In a desperate bid to save both their country and their party, the media named ‘Tory Taliban’ have introduced a series of 42 bills designed to get Britain back on a true conservative course. The compilation of Private Members Bills published on Friday and dubbed an 'Alternative Queen's Speech', is a wish list of the Conservative Party right and the four MPs behind it.
The ‘Gang of Four’; Peter Bone, Christopher Chope, Philip Hollobone and David Nuttall had camped out in the parliamentary bill office for four nights in order to secure the right to introduce the pieces of legislation. Each bill has only a long shot of success but they can now be promoted over the coming year.
Despite the long odds because they are not carried by the government or the opposition some of the items proposed are popular, and the establishment powers in Westminster would be wise not to ignore this – although that is no guarantee that they won’t do exactly that.
Based on immediate online polling every bill bar one enjoys at least 50/50 support with several reaching approval numbers in the seventies! The only one that seems dead on arrival is to change the August Bank Holiday by renaming it Margaret Thatcher Day.
The eight most popular, with a real chance of success, appear to be:
Foreign National Offenders (Exclusion from the United Kingdom)
(by Mr Philip Hollobone)
Bill to make provision to exclude from the United Kingdom foreign nationals found guilty of a criminal offence committed in the United Kingdom.
Sentencing Escalator (by Mr Philip Hollobone)
Bill to provide that a criminal reconvicted for an offence on a second or further occasion receives a longer sentence than for the first such offence.
Asylum (Time Limit)(by Mr Peter Bone, on behalf of Mr Christopher Chope)
Bill to require that asylum claims in the United Kingdom be lodged within three months of the claimant’s arrival in the United Kingdom; and that persons who have already entered the United Kingdom and wish to make an asylum claim must do so within three months of the passing of this Act.
Benefit Entitlement (Restriction) (by Mr Peter Bone, on behalf of Mr Christopher Chope)
Bill to make provision to restrict the entitlement of non-UK Citizens from the European Union and the European Economic Area to taxpayer-funded benefits.
Illegal Immigrants(Criminal Sanctions)
(by Mr Peter Bone, on behalf of Mr Christopher Chope)
Bill to make provision for criminal sanctions against those who have entered the UK illegally or who have remained in the UK without legal authority.
House of Lords (Maximum Membership) (by Mr Peter Bone, on behalf of Mr Christopher Chope)
Bill to provide for a maximum limit on the number of Peers entitled to vote in the House of Lords, and to provide for a moratorium on new appointments.
Employment Opportunities(by Mr Peter Bone, on behalf of Mr Christopher Chope)
Bill to introduce more freedom, flexibility and opportunity for those seeking employment in the public and private sectors; and for connected purposes.
EU Membership (Audit of Costs and Benefits)
(by Mr Peter Bone, on behalf of Mr Christopher Chope)
Bill to require an independent audit of the benefits and costs of UK membership of the European Union.
Re-Introducing the death-penalty is a high profile bill with less support as is a burqa ban. De-criminalizing a failure to pay for a TV licence has modest support though some may be surprised to learn that it is not just a civil offence to disobey the BBC.
Peter Bone, one of ‘the four’, has frequently expressed concern about the Prime Minister being assassinated with light to the fact that Lib.-Dem. leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg would then assume his office. This despite the fact that no sitting PM has died in office since 1865 and only one, Spencer Perceval in 1812, was assassinated. Just to be sure though, Bone has proposed the elimination of the position of Deputy Prime Minister in an attempt to assure that a Conservative would succeed the late and unfortunate Mr. Cameron.
It is ironic that Bone, Chope, Hollobone & Nuttall have been named as the ‘Tory Taliban’ since together they sound more like a law firm but more because their ideas stand in contrast to religious and governmental oppression.
It is a commentary on British society that they tend to view tough penalties for crime as harsh, hidden government spending as something we have to put up with, religious institutions as suspicious (though with some Mosques caution is advised); and global warming as man-made planet killing.
The government establishment types already have the knives out for ‘the four’ who I am now renaming ‘the law firm’, starting with Alan Duncan writing in the Guardian. Duncan is a Tory cabinet member who immediately put pen to paper with the headline ‘The Tory Taliban must be Rooted Out’.
There’s just something suspicious about a Conservative who went to Harvard and writes in the Guardian. Not learning a thing from Thatcher’s “stand on principle or not at all” Duncan instead proclaims "get real or die"; a clear reference to the idea that it’s all about marketing.
Thatcher’s Conservatives won 3 resounding victories preaching what they believed. It’s all about being principled but I don’t think the likes of Duncan and Cameron have many principles left – pawned off in the false belief that they were capturing the heart and soul of the country. In reality they provided a similar alternative to the unpopular Labour government while gutting their own base.
All that’s left for these political prostitutes is to try and destroy everybody who tries to change what they are doing. Given that what they are doing has largely become the consolidation of power they, as we see in the Guardian story’, have resorted to the politics of personal destruction.
‘The law firm’ continues to stand on principle because it’s the right thing to do. A concept lost on many in Westminster and indeed in the media where left-wing editors are happy to do business with centre-right politicians if it can later be used against them. These are the media sources who value ideology over truth.
Melanie Griffith, top writer for the Daily Mail, appeared on BBC’s Question Time last Thursday. It was clear that many in the audience derided her comments on the threat posed by Iran but more disturbingly Conservatives on the panel joined in. London Mayor Boris Johnson and Energy Secretary Ed Davey mockingly backed away from her when she illustrated the need to get real on a budding nuclear power but Griffith was undeterred as she chastised the crowd for wanting to believe that it’s all white clouds in the sky and there is no problem.
The bigger illustration for this column’s perspective is that too many British politicians are willing to come down on the side of the comfortable and popular opinion of the day. The path of least resistance! Too few are willing to stand up and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. 3 cheers for ‘the law firm’ because they are not afraid to swim against the tide if that’s what it takes to get everybody safely to the shoreline.
