Archive for the ‘Farage to Join Conservatives?’ Category

UKIP/Tory Rhetoric on EU Immigration

jeudi, octobre 30th, 2014

Will Hutton in The Observer, Sunday 26th October 2014, writes that « Ukip/Tory rhetoric on EU immigration strikes at the very values that make us quintessentially European« .

« The Ukip/Tory story that Britain?s greatness was built on independence from Europe is a fairytale. We are as much part of our continent?s history and evolution, and share its values, as any other European country. Arguably, we are the quintessential Europeans. »

« It is hardly ever said, but the EU, for all its frailties and imperfections, is an important and noble endeavour. It stands for the best of our civilisation and its Enlightenment values, even with its commitment to the free movement of peoples. It now needs friends. Time to stand by it. »

Surely appearing to mirror the rhetoric of UKIP is not the way to attract those key swing voters in the middle political ground who decide general elections? The UKIP talk of emulating countries outside the EU such as Switzerland and Norway does not stand up to scrutiny on immigration. Both as part of their trade agreements with the EU must allow freedom of movement and both have proportionally higher rates of immigration than the UK.

Conservative Party should beware UKIP Bigotry

lundi, octobre 27th, 2014

Read this thought-provoking article for the Conservative Party by Adam Bienkov writing in politics.co.uk:

« History has shown that the Tories can only win a majority by appealing to a broad range of voters across the country. This is how they have won majorities in the past and they abandon that aim at their peril. »

http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2014/10/27/the-bigotry-of-ukip-is-swamping-the-conservative-party

Thank you Mr Carswell – by Robin Baker

vendredi, septembre 19th, 2014

Thank you Mr Carswell (the former Conservative MP for Clacton and now UKIP candidate) for leaving the Conservative Party. We are better off without you. To see why, let us look firstly at the blog you have published as a new member of UKIP:

?We need change in our relationship with Europe.
When we joined what was to become the European Union all those years ago, we imagined we would be joining a prosperous trading block. In the early 1970s, it accounted for almost 40 percent of world economic output.
Today it accounts for a mere 25 percent. In a decade, it?s expected to be down to 15 percent.?

Yes, and a very good thing this fall in the EU?s share of world economic output is too. The EU has 7.3% of the world?s population, does Mr Carswell really think that our share of the world?s wealth should be more than three and a half times our share of the population? This change results from the strength of economic growth in the emerging economies and that is to everybody?s benefit: firstly because economic disparity between the poor and the rich is dangerous for world stability, secondly because we should be glad to see the world?s poor becoming less so, and thirdly for the selfish reason that the richer they are, the more they will be able to trade with us and so increase our prosperity as well.

Mr Carswell should be aware of one simple illustration of how the world has changed. When we joined the then EEC in 1973, the price of oil was some $2 – 3 per barrel. Today it hovers around the $100/barrel mark. Does he think that this should not have changed the balance of economic wealth?

He then followed this blog with an article in the International New York Times, which repeated that inanity from the blog and added:

?Instead of using primaries to select candidates for parliamentary seats, party hierarchies parachute in those whom they favour.?

The only reason I can think of for Mr Carswell to use a foreign newspaper to write such rubbish about his own country, is because most of its readers will not recognise that his remarks are simply untrue. The decision on the selection of Conservative parliamentary candidates was previously always made by a general meeting open to all members of the local party. True, Party headquarters has, on occasions, tried to parachute in a preferred candidate from outside, but these attempts have generally failed, indeed for a candidate to be known to have HQ support has been the kiss of death. But the Party is now more and more moving away from the ?local Party members? system to taking these decisions by ?open primaries?, i.e. a primary in which any elector in that constituency may vote whether or not they are Party members. Two Conservative MPs elected in 2010 had been selected in that way and a number of candidates have already been chosen by that system for the election in 2015.

The Conservative candidate for the Clacton by-election caused by Mr Carswell has been chosen by such an open primary, this was done on 11th September, a week before Mr Carswell?s article was published. There was, however, one candidate who was parachuted in by his party hierarchy for this by-election. The UKIP candidate for Clacton had already been selected, by local UKIP members. When Carswell defected from the Conservative Party, that candidate was unceremoniously booted out and Nigel Farage parachuted in Douglas Carswell to fight the seat.

One other lie in the New York Times article, which says: ?Most Laws made in Britain this year emanated from the European Union.? Mr Carswell may no longer be an MP, but he can still read reports by the House of Commons Library, a highly respected and independent source of information. They have studied this question and found:
?It is possible to estimate the proportion of national laws based on EU laws. In the UK, over the twelve-year period from 1997 to 2009 6.8% of primary legislation (Statutes) and 14.1% of secondary legislation (Statutory Instruments) had a role in implementing EU obligations.
It is possible to justify any measure between 15% and 50% or thereabouts. This includes olive and tobacco growing regulations which are unlikely to have much impact in Britain.?

We do not need Mr Carswell?s shallow thinking in the Conservative Party, nor do we want his lies. He is highly suitable for UKIP, where such thinking is a requirement for membership. That is why, Mr Carswell, the Conservative Party is better off without you. Thank you for leaving the Conservative Party.

Robin Baker

Nigel Farage is just Russell Brand for old people?

mercredi, avril 30th, 2014

Here’s a challenging article on UKIP leader Nigel Farage from Alex Massie writing in The Spectator blog:

« Nigel Farage is a phoney. There is a simple solution to everything that ails the United Kingdom: leave the European Union and, to all intents and purposes, close our borders. Then we shall enjoy a new Golden Age.

It is an illusion wrapped in a lie inside a fraud. No such solution presents itself. In the unlikely event Mr Farage got his way almost every problem this country faces would remain intact ? and remain as impervious to simple solution. »

« Instead of smearing themselves with tar and feathers, mainstream politicians should remind populists that they do the hard work of politics: representing constituents, reconciling competing claims and taking an interest in dry corners of legislation that affect people?s lives. Most politics is necessary drudgery. Seen from this angle, the ?elite? are the people who get their hands dirty. And populists who damn the whole spectacle from cosy sidelines are the truly decadent ones. »

Are the arguments of UKIP and the SNP that different?

dimanche, avril 20th, 2014

According to David Aaronovitch writing in The Times, (Nigel) Farage of UKIP is shorthand for those in the UK, including around a third of Tories, who want separation from the EU; (Alex) Salmond of the SNP is a figurehead for those in Scotland who want separation from the UK. The writer finds it increasingly hard not to see the similarities in their arguments:

– The UK (Scotland) has been diminished by its association with, or absorption into, a larger grouping represented by « Brussels » (« Westminster ») that rule and rule badly.

– The people of the UK (Scotland) did not vote for Jose Manuel Barroso (David Cameron).

– UKIP praises Switzerland as a model non-EU country while the SNP/Scottish manifesto mentioned Norway 57 times and that « small, independent nations of comparable size to Scotland are the world’s happiest. »

– Both camps share a common language of complacent and ill-founded reassurance: It will be alright. They’re just bluffing. Britain (Scotland) is too important to the EU (UK) for them not to allow us to separate on our terms.

Reference: Farage and Salmond want you to live in Outopia, David Aaronovitch, The Times, Thursday April 17, 2014

Does Nigel Farage want to join the Conservatives?

mardi, décembre 31st, 2013

Here’s an interesting article on the UK Independence party (UKIP) from The Telegraph of 31st December, 2013:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10542611/Does-Nigel-Farage-want-to-join-the-Conservatives.html