Politicians should have a vision. George H. W. Bush's perceived lack of one probably cost him a second term. Atlee's vision of a British Socialist Commonwealth condemned the UK to a painful exodus from the privation of WW2. Its legacy hampered our development. The Reagan - Thatcher vision was a time of hope, a vision of a renewal for the world democratically and economically. The vision enabled Margaret Thatcher to rescue the country from the wets. Lib-Dems in blue like Heath and Macmillan. There has long been a foolish assumption that because people label themselves 'Liberal' or on the 'Left' of a party they will reflect Liberal democratic values. The evidence is that these people, predominantly, have a Patrician attitude a self-entitled belief that they know best. They tried to sell their vision of a quasi socialist New Europe. As it became evident that the real plan was a federal state ruled by technocrats untroubled by democracy the people rejected them. Referenda in France, Netherlands and Ireland rejected the plan and were ignored. Blair and Brown reneged on their promise of a people's vote frightened of the answer.
The answer to this setback by the 'Liberals' was to ignore democracy. The defenestration of Thatcher came when she fully realised that she had been wrong to support the Common Market. As it morphed into the EU she became a vocal critic opposing its development. John Major had no such qualms nor did his successors Blair and Brown. All three paid up members of a cross party alliance that viewed voters as a nuisance. A group that one bribed prior to every annoying election. Oddly, one of their own David Cameron mistakenly believed that the 'Liberal' vision was one that would win. The referendum proved him wrong. Rather than accept democracy, he and Osborne resigned. Their replacement talked the people's talk, but walked the 'Liberal' walk.
Many hoped that Boris Johnson was a knight in shining army come to restore Maggie's legacy. Come to restore full independence and democracy. Alas, as flawed as he is charismatic and more green than blue Boris suffered Caesar's fate, the fatal blow struck by the man he'd plucked from obscurity to be Chancellor. The Tory party Demos voted, again, and chose a Tory. The coup was mounted against Truss for daring to represent the desire of most sensible members of society, let alone the party. The 'Liberal's' resurgent placed in power a government we did not want and did not vote for. An EU placating Lib-Dem government that makes surrender monkeys look like Gorillas. The real triumph is that Sunak and Starmer are Tweedledum and Tweedledee representing the blobs victory over common sense to say nothing of democracy.
The hopes and dreams of Brexit are fading. The desire for independence, for success, for a bigger world, strangled by political pygmies. It is claimed that Frau Merkel wrote Mrs. May's surrender document. The behaviour of this government makes the idea that a combined force of EU and Treasury conformists are pulling the strings believable. Like some mad rewrite of Love's Labour Lost, Sunak's government moons over the EU like a sickly youth. The EU "Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look". And we suffer.
When Chancellor Hunt smirked his way through the budget statement one might as well have been listening to Gordon Brown. His budget is a device to please the EU, OECD, OBR and assorted others who have an interest in a failed UK. It had almost nothing to do with releasing the dynamic forces that Brexit could have set free. Bismark created the Prussian welfare state not out of concern for the people, but as a means of keeping them quiet. Much of Hunt's budget borrows from that idea. Increasingly we are getting bread and circuses politics as the 'Liberal' elite manoeuvre their way back into the EU. Hunt's budget was a propaganda exercise designed to increase dependence on the state and send the population to sleep while our self appointed betters find ways to ignore us.
Brexit allowed us to be bold. Truss's tax cut proposals would have resulted in a growing economy. Her reduction in the top rate cited as the step to far that led to her downfall was ruthlessly attacked. Hunt's removal of the upper limit on pensions, a more costly move has provoked only the normal class war rhetoric. The blob propaganda fed markets are quiet. The budget followed a well established practice of bribing voters, that has turned our country into a casino inhabited by state dependees.
Free movement led to a huge increase in immigration. Blair added to that and successive governments since then have done precious little to tackle the problem. The problem is not immigration per se. The real problem is that the infrastructure required for a growing population has not been built. Housing is essentially unaffordable for the majority. Having a family a distant dream. Providing extra child care so that parents can park their offspring is not the answer. Enabling the market to provide affordable homes, as Neville Chamberlain did, is. Our reliance on cheap imported labour has damaged us economically by suppressing productivity, increasing state dependency and pricing most people out of a normal life. It is also immoral, depending as it does on the failure of other countries forcing their people to move away.
The ridiculous adherence to the Climate Cult's net zero deadline (Despite compelling evidence that they are wrong) is damaging us. We have our own resources of oil and gas, resources that would make us energy independent. Instead of investing in Rolls Royce to build SMR models (400MW) at pace. British built by a British company that has a track record of success. They continue to chuck money at a French model that has never been built on time or on budget and does not work properly. Sometimes, as with HSR2 one has to say, "It was a mistake and it's time to pull the plug and put the money to better use". HSR2, Hinkley and it's ilk are huge white elephants that are holding us back. The agreement with the OECD of a minimum 15% Corporation Tax is indicative of a government more concerned with pleasing those who wish us ill than honouring their duty to the British people. The failure to deal with the Northern Ireland Protocol is alarming. The surrender of sovereignty enshrined in the Windsor framework is bad enough. Begging to be allowed to join the EU's horizon project and subsidise the EU by another channel is unconscionable. Being part of Horizon was part of the withdrawal agreement. The EU broke the contract. Instead of empowering Britain's world leading science the government gives away part of the United Kingdom in a pathetic attempt to curry favour with an organisation that wishes us terminal harm.
The imposition of a 25% Corporation Tax is the icing on the cake for those who wish us harm. Irrespective of the tinkering with write-offs the fact is that this is a signal that the UK is not open for business. It is a signal that we are being run by a political class and blob that wants us to fail. Brexit was a huge shock to those who despise democracy. They are determined to put the genie back in the bottle. And facing them? A parliamentary Conservative Party that has demonstrated its woke/wet credential. A group where even those who claim to support democracy and a renaissance of the economy are too timid to act. The pressure group Conservative Democratic Organisation is more concerned with saving the party, than the country. In the dark days of 1939 Leo Amery demanded that Arthur Greenwood speak for England. He did. Sadly, we do not have the likes of Churchill to save us this time. Parliament is full of those who consider themselves more important than those who sent them there. If we are to avoid becoming a province of a new European Empire we must look elsewhere than the established parties.
As voters, we must have the courage to put our faith in democracy. We must be prepared as with Brexit to defy the elite and vote in those who actually represent us. Both the SDP and Reform are deserving of support. They both represent a desire to serve our country. To make it better for all. We do not deserve the backstabbing anti-British antics of the Tory, Labour, Lib-Dem, Plaid, Green and SNP parties who form a despotic coalition that is destroying our future. The Labour party replaced the Liberal Party. The SNP replaced the Labour party in Scotland. The oft repeated threat that in a FPTP system it's impossible to change are wrong. It takes courage, but it is possible. For the future of this country and our democracy it is vital.
