When the Conservatives had two million members it wasn’t a party of rallies or a cult of leadership, it was ordinary people across the country who organised themselves to get people they liked elected
Some interesting points here, but it feels too sensible for where the Conservative Party is right now.
Boris Johnson cleared out a large chunk of the intellectual heft on the left of the Conservatives and the General Election took out even more of the centrist, sensible Tories.
The hard right have the scent of power and they are going to be ruthless.
I liked your idea that the voluntary party should be more free and power should be localised, but I think the Conservative local associations are so week and hollowed out that they couldn’t handle that power, and even if they did then that could be seized on by more active, Powellite or Reform friendly, elements.
Agree with most of this but Reform UK’s ragbag of grievances and moans is not Powellite. But strongly agree that we mustn’t return to the days of crude ideological purity tests which override everything else.
"Conservatives believe, above almost everything, that the protection and preservation of great institutions - private, public and cultural"
Well there's a difficulty in that claim because relatively few people are going to claim that the ECHR, the United Nations and the Climate Change Committee are great institutions. Reform UK are at least sound in arguing that net zero should be repealed and the ECHR should be left. The counter claim that countries not signed up to net zero and to the ECHR are shit holes is not one that conservatives are willing to advance, which rather makes conservatism unsure of itself.
Regarding your personal view Simon, would you prefer a system where the government never grants an asylum claim ever again and leaves it to the people and community groups to provide housing and income support to those who can't sustain themselves like we did in the 1930s. The government sticking to verifying identities, granting NI numbers, stamping visas with NRTPF, and deporting those who are previous criminals on our rules.
Or do you prefer the UN declaration we are signed up to that government is compelled to decide and provide, and transfer some of the compensation in society to the government to do that?
Not sure about this. The world has moved on since the days of Major and Kinnock, where we can argue about marginal tax rates and whether we are pro union or pro business. Anyway, Tories are squeezed from both flanks. The middle class of lawyers and public sector professionals is more left wing that it used to be, while the traders and shopkeepers have gone to Reform. Who is left in the ‘centre ground’ apart from a few retired bank managers who remember the 90s? Ultimately there is one big divide between the march of progress (big state, global, big business, mass immigration etc) and those on the other side (small state, national pride, high streets, farms and shops). There should be a centre ground between the two, but even that has to be fought for from a position of strength.
Some interesting points here, but it feels too sensible for where the Conservative Party is right now.
Boris Johnson cleared out a large chunk of the intellectual heft on the left of the Conservatives and the General Election took out even more of the centrist, sensible Tories.
The hard right have the scent of power and they are going to be ruthless.
I liked your idea that the voluntary party should be more free and power should be localised, but I think the Conservative local associations are so week and hollowed out that they couldn’t handle that power, and even if they did then that could be seized on by more active, Powellite or Reform friendly, elements.
Agree with most of this but Reform UK’s ragbag of grievances and moans is not Powellite. But strongly agree that we mustn’t return to the days of crude ideological purity tests which override everything else.
"Conservatives believe, above almost everything, that the protection and preservation of great institutions - private, public and cultural"
Well there's a difficulty in that claim because relatively few people are going to claim that the ECHR, the United Nations and the Climate Change Committee are great institutions. Reform UK are at least sound in arguing that net zero should be repealed and the ECHR should be left. The counter claim that countries not signed up to net zero and to the ECHR are shit holes is not one that conservatives are willing to advance, which rather makes conservatism unsure of itself.
Regarding your personal view Simon, would you prefer a system where the government never grants an asylum claim ever again and leaves it to the people and community groups to provide housing and income support to those who can't sustain themselves like we did in the 1930s. The government sticking to verifying identities, granting NI numbers, stamping visas with NRTPF, and deporting those who are previous criminals on our rules.
Or do you prefer the UN declaration we are signed up to that government is compelled to decide and provide, and transfer some of the compensation in society to the government to do that?
Not sure about this. The world has moved on since the days of Major and Kinnock, where we can argue about marginal tax rates and whether we are pro union or pro business. Anyway, Tories are squeezed from both flanks. The middle class of lawyers and public sector professionals is more left wing that it used to be, while the traders and shopkeepers have gone to Reform. Who is left in the ‘centre ground’ apart from a few retired bank managers who remember the 90s? Ultimately there is one big divide between the march of progress (big state, global, big business, mass immigration etc) and those on the other side (small state, national pride, high streets, farms and shops). There should be a centre ground between the two, but even that has to be fought for from a position of strength.