We are heading for a hung Parliament. Whichever assortment of parties we are governed by in the coming months cannot repair the structural damage to our Parliament. It is like placing a bandage on a compound fracture or painting the door of a garage in bright colours in an attempt to distract the buyer from the crumbling walls.
Vote for reform. Vote for hope.
When we hear that all parties are committed to curb the influence of the lobbyists I am not surprised that we find ourselves heading for a hung Parliament. It is another attempt by the political class, perhaps unconscious, to distract us from their own complicity. It is the behaviour of the MPs and Peers as they are renumerated by big business for promoting its growth through legislation, regulation or the awarding of contracts that has compounded the electorate’s distrust of politicians. The system HAS to be refomed because the political class is increasingly on the take and with its demise our safety and security is eroded. Legislating against this grave and unsettling reality is not in the mandates of any of the parties. When I think of Gladstone the Liberal, Churchill the Conservative and Bevan the Labour man who was the driving force behind the NHS, the spin and narcicism of the TV debates is put into context. Awake people of Battersea and Britain. This system must be reformed.
There is a company called Globe International. Its UK parliamentary team include David Chaytor and Elliot Morley. The taxpayer is presently paying their legal aid as they face charges for fraud related to the expenses revelations. The international president is none other than Stephen Byers. Lord Oxburgh is a also a director. Globe stands for ‘Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment.’ A concern for the environment may not be driving these chaps.
The following quote is attributed to Benjamin Franklin : -
‘Democracy is when two wolves and a lamb discuss dinner plans. Liberty is when a well armed lamb contests the vote.’
I pray for this.
In 1930 a party with a nationalistic and hateful ideology had a sudden surge in their support in the German elections. That party was the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) also known as the Nazi party. The party had been formed in 1919 and originally named the German Workers Party (DAP) before being re-named the following year. In 1928 they had secured 810,000 votes. Two years later that number rose to 6,409,600. Their momentum unstoppable, in the January of 1933, their leader, Adolf Hitler, was appointed Chancellor of Germany.
The Nazi party’s rise to power was accelerated by discontent at the effects of the Great Depression. The other parties in Germany, the SPD and KPD, were divided and unable to show responsible leadership. Hitler infected many of his people with a hatred for the Jews and begun arming his country with ruthless efficiency.
In July 1934, the visionary Churchill, six years before leading this country, wrote in the Daily Mail: -
‘I marvel at the complacency of Ministers in the face of the frightful experiences through which we have all so newly passed. I look with wonder upon the thoughtless crowds disporting themselves in the summer sunshine, and upon this unheeding House of Commons*, which seems to have no higher function than to cheer a Minister; [and all the while across the North Sea], a terrible process is astir. Germany is arming.’**
Whilst we could replace ‘no higher function than to cheer a Minister’ with ‘no higher function than to enrich its members’ the urgency and spirit of his concerns travel sharply and pertinently to these times. His profound frustration at a House of Commons out of touch with the needs of the country is palpable. His was an imperative warning against complacency. Complacent would perhaps be too milder a term with which to describe our current Parliament.
The revelations concerning Byers, Hewitt, Hoon and Moran are sure to deepen our political instability further (Please read the excerpt of the letter I wrote to David Cameron in January 2009 on a previous post in my blog). It is the nation’s condition following further revelations of a self serving Parliament that could be so dangerous. Let us not pretend that any of the parties are showing leadership. Even if it is former government Ministers that are being outed on this occasion the other parties have within their ranks MPs and Peers who are complicit in the weakening of our political system by their submission to a progressively acceptable greed. The nation knows it and does not know who to trust.
The emergence of the BNP has some deeply troubling similarities with that of the Nazi party. As the Nazi party gained popularity following a financial crisis so do the BNP. As the Nazi party was a new party (founded 1919) so are the BNP (1982). Both promoted excessive nationalism and used the politics of hate and blame. The Jews were targeted by the Nazis and immigrants or non-‘indigenous’people are those under threat by the BNP. ***
Even the comparative polling makes for frightening reading. In the general election of 2001 the BNP had 47,129 votes. In 2005 that rose to 192,746. They quadrupled their support in those four years. In the European elections of 2009 they secured 943,598 votes which is nearly five times the amount of supporters they acquired in 2005. **** That is more than the Nazi party secured in 1928 when they begun their climb to power. It would be a catastrophic if the BNP were to continue to grow at this rate.
As Hitler and the Nazis exploited the weakness of the political parties in Germany so the BNP will look to further their cause on the fertile ground disgracefully provided by our government and Parliament. The main parties are so intoxicated with maintaining or attempting to secure power that they are allowing the BNP to persuade an electorate which is becoming increasingly ready to listen.
We are approaching a cliff edge. The single most important undertaking in the national interest today is the reformation of Parliament. It is imperative that legislation is secured to banish the practices that are weakening the Houses of Parliament and losing the confidence of the voters.
In the late 18th century and early 19th century, an independent MP, WilliamWilberforce battled to abolish the slave trade. He used a Private Members Bill, a piece of legislation that can be presented by a backbencher. He was aided by considerable public support (and fought considerable opposition within the House of Commons as many of the members were involved in the trade). This is the type of legislation I would present in the House of Commons if elected.
In Churchill’s day the enemy was outside this land. The fascist agenda of the BNP must not be allowed to deceive our ‘thoughtless crowds’ in Britain and endanger our future safety and security. Playing a leading and defining role in conquering a previous outbreak of fascism does not exempt us from being mindful of its resurgence nor does it make us impregnable to its clutches. It was a deception that captivated an entire nation only seventy five years ago.
Nick Griffin has targeted Barking and Dagenham council as his priority in the local elections on May 6th when it is all but certain the general election will be held. The BNP are the official opposition to Labour there and were they to secure the majority they would have £200 million to further their loathsome agenda. Such resources and funding are more important to Griffin than winning a parliamentary seat.
The think-tank, Policy Network, published a paper this month examining the emergence of the radical right. The author, Professor Montserrat Guibernau, argues that it is a threat that must be confronted and not ignored.
Parliament must be reformed lest it be vulnerable to a foul and focused onslaught.
We need support with funds for printing, help with canvassing and anywhere you can.
* It is also doubtful that the House of Lords was held in such low public esteem in Churchill’s day as it is today.
** What he would have thought about the treatment of the armed forces today is not difficult to imagine. However unpopular or contentious the conflict the armed forces should not be exposed to a dangerous lack of resources by politicians far away.
*** This in no way excuses the terrible and secret experiment undertaken by the Labour government that opened the country’s borders without consultation. The BNP will continue to use this to promote their loathsome agenda.
****In Germany Hitler was assisted by the proportional representation system in acquiring seats in the Reichstag though that does not lessen the seriousness that should be attached to the rise of the BNP.
Please find below an article from the Daily Telegraph and below that the excerpt of a letter I wrote to David Cameron last January that I referred to in my last blog. It is my belief that all parties are complicit in their self serving submission to commercial interests. When the leaders of the parties continually tell you that they are adamant about cleaning up politics in the backdrop of continual discouraging revelations – they are lying through their teeth. Soon the trust between citizen and Parliament will disintegrate and sinister and extreme elements will thrive. This must not be allowed to happen. Reform must be achieved.
“How long will it take the nation to despair of ministers handsomely remunerated by a business world hungry for political sway? It may well be uncomfortable for all parties if the names of MPs with commercial interests in companies pitching for and securing government contracts were to be revealed.”
David Cameron offered the following statement at the University of East London last week. “Expenses has dominated politics for the last year. But if anyone thinks that cleaning up politics means dealing with this alone and then forgetting about it, they
are wrong. Because there is another big issue that we can no longer ignore. It is the next big scandal waiting to happen. It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money.”
I wrote to David Cameron in January 2009 some months before the expenses scandal. Here is an excerpt from the letter. “How long will it take the nation to despair of ministers handsomely remunerated by a business world hungry for political sway? It may well be uncomfortable for all parties if the names of MPs with commercial interests in companies pitching for and securing government contracts were to be revealed.” At this stage I had not yet withdrawn my shortlived membership of the Conservative party. I was impressed with Mr Cameron’s ambitions to reform ‘Broken Britain’ and was trying to win a hearing.
The response from his office accelerated my distrust in the direction of the Conservative party. Though I had not once referred to expenses in my letter
the response largely attempted to allay a concern that neither I, nor the nation, had developed yet! “Regarding the public disclosure by MPs of their expenses..” it started before going on to criticise the Government for attempting to conceal the damaging expenses revelations and also to present a sense that the Conservative party were the frustrated and noble adversaries trying to reveal the truth. The word ‘transparency’ or a variation thereof was included 5 times in that letter. In political parlance a reference to transparency often confirms the existence of a cover up. Some months later the story broke and most of us were fed up with politicians of all parties.
These unnerving reflections lead on to sinister projections. When I wrote that letter I believed that an attempt to rid Parliament of its unhealthy alliance with the business world was a pressing matter for the national interest. Now, as David Cameron says, it has become a critical issue. A few weeks after I sent my letter 4 Peers agreed to change laws in return for cash. Then came the expenses fiasco. In the backdrop of a country losing confidence in its Parliament the BNP sent two men to Brussels. The culture of greed at Westminster needs to be legislated against and trust restored or the future could be far more frightening than Cameron has forseen.
A local carpenter is kindly making me a soapbox. At 11am on 6th Feb I am going to stand on it at the bandstand in Battersea Park and speak out my message.
I cannot fight the might of the party machine without you. I cannot do this without those of you who have given up their time regularly in
November and December to canvass for the speeches and the community evening, those of you that have donated time, funds, wine, reading material, a room or garden in a pub, even had your van branded. Without your support the message cannot progress.
We do not have piles of cash but we have something more powerful – a growing support base plucking up the courage to take on Parliament. This is not some subversive plot to undermine the political centre of our land. This is an urgent and critical challenge to a growing culture of greed, the effects of which have started to reach into our homes and, if not arrested, could leave our country vulnerable to dangerous and cruel ideologies. Whilst the parties bicker incessantly and set their sights on the General Election there develops an opening for such movements. One prominent publication printed an article this week titled ‘The Golden Age of Fascism’. Securing political power has become more important than stability. The politicians are looking the other way.
Some of you may be averse to withdraw your support from one of the major political parties. Some of you may be apathetic towards politics in general. Stephen Poliakoff spoke about a film he has made recently
concerning the period before the Second World War in Britain ‘It was a
small band of young Tory politicians who were anti-appeasement and they were menaced by the whips.’ Back then a courageous few helped our country in the face of substantial opposition. They faced an often accusing and disbelieving Parliament and public. Parliament has become so obsessed with itself that it has forgotten its principal responsibility is to the nation. The Parliamentary Standards Bill has been neutuered and ironically the expenses scandal conceals the grave realities of what lies beneath.
Some of you would rightly say that greed has always been around. Certainly we are all guilty to some degree of it. But when has it in our lifetimes (even of the older recipients to this mail) become so dominant in the political class of our country? Before the expenses scandal broke it was 4 Labour Lords who were exposed as being willing to take money to change legislation going through the House of Lords. A headline in the Times in September revealed the mass of Conservative Parliamentary candidates coming from the lobbying industry. The list I have of MPs and Peers using their positions to better their own positions at the expense of the nation grows worryingly and steadily. I am all for experience in the business world before or even alongside a career in politics. What is emerging in our land has very different effects and a more sinsiter trajectory.
Greed courts power as well as money. It encourages infectious distrust and a centralisation of power that breeds strange and destructive creeds.Ponder the CCTV culture and the erosion of society by a pernicious state that, through quangos like the Safeguarding Authority, metes out controlling edicts that undermine community spirit and kindly instinct. If it becomes abnormal to want to help out in a school run or drive some children to football practice where does that end ? The motives may have been good but they have been corrupted. They were intended to protect but they threaten to destroy.
I am still bothered and inspired in equal measure by this quote by David
Selbourne, the political philosopher. I know I have repeated it often and wholeheartedly.’There is no movement, moral or political, and whether left or right, which is strong enough to purge the British body politic of its foulness.’ I then think of Thomas Jefferson, ‘When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the governnment there is tyranny.’
A movement has begun from outside the corridors of power. Greed in public office is a stain on our country. It cannot be solved by clever accounting and it will undermine our economy and constitution perilously. We must look to the next generation and what we bequeath. A Parliament that is safe and strong. We must be forceful and peaceful as the abolitionists were 200 years ago.
My pledge is simple. ‘If elected I pledge to fight without surrender for
the removal of greed from Parliament and the return of the freedoms,
rights and privelges that are being taken away from the people of
Battersea and Britain.’
We canvass this week-end and leave from 50 Abercrombie St at 11am. Please come and help or come on the 6th February. Please mail this on to any of your friends in Battersea or elsewhere if you see fit.
BAE, the defence contractor that has been pursued by the Serious Fraud Office this year complained that they have been worried about ‘reputational damage’ in response to their tarnished image resulting from their murky business affairs. They consider this perception to be an unreasonable outcome. This illustrates the delusional and detached stance taken by those who are either unaware or feign unawareness of their own motives. A reputation should not be manipulated according to the wishes of those with questionable business practices. This is greed with excuses.
When Gordon Brown referred to Afghanistan as an ‘infant democracy’ he may have been right. He may even have been charitable given the reporting of corruption within the regime. What is more concerning is this comment in the light of the revelations concerning the behaviour of our own political class. Ours is a democracy hardly devoid of infantilism.
John Bercow wrote the following to Nick Clegg in response to the Lib Dem leader’s request to expand the audit into MPs expenses. ‘What concerned the MEC most was that your proposal would require a major exercise in gathering evidence, since the evidence needed is not within the records of the Department of Resources. Indeed, investigating the payment of CGT would go well beyond the responsibilities of the Department of Resources, which does not have authority over member’s tax affairs. Agreeing to your proposal would therefore considerably lengthen the timescale of the review, and the MEC did not feel it could support this.’
MEC stands for Members Estimates Committee and CGT stands for Capital Gains Tax. Ignoring the fact that MPs are not willing to be honest with themselves and the public ( The MEC is made up of MPs ) and putting aside the expenses scandal what is most alarming is this poorly acted political pantomime and its attempt to convince the people and taxpayers of the integrity of our leadership. Nothing has changed. Indeed if Bercow’s letter proves anything it is that any convoluted language will be used to conceal and deflect from the undiagnosed rot that perniciously erodes our Parliament.
There was an article in ‘The Spectator’ this July by a man named David Selbourne in which he made the following statement. ‘There is no movement, moral or political, and whether of left or right, which is strong enough to purge the British body politic of its foulness.’
A few months after the expenses crisis and his claim is still terrible in its relevance. Those unhappy revelations and the unconvincing and distracting measures put in place to allegedly remove the unashamed greed from the middle of our land are only part of the problem.
It is the idea of our fragile nation unconvinced by and untrusting of the main parties that makes the spectre of the BNP more concerning yet worryingly easier to understand. There is undeniably a problem with immigration but there is a greater problem with trust. We do not trust our representatives because we know that some of them have proved that their own financial interests are more important that serving the people. That is professional adultery and has to be removed.
Critically the Parliamentary Standards Bill does not deal with the murky relationship between big business and Parliament. How many working in the lobby industry are Parliamentary candidates for the likely incoming Tory government? It was the Labour Lords at the beginning of the year that proved willing to table changes to legislation in return for money. The link between our legislators in both houses and the business that seeks to influence them is perhaps more sinister than the expenses scandal and may have even in part prompted it. It is the abolition of people entering Parliament to benefit in this way or succumbing to these values once inside that forms the backbone to the Battersea4Britain campaign. Abolition was a powerful movement a few hundred years ago. Let it become so again.
I would very much like to thank Timesign in Wandsworth and Corporate Image of London in Earlsfield for supporting us through signage and branded clothing for our campaign. THANY YOU BILL, SUE AND FIONA.
