Monday, 1 October 2018

The Party of Business?

There have been 12 Leaders of the Conservative Party since the War, and beyond shareholding, or being married to businessmen, none of them has had any business background worth mentioning, if at all. They have had stopgap jobs and what have you, but nothing more than that, and not even that in some cases.

Winston Churchill, toff. Anthony Eden, toff. Harold Macmillan, toff enough. Alec Douglas-Home, toffee toffee toff toff. Ted Heath, full-time politician since university. Margaret Thatcher, millionaire's wife. John Major, full-time politician all his adult life. William Hague, full-time politician since childhood. Iain Duncan Smith, paid by the Army to go away. Michael Howard, full-time politician since university, more than 40 years earlier. David Cameron, toff. Theresa May, millionaire's wife.

Where is the business experience there? Put together, they have all had less than Jon Lansman has. Use that as some context for the claims that Labour's worker-director proposals would put "a Momentum cadre on the board" of every company with 250 or more employees. Such a person might contribute far more usefully than anyone who has led the Conservative Party since 9th October 1940.

Worker-directors were an idea that the Old Left never used to like. Later than the 1970s, they were first floated in anything like the mainstream by Theresa May. But she then proceeded to come up with nothing in order to give the concept any practical effect. So John McDonnell has done so instead. The last thing that May's party can do is complain, or even object.

Also note that neither Digby Jones nor even Liam Fox expressed much, if any, enthusiasm yesterday for a trade deal with the United States. Both made it clear that America's century was the last, whereas this is the century of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Perhaps Fox has been foxed by the popularity of Jeremy Corbyn's opposition to NHS privatisation and to the significant lowering of food safety standards. But Jones just sees the way in which the world now works.

As some of us have been trying to tell you, over the barking of the Loony Right in both parties. Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and our people need to hold the balance of power in it. My crowdfunding page is here, or email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com for other options. That address accepts PayPal.

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