Airstrip One

As If By Magic

The Tories must feel like the foxes that their erstwhile supporters occasionally chase although thw despairing conference attendees may view themselves as the carcasses left over from some unsuccessful rural protest. The Today programme was too irritating to listen to after a while, as the gurning Humphries described the psychology of the Tories oscillating between a camarilla of unrealistic ministers and the depressed ranks. The media mantra solidified over the weekend with Hartlepool, Hartlepool, Hartlepool repeated like some inane football chant.

This is the 'stupid party' - one that you should not be particularly fond of. They have been a disaster for British conservatism and libertarianism since the 1970s but, on this occasion, I will probably support them. Whatever their faults, the Tories have shown a willingness to work within the traditional conventions of our unwritten constitution, even under the excesses of Thatcherism, where we saw the strange convergence of economic liberalism and the strong state. Blair has damaged our political system with his attempts to consolidate power and undermine checks and balances. This damage may be irreparable. The authoritarianism and future punishment of dissent is rapidly transforming this country into a moral slump, a 'world turned upside down', where values are inverted, justice is reversed and evil is rewarded.

This can be witnessed. The middle classes, slumped in their homes with no electoral course of action, wonder why the litany of disasters is not being shouted from the rooftops. Many feel that they have been lied to over Iraq and point the finger at Blair as the culprit. With no respite on tax and no recourse in law, this country has seen an inexorable rise in emigration, a loss of human and social capital that cannot be quantified. Britain is the poorer in this equation, as a well-educated bourgeoisie leaves.

There is a constituency that opposes all of these changes. They are represented across a wide spectrum from UKIP and the disarming Liberal Democrats to the Tories and even the BNP. As yet, the 'anyone but Blair' has not coalesced, but there are early indications of tactical voting against Labour. However, if Labour wins the next election with the same majority as 2001, my views change: the country is beyond salvation, pick up your passport and exile yourself.

Within thirty years, they will need your remittances.

(23.13, 4th October 2004)