If the Conservatives were even a half-competent party, then they would kick out on the spot anyone who called for an electoral pact with UKIP.
Those making such calls are in the position that Dave Nellist and the late Terry Fields once were, openly and flagrantly members of a party in opposition to the one under whose colours they were elected.
David Cameron took more than two thirds of the vote for Leader of the Conservative Party, against a Eurosceptical and a socially conservative opponent.
Considering how many of that opponent's supporters will have left or died in the meantime, Cameron is now, even more than he was then, a mainstream Conservative.
Whereas his enemies simply are not and never have been mainstream Conservatives.
UKIP, whatever else it may be, is not some kind of Old Tory Party. Not at all.
Nor can it welcome Daniel Hannan's best mate, Mark Reckless, and Daniel Hannan's co-author (they are also godfathers to each other's children), Douglas Carswell, but not welcome Daniel Hannan.
If Hannan came on television and said that he was joining UKIP, then what would Kippers say? No? His views are thoroughly inimical to their party's policies. But so are the views of Reckless and Carswell.
Again I say that Cameron ought to announce Hannan as the candidate at Rochester and Strood, and tell him to take it or get the hell out and let UKIP make of him what it would.
"his enemies simply are not and never have been mainstream Conservatives"
ReplyDeleteThey are in the sense that Hannan means-in that he is right to quote the fact that surveys shows the vast majority of Tory members and voters are Eurosceptic patriots (around 78% according to the polls he quotes) and far more than any other party.
Where Hannan is wrong is that, as Peter Hitchens says, the leadership of the Tory Party hates its own patriotic membership (which makes their views irrelevant as long as they stay in it).
Peter concludes his last blog by pointing out the Tory leadership would much prefer seeing a Labour MP to a UKIP one. Labour agrees with its liberal attitude to crime, Europe, immigration, multiculturalism and everything else.
UKIP doesn't.
It is the real threat to their consensus.
There is no evidence to back this up. Simply none. Look at the candidates whom they select. Look at the Leaders whom they elect.
DeleteCameron sits perfectly within the mainstream of his party, from which UKIP has managed to recruit two obscure backbenchers who were barely in it in the first place.
All the evidence shows it-the surveys consistently show around 80% of its members and voters want out of Europe, the Convention on Human Rights and the whole damn thing. The fact they're silly enough to stay Tory members and voters only shows what tribalism does for you. And the ridiculous argument that "voting UKIP will let Labour in" .
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference? As Peter Hitchens said yesterday the Tory leadership would be far more comfortable with a Labour MP than a UKIP one.
Labour is the same as the Tory leadership on crime immigration comprehensive schools national sovereignty, "Human Rights" and everything that matters. UKIP is most certainly not the same.
Labour is what we get whether it's Cameron (or Clegg ) or Miliband in charge. The tragedy that the Tory members can't see through this argument is one of the mysteries Peter has written about so many times. They're hated by their own leadership which feels much more comfortable with the Left.
Cameron was chosen by his party because the Leftwing BBC convinced everyone he was the Tories only chance of winning another election (absurdly over praising his speech and falsely portraying Davis as an unelectable figure of hate).
But there are encouraging signs the party is waking up as it's mass- migrating membership shows. No wonder the membership figures under Cameron are a secret. They've all left.
What survey? I am talking about whom they select as parliamentary candidates, and whom they elect as Leader.
DeleteIf there were only 200 members of the Conservative (or Labour) Party left alive, then they would all be members of the House of Commons. Them's the rules.