So, Dave still doesn’t get it, does he? Apparently, I’m an old fashioned right wing dinosaur. Never mind that while he was running around smashing up restaurants on daddy’s money I was thinking dinosaur like thoughts such as social libertarianism. It actually offends me greatly to be lumped in with the intolerant minority in the party, (people I’ve always been uncomfortable with, and whom I hoped would gradually die off), by some Johnny come lately, but if needs must, there you go. As he has said, he leads the party, my opinion counts for little.
I can’t really moan, I’ve nailed my colours to the wall, and no longer consider myself a Tory, and am looking, perhaps in vein, for a true Libertarian party that matches my beliefs more closely, but just to give an example of why this is important to me, consider the following speech;
‘The future of our education system lies in the need to remove, as far as possible, the baleful influence of politicians. Never again should a politician, driven by ideology, be able to wipe out an entire school structure. Schools should succeed and fail on one basis alone – the quality of the education that they give our children.
The Conservatives believe in freedom, and that freedom will extend to freeing schools from red tape, interference and instructions from the centre. Only then will excellence thrive, and the pursuit and reward of excellence no longer be a cause of embarrassment or regret. It will be the centrepiece of our entire education agenda. It will be at the heart of the approach of the next Conservative Government.’
Who said that? Mr Howard, of course. Back then, when you couldn’t get to your grammar school without being attacked by a tyrannosaurs rex, he was advised when writing the manifesto for the ‘next Conservative Government by whom? Super Dave, of course.
So he has abandoned Grammar expansion and outlawed the notion of selection. He has, therefore, abandoned the notion that the centre shouldn’t interfere. Has he then, I wonder, abandoned that which made the Conservative party so attractive to me for so many years ~ freedom?
Filed under: Righteous right
