Mullen continues:

The riots of last summer are all the evidence we need to prove that the government cannot maintain law and order.

Boris Johnson says the government should go in for “more tax cuts.” More in addition to what? There have been no significant tax cuts. In fact every week there are proposals for ever more inventive methods of extorting money from the hardworking and the thrifty. I actually find myself paying tax on my meagre pension. Tories used to believe in supporting industry, both private and corporate, and rewarding thrift. Not any longer. We are taxed to the hilt, and industry is hamstrung by more and more regulation. Does Dave really think that the way to electoral success is by the systematic impoverishment of the middle class?
So what does Cameron’s Tory party stand for? It stands for massive state spending on failed institutions such as the NHS and what is laughably called state education. It funds, out of the taxes of the hardworking and the thrifty, a profligate public sector and a bloated welfarist culture. While turning its back on traditional Tory values, the modern – Oh yes, how very modern! – Conservative party is obsessed with the promotion of outlandish minority and sectarian causes.
In other words, Dave’s Tory party is more socialist than any socialist government I have seen in my lifetime. Why should I, or any other conservative-minded person vote for it?

Of course the obvious answer and the one he’s looking for is, no one should.
And I can easily understand his feeling. BUT … as we all know and I am not defending Mr. Cameron, nor is it my place to do so, and as someone else has pointed out in reply to his column, this is a coalition govt.  The cons couldn’t gather together enough votes to form a conservative govt. However, be that as it may, the PM nevertheless strikes me as not being totally committed and really is consv. lite in his heart of hearts.  Or that’s how he impresses me anyway.

Here’s someone else’s take on it.

jacko2012 said:

I think he fails to realise that the government in place is not the Conservative party, its a compromise government made up of LibDem and Conservative.
The LibDems would be failing as any credible party if they were not able to hold the Conservatives to their compromise that they agreed when they formed the joint government shortly after the last election.
But I do accept that the conservatives are nothing like the party of past years. Everything these days in the UK has to be ‘middle of the road’ politics that never seems to get us anywhere. So all the policies are based around VERY CENTER left & right views.
The problem is that the mainstream media is backed up with powerful lobby groups, be that unions, investors etc. that always stop politics in the form of public opinion at least from straying away from centre and towards the left or right.
It is a shame, but I would say the vast majority of the UK public follow the opinions of the likes of BBC news, Sky news, tabloids etc. etc. and as these media groups look for ‘stories’ they give an un-balanced amount of voice to the minorities......and this is what is keeping the UK from making any real progress on politics. As everything has to be centred in order to keep everyone happy,......even though the media portray the unbalanced voice of the minority views.
So its no wonder that Cameron is now very centred in politics...the party has indeed moved a significant way to the left from what it was, but how can we get anything different these days? Vote for another centered party? Because the media don’t like the others.

Posted by peiper     on 05/01/2012 at 09:09 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics • UK •  
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