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A Warning For Tory MPs

Jerry Hayes warns Conservative MPs not to indulge in tribal masturbatory self indulgence.

By Jerry Hayes

23 Feb 2012, 09:05

Oh, dear, it is that time of the parliamentary cycle when the Conservatives go into paroxysms of self loathing and doubt. What are we here for? Why does the traitor Cameron roll over to everything the Yellow Bastards want? Why can’t we just cut taxes, bash the unions, halt all immigration and get out of the bloody EU. And why can’t we just go back to the golden age of Thatcherism where public expenditure was slashed, villains were locked up and the key thrown away, with gunboat diplomacy to keep Johnny Foreigner in his place.

 

I suspect this will be the tenure of the spleen that will be vented at Cameron and his ministers at this weekend’s seminars for backbenchers. It is bad enough for ministers to have ‘refreshing contact’ with electors  (think poor old Lansley and his ‘piss lady’ ambush), but is unsettling for them to have the full hair dryer effect from rabid backbenchers. As one exasperated Tory Grandee told me this week, ‘some of the new intake make Bill Cash look perfectly sane.’

 

But there is nothing unusual for the leadership to be out of kilter with the Parliamentary Party. After all, although they do their best to manipulate the candidates list to their advantage when in opposition, it is never quite enough. It should be remembered that most of Thatcher’s backbenchers were weaned under Heath, which was a small part of her eventual destruction, and Cameron’s lot were suckled with the pure milk of what they think is Thatcherism.

 

Of course, Thatcher was not the great slasher she is notorious for. Under her rule public expenditure increased by 36% in real terms. With two exceptions. Defence and transport were cut by 3%. And all the nonsense about her standing up to Brussels (with the exception of the rebate) is the stuff of smoke and mirrors. She gave more of our powers away in the Single European Act than Major ever did in the now iconic Maastricht Treaty. And as for law and order, to her credit, she introduced the most liberal and enlightened piece of criminal legislation of the second half of the twentieth century; The police and Criminal Evidence Act.

 

But why bother with history when you can revel in a bit of old fashioned gut instinct? The primal scream that will assail the Cameroon eardrums this weekend and will be leaked all over the Sundays is let’s return to ‘true Tory values.’ So what are they? Well, certainly not Neathandral grunts appealing to the basest of human instincts of selfishness and ‘I’m alright so sod the rest.’

 

I joined the Conservative Party in the seventies because of true Tory values. Of tolerance, of respect for others, of allowing people to live their own lives without the dead hand of the state interfering, but to have a just welfare system that pick people up when times are hard and give them the confidence to make their own way again. A health service that works and is free when we need it. That our children have equality of opportunity in education and in the jobs market. That the vulnerable and elderly can live out what is left of their lives with decency, respect and dignity. That an unbridled market is not the solution to all our economic ills.

 

If we lose sight of those very basic principles, if we just posture for position and power, if we are just out to score tribal points, the electorate will treat us with the contempt that we deserve.

 

I genuinely believe that both David Cameron and Nick Clegg share those values that I entered political life for. The problem is that there is still a deep distrust between Lib Dems and Conservatives, not at the top of government where the real decisions are made, but at a back bench and grass roots level. This is not surprising. For generations the two have been at each throats at a local level. The Lib Dems are well known for some of the most appalling and cynical election tactics. And memories are long.

 

I am naturally an optimist. I really do believe that Osborne can put forward a budget package that, as Liam Fox has argued in the Financial Times, can both reduce taxes and cast businesses adrift from Whitehall red tape. But there will have to be compromises. Better to help those on low wages and small businesses, than those perceived as the fat cats. A cut in income tax is not the most efficient way of doing this. And although the 50% tax is almost a complete waste of time, it has to remain in place for the time being for purely symbolic reasons.

 

But the real challenge that has to be faced quickly is the horror of youth unemployment. In the seventies I used to write papers on this for the Shadow cabinet. What is so depressing is that not much has changed. We are still turning out young people unsuited for a life of work. There is still the massive skills mismatch that we had then. There are still the cries from employers that literacy and numeracy levels are woefully low. There is still a major structural problem here that tends to be forgotten when the economic cycle improves.To our shame.

 

The government has sensibly grasped the need for a revolution in apprenticeships. That sometimes an expensive university education with the mountains of debt left in its wake is not always the right path to take. But much more need be done. Growth is just a pipe dream unless the British young can make themselves attractive to industry

 

I hope this weekend that Tory backbenchers will want to address the real issues that face ordinary Britons and not descend into some ghastly, doctrinal and tribal masturbatory self indulgence. I won’t hold my breath and look forward to more opinion polls from the grass roots’s favourite agony aunt, Tim Montgomerie.