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.
