Dangerous idiots

The Tory party manifesto of 1979 started with the words: “No one who has lived in this country during the last five years can fail to be aware of how the balance of our society has been increasingly tilted in favour of the State at the expense of individual freedom… Together with the threat to freedom there has been a feeling of helplessness, that we are a once great nation that has somehow fallen behind and that it is too late now to turn things round.”

Lord Frost and JRM could not agree more but this time they want to portray the country as one that needs a return to greatness – but they also maintain that Britain finds itself in this state after 13 years of Conservative government. This takes quite some “intellectual” gymnastics.

Apparently higher growth is dependent on a return to traditional values, the destruction of wokeism, and the preservation of traditions and culture. Apparently in the 21st century “getting back” to love of freedom, free individuals and families, and the inherent rights of the “human person enshrined by common law” will create an economic boom.

This was an easier sell in 1979, but many will think that when two members of the austerity driven, small state, pro Brexit government which has been in power for so long, claim that they are being held back through no fault of their own, that they are pulling your leg.

But rather frighteningly they are deadly serious.

The two giants of conservatism also seem to think that the government that is mistreating asylum seekers, banning strikes and protests and illegally shipping those in desperate need of help to Rwanda while breaking international law and conventions on human rights that have been enshrined since the Second World War – they seem to think this means the UK is a country that “defends human freedom, honour and dignity at home and around the world.”

This piffle is truly frightening and dangerous. The country has been torn apart by 13 years of Tory government that has been incompetent, lying, ideologically driven, corrupt, bullying, and dangerously nationalist. Its economic policies have been a disaster, its treatment of the poor shameless, wages and growth are stagnant, productivity has not seen worse growth since before the industrial revolution and they want to return to traditional values because all of these problems have been caused by criticism of the Empire and liberal lawyers?

If the Tories win the next election, and that is still very possible, the Tory party will be taken over by these people.

What do you think a return to “traditional values” means to a devout Roman Catholic who is totally opposed to abortion?

What do you think “support for those who need help, not for those who don’t” means for benefits and workers’ rights and the poor and the future of food banks?

What do you think “anti-woke policies rooted in common sense and in the historic public culture of this country” means for academic freedom and the school curriculum and anti-racism?

What do you think an end to “redistributing income” means to the tax rates of the poor and of multi-millionaires like Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Remember these were the cheerleaders of Liz Truss.

These are not just idiots; these are dangerous idiots.