I'm just going to say a very few brief words to mark this occasion and to mark some of the very significant problems that the conservative party faces going forward. And frankly, it now has to decide whether it really wants to be the Conservative Party.
Firstly, a little good news there's not much of it about I'm afraid but over the last few months I've used this period to be an opportunity to recapitalise the Bruges Group. We've actually raised a significant amount of money to ensure that we have the resources, to continue the battle to make sure that Britain remains a free and independent country. Working to maximise the benefits of Brexit. We have a challenge in that we now face a government that deeply regrets Brexit. And if you actually look at the new composition of the House of Commons, I believe that they are now well under 100 MPs that actually support Brexit. So, we are going to have quite a lot of nonsense, but I feel that the Labour government led by Kier Starmer is not really strong enough to challenge the basic assumptions of Brexit, which they well know was supported by the overwhelming majority of the British people.
this is not a sudden development. This is a process that I believe has been going on over decades, but in this general election we have really reaped the cruel rewards of taking this different course. Indeed, for many of its 14 years in office, it's not been a Conservative government at all. It's been a big state party, using the big state, and expanding the big state- and that's a dreadful record for people that claim to be Conservatives. The fact that it's lost its way comes as no surprise.
It's now 20 years since the A-list of selecting parliamentary candidates was introduced. It was the brain wave of someone called Michael Gove. Michael Gove, I think you may have heard of him— who after a lengthy period of government, recently decided that he was a Whig, not a Tory. Many centrally favoured candidates have been gifted safe Conservative seats. It's been a travesty of democracy and it's no wonder that the membership of the Conservative Party has declined accordingly.
In my simple view, we must know go back to a central- approved list of some 500 candidates who can apply for any seat they choose, and I for one would have confidence that the local Conservative associations have members and officers who are capable of choosing the very best candidates. The very best candidates who will represent the Conservative Party. You may remember that Winston Churchill's father, Lord Randolph Churchill, some 140 years ago coined the phrase "Trust the people." and that's what the Conservative party must once again do if it wants to be successful, survive, and be viable for the future.
I'm afraid it has become increasingly difficult to mount a cogent case for a continuing Conservative government. and most advocates of the Conservative government have had to fall back on the argument that Labour would be worse. Thatcher believed in the small state, and famously said at Bruges "We have not rolled back the frontiers of the state merely to have them reimposed at a European level." The truth is that since since Thatcher, each successive Conservative government has expanded the frontiers of the state— they've done the complete opposite. Under Thatcher, government debt to GDP our nation's annual wealth amounted to less than 30%. Now some 35 years later, government debt to gross domestic product is nearly 100%. 100%, and most of that increasing debt has happened under succession of Conservative governments.
The next leader of the Conservative Party must have a credible strategy for reducing the size of the state. If that person hasn't, one has to ask the question "What is this all about?" Is it merely an exercise in achieving office and financial rewards for those in charge? Or does the national interest still mean something?
Reducing the size of the state can then lead to the return of Conservative principles upon which a successful and prosperous nation can achieve its aspirations. Let's get back to those Conservative principles. Thatcher created a smaller state, where choice and prosperity became available to an ever-increasing number of our fellow citizens. Economic success and electoral success went hand in hand.
We must hope that from the ash of the worst defeat in modern times— I think it may be of all time— that a figure of some substance and integrity emerges to lead the Conservative Party forward and restore our nation to what it used to be.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
