The Political Direction of Travel

Kevin Maguire writes:

Sleazy international networks and a toe-curling weirdness only scratch the surface of David Cameron’s Conservatism. You don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to spot the right-wing plot behind the smiles and PR stunts. Huskies, hugging hoodies and tilting at windmills were a smokescreen for casino capitalists calling the shots. Cameron sold Thatcherite economics dressed as compassionate Conservatism, drawing a smile on redundancy notices.

The Liam Fox affair exposes a shadowy network of super-rich speculators pushing Britain down a cruel, devil-take-the-hindmost road. Tax cuts for the rich and fat profits for a tiny elite are the goals, vital public services and employees’ protection against the sack are the targets. Atlantic Bridge, the far-right political front we as taxpayers unwittingly subsidised until the charity commissioners shut it down, acted as a slush fund.

Mysterious donors funded flights, luxury hotels, dinners and an invented Margaret Thatcher Medal of Freedom, in pursuit of an ideology which punishes ordinary people. This cornered Fox jumped before it was pushed but the ex-Defence Secretary shouldn’t carry the can alone. So, too, are a host of prominent Tories including George Osborne, Michael Gove, Eleanor Laing, Boris Johnson, Chris Grayling and Malcolm Rifkind.

The “nothing to do with me, guv” excuse is laughable when documents prove that all were part of Atlantic Bridge, a body which revealed the political direction of travel far more accurately than Dodgy Dave cycling for cameras. Beltway machinations which impact on real lives, when Osborne dithers about protecting pensions and benefits from mounting inflation.

Now the heat’s on they’re falling out, pointing fingers. Tycoons Michael Hintze and Jon Moulton aren’t going to take the rap. But the Downing Street spin that Fox was – if you excuse the metaphor – a lone wolf with an odd mate is as false as it is convenient. Fox was reckless and he wore Thatcherism on his sleeve. But Cameron is sticking to policies which will only create hardship and heartache.

Those denouncing the protest camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral as unsightly should try looking at boarded up shops and empty factories put out of business by Cameronomics. Paper tosser Oliver Letwin chucking sensitive letters in park bins underlined this Government’s contempt for people and rules.

But, regrettably, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Fox and Letwin are only setbacks for a right-wing project which could see unemployment hit three million.