I am slightly behind the curve with this one, but I am pleased to say that Sir Peter Tapsell has been re-adopted by the Tories (as they can clearly be properly described) of Louth & Horncastle, for which he has sat since 1966, having first been elected to Parliament in 1959.
Apparently, Sir Peter wowed them with his expertise both on the economy and on the Middle East. Quite so. He is a Keynesian and he strongly opposed the war in Iraq. As a Keynesian, as an anti-neoconservative, and also as a Commonwealth enthusiast, he is an unyielding Eurosceptic.
In the coming hung Parliament and realignment, Sir Peter will make a splendid Father of the House.
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Why didn't he join the BPA?
ReplyDeleteBecause you can't. It's not an organisation.
ReplyDeleteExcellent news. As a Lincolnshire lad myself I'm proud to see that my fellow Tories in Louth & Horncastle (the s
ReplyDeleteSugarbeet Stazi?) are thoroughly behind the times. Or should that be ahead of them?
He must have been gutted to hear that.
ReplyDeleteHe is dutifully referenced in it but not by name.
ReplyDeleteSugarbeet Stasi, I love that. Ahead, definitely ahead.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yes:
"B12. I stand in the tradition of the inclusion of a commitment to the National Health Service in all three manifestos in 1945. Of the Tories’ refusal to dismantle it and other key reforms when they returned to office in 1951. Of those Tories who opposed first Thatcherism and then Maastricht. Of their economically populist and pro-manufacturing, morally and socially conservative, staunchly Unionist and pro-military, strongly church-based Toryism. Of their unyieldingly constitutionalist and civil libertarian Toryism. Of their Keynesian, pro-Commonwealth, anti-neoconservative Toryism. Of their conservationist, agrarian, anti-nuclear Toryism. Of the grave reservations about, and indeed outright hostility towards, nuclear weapons expressed by such distinguished Tories as Anthony Head, Peter Thorneycroft, Nigel Birch, Aubrey Jones, George Jellicoe and, above all, Enoch Powell. Of the recognition that even conventional wars, while sometimes inescapable (such as when our territory is invaded), are not conservative, but cost taxpayers vast sums of money, create new threats by creating new enemies and entrenching or embittering old ones, and are morally and socially disruptive. Of the recognition that we are neither fighting nor facing any inescapable war today. Of the recognition that the point of the Armed Forces is precisely to prevent wars, by deterring them. Of the recognition that everything to do with the Swinging Sixties really started during the War. And of the recognition that economic policies are perfectly conservative if they are acceptable to Gaullists, Christian Democrats, conservative Democrats and other such exemplars of patriotism, moral and social conservatism, or both."
We decided not to put names of the living in that one, but it doesn't really take much working out that, "Of those Tories who opposed first Thatcherism and then Maastricht", "economically populist and pro-manufacturing, morally and socially conservative, staunchly Unionist and pro-military, strongly church-based Toryism" is that of the Wintertons. "Unyieldingly constitutionalist and civil libertarian Toryism" is that of Richard Shepherd. "Keynesian, pro-Commonwealth, anti-neoconservative Toryism" is that of Sir Peter Tapsell. And "conservationist, agrarian, anti-nuclear Toryism" is that of Sir Richard Body.
How many of them have signed up? Have you got all the ones who signed up to the BPA?
ReplyDeleteAs has always been made clear, there will be no running total. The complete list will be published in time for the Election.
ReplyDeleteYou have one more candidate in NW Durham than Labour. Labour still has no candidate in NW Durham.
ReplyDelete