Posts Tagged ‘Conservative Party’
Which Conservative Leadership Candidate Has The Intelligence And Courage To Legalise Cannabis?
There are a host of strong, evidence-based reasons why legalising cannabis is a very good idea. It’s also an idea that fits perfectly with Tory principles of free enterprise, small government and fighting crime. In private, most politicians now realise this and that the present policy on cannabis causes far more harm than it prevents. But do any of the Conservative Leadership candidates have the vision to make this policy their own? It would be a massive vote winner at the next General Election and could rescue the party from its terminal decline into old age.
Dominic Raab. He probably understands the evidence well but may feel this is just too controversial a policy to help him overcome concerns about his relative youth and lack of experience. It would do wonders for his brand though and, on a good day, he probably does have the courage.
Esther McVey. Not a chance. If ever there was an anodyne, squeaky-clean, don’t rock the boat candidate for the twin set and pearls ladies at the local Conservative association, it’s Esther. Her candidacy simply isn’t strong enough to sustain such a radical policy.
Rory Stewart. With his background, no one should understand better the counterproductive nature of the war on drugs. He may have tried opium in Iran and he must have come across some the world’s finest hashish in Afghanistan. He has the knowledge and the vision but does he have the courage? His exciting campaign has the energy to take on this policy and make it his own.
Boris Johnson. Famously describing the idea that he had never taken drugs as “an outrageous slur”, Boris has confirmed that he has smoked “quite a few spliffs” and that “it was jolly nice”. But for all the bluster and bravado, he probably lacks the courage and this is a policy that requires diligent and patient explanation, so probably not something he’s well suited to.
Sajid Javid. Credit is due to the home secretary who finally moved on access to cannabis as medicine but this was probably more to do with asserting his new role in the cabinet. It is remarkable though that he achieved this while Theresa May was PM. Not only is she as regressive as they come on drugs policy, she also has a vested interest in keeping cannabis illegal due to her husband’s financial interest in GW Pharmaceuticals. Sadly though, Sajid is more likely to appeal to ‘hang ’em and flog ’em’ Tories rather than those with intelligence and courage.
Andrea Leadsom. Mrs Leadsom is notable as one of the few Tories who treated the late Paul Flynn and his cannabis campaigning with respect rather than contempt and ridicule but she’s unlikely to be the sort of leader who would take forward such a bold policy. Please prove us wrong Andrea!
Matt Hancock. Forever to be defined by his dishonest testimony on the Leveson Inquiry whilst culture secretary, Hancock doesn’t have the balls for anything radical. He’s already punching above his weight at the Department of Health and his loyalty to the Fleet Street barons is unlikely to persuade him to challenge one of their favourite topics for sensationalism.
Michael Gove. Although strong on intellect and fully capable of radical policy, Gove is in serious deficit on sincerity and integrity. With Mrs Gove (Sarah Vine) as a rampaging Daily Mail hack, probably writing about a cannabis crazed axe murderer right now, this is probably a step too far for him and his natural constituency is older people, certainly in attitude if not in years.
Jeremy Hunt. Definitely the choice for conservative Conservatives, Mr Hunt probably understands the arguments but sees this as a policy for the next generation. Undoubtedly a decent man, a one nation Tory, made of stronger stuff than first appears but unlikely to want to put his name to such a controversial policy.
Kit Malthouse. One would have hoped that Malthouse’s previous role as London Deputy Mayor for Policing would have given him an insight into drugs policy but it’s a subject he seems strangely silent on. He apparently has no record of any comment on the subject at all. So he may be a dark horse but almost certainly one that won’t be anywhere near the finishing line.
Mark Harper. As an ex-Home Office minister it’s unlikely that Harper is progressive on drugs policy and it certainly isn’t a subject that he has any record on. He’s unlikely to be in favour of cannabis law reform but also unlikely to get anywhere in the leadership race. Hardly a reformer, more of a classic Tory stuffed shirt.
James Cleverly. Clever by name but not too clever in practice, James has confessed to smoking weed in his youth but of course it was all a ‘dreadful mistake’. He showed a terrible lack of understanding as one of the MPs to eagerly jump on the bandwagon of ‘middle class cocaine users being responsible for knife crime’. Not much hope of any insight, intelligence or courage here.
An Outlaw Parliament Against The People. Time To Bring Our Corrupt MPs Down.
It starts at the top and it includes all but a handful of the 650 overpaid, self-serving, complacent, corrupt and useless Members of Parliament. They are, without doubt, subverters of our democracy who arrogate to themselves the right to continue in office when they have manifestly failed to follow the law they themselves created.
Under our constitution Parliament is supreme and it answers only to the electorate. In 2016, by a law which it passed, it delegated the decision of remaining in or leaving the EU to the electorate and we delivered a very clear verdict. Every MP who since then has worked to undermine that decision, delay or even reverse it, is acting beyond their lawful authority. They are nothing less than traitors and while I don’t expect to see them hanged, drawn and quartered, they are unfit to continue in office and they should be removed, by force if necessary.
Yet they have the nerve to complain and whine and whimper about the criticism they are subject to. They have the most privileged position. They are protected by armed guards, cocooned in taxpayer-subsidised luxury with generous expenses and total autonomy over the way they behave. They don’t have to work if they don’t want to and if they fancy a ‘fact finding trip’ overseas there is a queue offering them thinly-disguised bribes for their personal pleasure, entertainment, education and any experience they fancy. If they have an opinion about anything, however ignorant or ill-informed it is, they are gifted time on radio and television, space in newspapers and a willing audience of sycophants in the media. If they get a bit of abuse on the internet the police act, whereas for you and me the police have no time.
They truly are some of the most worthless and wasteful people in the country, contributing virtually nothing of any value and yet it continues year after year, decade after decade and all the time they are reinforcing the system in their interest. They are almost totally unaccountable and their main focus is always preserving their position.
In truth, the joke that is ‘British democracy’ is no better than Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela or any tin-pot, third-world dictatorship. We are oppressed and subjugated by people who care only for themselves. Hundreds of thousands of our children live in food poverty, our old people are neglected, our public services are starved of funds while incompetent ministers fritter away billions on vanity projects. We lock up more people in jail than any other Western nation apart from the USA. They implement polices that are clearly against the public will, yet they decide they know better.
There is no government in Britain and no real politics of the people. There is instead a mafia controlled by the Conservative and Labour parties in league with the media moguls and the big business, mega conglomerates that suck up the wealth we create and use it only for their own ends.
It’s taken nearly 62 years of life for the scales to fall from my eyes so that I see the dystopia in which we live. Time for a revolution and if it requires overthrow of the system, so be it. This is a fight for our liberty, as vital as any in our history.
I Have Joined The Labour Party. #AndImATory
For some months now I have called myself a ‘Corbynista’. I am proud to back a man who demonstrates more integrity, courage, decency amd honour than almost every other Member of Parliament put together. Today, in the face of the ever-escalating smear campaign, the completely ludicrous and false allegations of antisemitism, the vile abuse of the BBC and the despicable right wing press, I have signed up to become a member of the Labour Party.
I remain a Tory because I believe in fundamental principles of individual liberty, individual responsibility, small goverment and free markets. I am not and never will be a socialist. I do not believe it is is right that the state should own the means of production and supply because this inevitably leads to complacency and inefficiency. Competition is a healthy motivation and inline with human nature. Socialism, in my view, is a delusion. It has never worked, anywhere in the world and it never will. However, I do consider that there are certain industries that are best owned by the state, those that are natural monopolies such as energy, water, the railways, the road system, the basic health service and basic communications and internet infrastructure. So I would support re-nationalisation of these industries.
I am unlikely to remain a member of the Labour Party forever. My reason for joining in the short term is to support Corbyn as the only decent leader in our country and because the overriding priority now is to bring down this corrupt, self-serving Conservative government. The Conservative Party is unfit for government. It has trashed the huge opportunity that Brexit offered by appalling, irresponsible infighting. It would be best if it simply disintegrated. It has brought shame on our nation and many, perhaps most, of its MPs simply disgust me with their venal and selfish behaviour. Mind you, I feel the same way about the treacherous, Blairite Labour MPs who have repeatedly stabbed Corbyn in the back. Chuka Ummuna, Chris Bryant, Margaret Hodge, Luciana Berger, Yvette Cooper, Harriet Harman and others – I put them in the same category as most Tory MPs – worthless.
It’s true, in the past five years I have belonged to the Liberal Democrat, Conservative and now Labour parties. I very much hope for the establishment of a new, centre-right, liberal and progressive party and I would join it in a flash. Some may find this difficult to understand but I am not a tribalist. I think tribalism is probably the most destructive force in politics. What drives me is principles first and policies second. Once we have got rid of the Conservatives, I shall become concerned with policies again and those will be in line with my fundamental Tory principles. I remain a true Tory, not the corrupt, self-serving, authoritarian example set by the diabolical Mrs May.
For now I am a member of the Labour Party and I will do all I can to see Jeremy Corbyn become our next prime minister.
The BBC’s Treatment Of Sir Cliff Richard Must Have Severe Consequences For The Individuals Responsible.
Fran Unsworth, BBC Director of News and Current Affairs
Dan Johnson, BBC Reporter
There simply is no other option, Fran Unsworth and Dan Johnson must be sacked.
I could have been persuaded to let them resign but not since they have both supported the idea of an appeal, compounding the abuse of Sir Cliff.
This has been in inexcusable episode which has brought shame on the BBC. It would have disgraced the News of the World if it was still with us but for this editorial decision to have been forced, repeatedly, and defended by the BBC at huge cost, really is a national scandal.
Sack them both now and apologise unreservedly. Anything less and the BBC will forever be diminished beyond any possibility of redemption – and think what that means to all the sincere, honourable, decent people who have worked there.
The brazen attempts to justify this abuse have damaged the BBC even further. The public is sick of media abuse and of weak governments that repeatedly fail to stand up to powerful organisations. The second part of the Leveson Inquiry was supposed to investigate collusion between the media and the police. Only a few weeks ago, the then Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, cancelled it. There can be no doubt that this was designed only to appease the press barons in the interests of the Conservative Party. Just days later, Murdoch’s takeover of Sky was approved as well. As in so many other instances, this government and its ministers are demonstrated to be corrupt and shameless with it.
If the BBC wants to be regarded in the same category as Murdoch, Dacre and the Barclay Brothers, by all means keep Unswortth and Johnson on staff. The British public will never forgive you.
The Conservative Party Is Destroying Britain. It Must Be Stopped. #AndImATory
Theresa May is in charge and her party is causing immense, possibly irrepairable damage to Britain. She must be called to account and her party must be stopped. This is a grave national emergency which in some countries would provoke a military coup. Who can say that in the interests of our nation this is not justified? I’d trust one of our senior military officers to act more responsibly than any member of the cabinet, any day.
Sadly, I cannot see a heavily armed band of brothers seizing Downing Street and carting Mrs May off to HMP Belmarsh but something close to such drama is urgently needed. If there is anyone left in the Conservative Party who puts the national interest before their own, they need to step forward. I can see no way ahead except a general election.
That may cause an inevitable crashing out of the EU. Article 50 has been activated and we are on a predetermined timetable. If we haven’t done a deal by the next March we will exit with all future trade on WTO terms. My view is that would be a very good thing. It woud deliver what we voted for in the referendum and we would be forced to make it work.
All the bleating, hand-wringing from the treasonous Remainers would be hot air, dispersing into nothingness that it was all along. I wish that the vile, whining cabal of Chuka Ummuna, Anna Soubry, Ken Clarke, Chris Leslie and others would resign. They have campaigned relentlessly against the people’s decision, they have sabotaged our nation and they are no longer fit to be in Parliament.
But no one bears more responsibility than Theresa May. The Brexit supporting MPs are rightly insisting that Brexit must be implemented and she has deceived, cheated, procrastinated, double-crossed and betrayed. No consequence can be serious enough for her but I will be content provided she is removed from office and public life for ever.
Two Years Of Conservatives Procrastinating Over The EU At Britain’s Expense. How Much Has That Cost?
Ten billion? A hundred billion? I have no idea but I’m sure there’s some overpaid civil servant in the Treasury who can work it out. What we should then do is send an invoice to the Conservative Party. It has dithered and argued amongst itself, destroyed the huge opportunity that Brexit offered and seriously damaged the economy and our society, all for its own self-indulgence.
The government should issue the invoice, perhaps with a covering note pointing out that it and the party are two entirely separate legal entities. The government acts on behalf of the people of Britain and does not fund the Conservative Party except as laid down in statute, as is available to all parties.
If the Conservative Party isn’t prepared to pay the invoice, then the Treasury Solicitor should be instructed to issue a claim. I’m sure leading counsel, at our considerable (but relatively insignificant) expense, can find a way to make the claim stick. If it’s not settled then the Court will reach the appropriate judgment and we can then commence insolvency proceedings against the Conservative Party. That will sort out a large part of the country’s problems at a stroke.
Whatever happens in the next few years and however we get there, we will almost certainly have to endure a few years of a Labour government and faux socialism. It won’t last long and in the meantime British politics, particularly of the right, will have to rebuild itself afresh
What really matters and however we do it, we must bring down the Conservative Party, punish it severely and ensure it can never inflict its internal problems on the country again. There is no higher priority #AndImATory.
Theresa May And The Conservative Government Are Both Treasonable And Corrupt.
We have a government which is pursuing policy not in the interests of the nation but solely in the interests of the Conservative Party. This is corruption. It is no better than taking bribes. It is grubby, dishonest, self-serving and directly contradicts the purpose of our democracy and the basis upon which MPs hold office.
We have a government that by a vote in Parliament was ordered to determine our future membership of the EU by a referendum. The result was that we should leave. Now, through corrupt self-interest the leader of the Conservative Party, at enormous cost to the nation, has used her position as PM to subvert the result of the referendum. This is treasonable.
Democracy has been entirely extinguished in the UK. Your vote means nothing. We are ruled by diktat from a corrupt, self-serving elite. There is no longer any law, only the pursuit of self-interest and the forcible repression of dissent.
It is time for a revolution. The nation should take up arms and rise in justifiable revolt against the criminals in government.
If I Believed Corbyn Could Bring Down This Corrupt Conservative Government I’d Join The Labour Party. But Can He?
I truly believe that tribalism is one of the most destructive forces in politics. Sticking with same party just because you’ve always done so and perhaps because your parents did too, will not advance our society. We should cast our vote for a reason, not out of blind loyalty.
In the 42 years that I have been entitled to vote I have only ever voted Conservative (with one exception which I shall explain later) but as we now have the most corrupt government in my lifetime, I will vote for whichever candidate is most likely to get the Conservatives out of office. I’ll go further in that I am now seriously considering joining the Labour Party.
Self-Serving and Corrupt
Our government is corrupt because it pursues self-serving policies for its tribal advantage and not on the basis of evidence. Astonishingly it has managed to destroy the opportunity that Brexit presented. That the cabinet is still bickering two years after the referendum and has no agreed policy is conclusive proof that the party is reckless, irresponsible and unfit to govern.
The Conservative Party is in crisis and is dragging Britain down with it. It has moved so far away from its fundamental principles of individual liberty, individual responsibility, small government and free markets, that it has become unrecognisable.
Instead we have a party and a rump of aging opinion that has become an authoritarian, bureaucratic, self-serving, repressive enforcer of an austere nanny state. It is so out of touch with developing opinion and values that it is doomed.
My area of special interest, drugs policy, is a pillar of this crumbling mausoleum. What Theresa May and her allies have imposed on us for so long is now causing immense harm throughout our society and it is a microcosm of the wider problem with the party.
As an advocate for drugs policy reform and a Tory, I’ve been unpopular with the party I have voted for all my life and with the left which has tried to hijack this liberal cause as its own.
As I pass 60 I am delighted and rewarded to see so many joining my progressive cause. However, I am no more optimistic about the Labour Party on drugs policy. This reform is being driven from the bottom up and will happen regardless of the buffoons who have resisted it for so long. It is vital now that we overturn this tyrannical government which has failed on so many policies but in particular has destroyed the great opportunity of Brexit and left us in the worst possible position.
In future, I will vote for whichever candidate best assures me of overturning this government. The bigger question is whether I should now join the Labour Party. I will never be a socialist but I am pragmatic and that means I am precious close to becoming a Labour Party member and I will certainly be voting for Jeremy Corbyn.
We must demolish the old Conservative Party before we can rebuild a party of the centre right that is fit for the future.
Never Has There Been A More Important Time To Vote Against The Conservatives #AndImATory
I urge you to go out and vote in the local elections and vote against whichever candidate is most likely to defeat the Conservatives.
This is not a conclusion that I have reached lightly or without a great deal of thought. For the 42 years in which I have been entitled to vote, I have only ever voted Conservative and until Theresa May became leader and, disastrously, prime minister of our nation, I was a fully paid up member of the Conservative Party and an approved local government candidate.
It is my considered opinion that the Conservative Party is a destructive force for Britain and there is clear evidence of serious corruption amongst senior MPs and ministers. They are unfit to govern our country.
By corruption I do not mean that ministers are receiving thick, plain brown envelopes of cash or even shares held by a nominee in some offshore account – though I think it would be naive to completely rule out the possibility. The idea that MPs and minsters are, without exception, people of great probity and honour is a delusion best put behind us. I refer to a more general definition of corruption in which their conduct or intent is not what it is declared to be or what we are entitled to expect.
We are entitled to expect fairness. We are entitled to expect that policy is based on evidence. We are entitled to expect honesty and transparency within the limits of national security.
For instance, when a minister pursues a policy or adopts a position for their party’s advantage before the nation’s, that is corrupt. When a minister acts to hold on to their job rather than to see their department improve its service to the public, that is corrupt.
Theresa May, Amber Rudd, Philip Hammond, Chris Grayling and Matt Hancock are beyond doubt guilty of such corruption and many other members of the Conservative cabinet have a case to answer. Our government is corrupt from top to bottom and from the very core.
Each of us has policies and areas of interest that concern us most. Mine are set out in over 900 articles published on this website but I do not want to distract from this crucial message by repeating myself or exercising my particular hobby horses. Whatever your primary concerns, consider how this government has treated them and recognise that its conduct has rendered it unfit to govern. It is far more than simply pursuing policies that you may disagree with, it is a culture that is systemic within Conservative government: secrecy, cover-up, hypocrisy, arrogance and an authoritarian, intolerant attitude to the people it is supposed to serve. It is corruption.
It’s been said many times but never has it been more accurate. Government exists to serve the people and not vice versa. This truth is simply incompatible with our present government and with the Conservative Party in its present form.
I remain a Tory. My principles are of individual liberty, individual responsibility, free markets, justice and small government. These will never change. However, this government must fall at all costs and if that means putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street, then that is what I shall vote for
The Despicable and Diabolical Home Office. Our National Shame. Designed By Theresa May.
No other British institution is responsible for causing more harm to its own citizens and responsibility for its course in recent years is entirely down to Theresa May. When she first entered government in 2010 she established a culture that truly defines the ‘nasty party’. Even, in her own words, deliberately creating a “hostile environment” for immigrants. The Home Office is hostile towards many sections of our society and it is completely misguided. Instead of supporting and assisting the British people, it is always more concerned about imposing and enforcing its diktat.
The Home Office has to tread a difficult path between protecting the rights of citizens and enforcing the laws that define British society. For far too long, under both Conservative and Labour governments it has acted in a high handed and authoritarian manner. Everything that Theresa May has done has been to increase this and, as the present Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, said in the House of Commons yesterday, it has been “too concerned with policy and strategy, and sometimes lost sight of the individual”. In fact, this is completely deliberate and is the central ethos that defines the Home Office’s work.
It is the horrendous treatment of the Windrush generation that seems to have finally brought this reality into public awareness. People who came here as children, mostly from the West Indies, accompanying their parents who had been persuaded to come here to the ‘mother country’ because after the war we faced a desperate labour shortage. These people re-built Britain. They are as much stalwarts of our society as anyone whose ancestors were born here. It is impossible to overstate how dreadful and unforgivable the Home Office’s treatment of them has been.
There have already been calls for resignations over this scandal and in a just world it would be Theresa May to go first. There must be also be dismissals of Home Office civil servants. Anyone who has been prepared to pursue this disgusting policy without objection is simply not fit to be in public service. Their mind set and conscience is not of the standard we require.
But this is Theresa May’s responsibility. Her style of government is secretive, authoritarian, dismissive of public opinion and everything is played very close to her chest and as much behind closed doors as she can get away with. Her dictatorial, micro-managerial style at the Home Office is continuing in her role as PM and I believe it is unsustainable for the leader of our country. We need far more openness, interest in the people and a desire to inform rather than to conceal. I consider that Theresa May is incapable of these qualities.
She is the would-be promoter of thought crime, intensive snooping, censorship, rigid and inflexible laws, suppression of dissent, severe punishments and, as she has already demonstrated with asylum seekers, locking people up without trial. Her record on immigration, policing, drugs policy, the Passport Office, asylum, the Snooper’s Charter, the Border Force, her general authoritarian, secretive attitudes – she does not represent British values at all, only her own self-serving philosophy.
Theresa May is not a true Tory. The most important, fundamental Conservative principles are individual liberty, individual responsibility and small government. Mrs May is in opposition to these values, she is an Authoritarian Bureaucrat. All her polices are about a bigger state, interfering more and more with our freedoms, micro-managing every aspect of our lives, just as she did at the Home Office. Yet every single one of her policies has been a failure.
Mrs May has turned the government of Britain into government by her Home Office culture. Her successor, Amber Rudd is virtually a clone of herself and every Home Office minister seems to be cast from her mould: intolerant, careless of evidence and autocratic in style. It is government of and by the Authoritarian Bureaucrat and against the individual. Her position as PM is protected by the chaotic management of Brexit which she has overseen and a complete lack of any successor in the Conservative Party. I doubt that the terrible abuse of the Windrush generation is enough to bring her down but as the local elections approach it will be one of many factors which are leading inevitably to the wholesale rejection of her and her party by the electorate.
