With his surname partially derived from the Gods, and his standing as an Englishman of Scottish descent, you may already know I love Iain Duncan Smith, beyond the edge of reason. But yesterday, in Prague, he ripped open his long silence, on the European issue, and moved to lead the Europe-wide revolt against the long-planned socialist super state. Which, for those of us in the “Get out of Here” Euro-nexus, within the Tory party, is excellent news; it confirms our faith, in why we voted him in, as leader.
As the Maastricht rebel leader strutted his stuff, he even picked up a favourable review from Alastair Campbell’s scoop-favoured creatures on The Sun. Trevor Kavanagh, their maverick political commentator, feared by the Downing Street lie machine, and a man, by order of Rupert, beyond the reach of Labour-supporting editor Rebekah Wade, also said about Duncan Smith:
Europe will hear him and Britain will agree
In my opinion, IDS is the bravest man, in British politics, from the entire period of the last 30 years. Can you imagine having woken up, every morning, for the last two years, and then been forced to view the world through his semi-oriental eyes? He has been vilified, pilloried, and humiliated, in every newspaper, on every Channel 4 news programme, and on every BBC web page — virtually every single day — for being a charisma-less, hopeless, and witless fool. But he has come through this burning fire, to nudge ahead of Phoney Tony in the polls, much to the incredulous bafflement of the New Labour-Guardian-BBC aristocracy, which rules this once glorious, and sceptred isle.
It’s a fragile lead, admittedly, and there’s still a lot more work for IDS to finish, to cement it in; even assuming it’s not Gordon Brown who ends up as the initial beneficiary, from Tony’s fall; and yes, it’s a shame about that bovine statism, inherent within the general Tory Party; and yes, I would prefer a straight decision to just get out of the EU Dodge City, right now. But on the topic of Iain Duncan Smith, army officer and gentleman; I am a believer.
Andy,
I hope your belief in and support of IDS proves fruitfull, as he is about all England has left for a future.
Past performances by IDS leave me with little inclination to even give the Tories moral support !!
“Europe will hear him and Britain will agree”
Europe will crush him and Britain will say “Merci!”
Shaun Bourke writes:
Past performances by IDS leave me with little inclination to even give the Tories moral support !!
He can wear face-paint, smoke a pipe, jump up and down like Basil Fawlty, and ride a unicycle; doesn’t matter. He can be despised, disliked, hated, laughed at, abused, all of these, and more; doesn’t matter.
While being ‘entirely useless’ in the last two years, he’s sneaked the Tories up from being 10% behind Labour, to being 2% ahead. Hague used to get praised for his oratory, but didn’t move the Tories a single percentage point in four years. IDS has been continually slated, and has taken Hague’s failure, and turned it into a tenative success.
He is hitting Labour where it hurts. It is all about policies. They don’t have any left. And he’s releasing a new sensible one, every week (eg: 80mph speed limit, halt on the European steamroller, a referendum on the Euro constitution, state vouchers for private hospitals, etc, etc)
It’s going to be a hard slog, and a win is still difficult, but he has turned the impossible, into the undreamed of situation, into the potential win, and now into the possible win. He could even make it into the probable win, so fail away IDS, I love it! 🙂
This is how I actually see it panning out:
Blair gets fired, or walks, within 1 year, from today. Brown takes over. Because of having a “new” PM, (as with Major), Labour get the benefit of the doubt, and get re-elected, but with a much reduced majority.
It’s then four years of horror for Gordon Brown, as his socialist dream turns into a sour nightmare, of utter bankrupt failure, plagued by rebellions, anti-ID card riots, anti-EU constitution marches, anti-Euro riots. Brown crushed by massive Tory majority, in 2010.
Or, and it’s a slim possibility, IDS actually wins in 2005, with a very small majority.
Either way, Labour are finished (they even know it), and IDS has been the primary cause of their political destruction (aside from the inherent uselessness of socialist statism, of course :). So keep failing Iain, baby.
Andy,
I shall add….the primary reason that Europe needs England in their Euro is to loot England of ALL its reserves to prop-up the socialist superstate, as the mainland is now functionally broke.
To really inflame the new French-German Empire,IDS should start selling the concept of lower income and company tax and strong inducements for capital growth.
IDS should also pour petrol on the fire that is the upcoming EU aviation regulations by stating catagorically that the Tories stand behind LOWER regulations and they will strongly support British carriers with their disputes with the EU scumbags.
Kodiak,
From what I have read recently,the British are already saying “F*** the Froggies” when it comes to spending their HARD earned Pounds Sterling on holiday trips abroad.
Hi Shaun,
Yes, I think you’re right. The European super-staters don’t want us out. They need us IN.
First, as you say, to rob us blind of subsidies for French peasants, and German pensions.
Secondly, because once we’re out (and I primarily see a possible Tory victory, as only step 1, on this necessary journey), we will be much more successful, as a nation, than we are now, moving forwards towards a much more North American model.
Having us, as a glaring success, in their faces, will help cause the Eurosocialist Superstate, to collapse.
Therefore, they’ve gotta keep us in, chain us down, and keep us as subsidy serfs.
Obviously it will all fall apart anyway, once they’ve robbed us totally, and drank all the drinks at the party. But it could take 30 years for that to happen, and I’ve got better things to do with the next 30 years of my life, than help feckless lazy French farmers sit in the sun, smoking gauloises, and making up figures for production subsidies.
I do not share your faith in the Tories, Andy. They took us into the mess in the first place and many in the party are unreprentant. I trust the Tories to be Tories, which is to say, to consistently snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and to be just another incrementalist statist party. They are at best the lesser of three evils.
Andy,
Tony Blair finally became what most leaders with a large majority are and pissed off the electorate. I don’t give IDS much credit for catching up in the polls.
Andy,
“All politics are local”, its a saying in the States. I suspect you are reading a bit more into IDS/Tory rises in the polls that are more a reflection of New Labour failure than real Tory success, along with skewed questions that were not properly assembled.
I offer as evidence the sharp rise in support for the BNP both in seats won and actual votes in support cast,adding also their ability now to field over 200 candidates in the recent council elections, which I expect to rise further as New Labour’s failures continue to bite into larger percentages of the population.
I would expect the majority of the electorate at large has memories of John Major.
I would suppose the larger view would be…do the Tories know where England came from?…do they understand where England is at?…in what direction should England proceed and WHY ?
A recent history lesson might start with “The Road to Wigen Pier”……a current position fix for the “Ship of State” would be a through review of recent council elections…….over and above England’s commitment to the Commonwealth, She has no need of formal ties with anyone,especially if her population removed itself from the “welfare state mindset”…….. I seem to remember reading many years ago that Disraeli’ spoke to the problems created by the “welfare state”.
Perry,
Many decades ago, Australia and New Zealand had their farm exports to England serverly cut back when England joined the EEC, I beleive that happened under a Labour Government…….obviously it also affected all other Commonwealth countries to various degrees……
Hi Perry,
I too, fear, you could be right, and that the blue-rinsed ones will revert to type, once they get in with a sniff of power, again.
But, like you say, they are the lesser of three evils. Unfortunately, I cannot yet afford the luxury of living in an ivory tower, casting aspersions upon all three of the statist barons trying to slaughter each other, at the foot of my tower’s door.
I need to go outside, and gather some fuel for the winter, to keep my family warm, and to do that, I need to come to some arrangement with one of them.
One will rob me blind, and feel good about it; one will rob me blind, but feel guilty about it; and one will rob me half-blind, and ask me how we can double winter fuel production.
Give me the third baron, if I must have a baron. It will be easier to reach towards the state I desire, from his starting position, than from the starting position the other two offer me. Especially if I, and others like me, become his court counsellors.
Now I think we do need some in ivory towers, to provide the theoretical answers to his questions, which I will learn and relay to the least offensive of these three Barons, and eventually we can hope to persuade him to become one of us; remembering he is the only one of the three, who is persuadeable (eg: Airey Neave, Keith Joseph, Margaret Thatcher, et al).
The only alternative, as I see it, is for me, to come swinging out of the door, with my own battleaxe. But let’s face it, I/we/British libertarians don’t have a prayer, in any kind of electoral process.
Our only political power hope is to cajole, and persuade those who do (eg: The Tory Party), to adopt our belief system.
I am not proud to work for the Tory party. But I am damned if I’m going to do nothing, to hurt Tony Blair, except cast names at him, which won’t hurt him. I’d rather help take out his power base of MPs. I wish I had a bit more balls, to actually become a candidate, and stand against some useless marginal union-backed Labour MP, but I’m a few years from that, just yet, if ever.
So if that means, for the moment, I have to phone up grisly Labour voters in Grimsby, of an evening, to receive personal abuse down the phone from them, or harrass my local MP, over government tax policies, I’ll do it; until such time as I can pluck up the courage to actually put my name on the public line, and go before Joe Voter (with some kind of Bulldog, obviously :).
I may, I fear, eventually reach your position of seeing no real semantic difference between the three statist barons. When that happens, I think we should get some heavy weapons together, all move to Cornwall, and unilaterally declare the Cornish Free State.
That, or try to break into the United States! 🙂
Kodiak–
I find it interesting that your first response to a possible election outcome is to hope that Europe will “crush” its winner.
Brian: I suspect he was just trying to get the meter to scan properly 🙂
Weasel–
Yes, “federalize” doesn’t work, does it?
Weasel–
You’re right–“federalize” doesn’t scan.
Here’s a link to get the full text of IDS’s Prague speech 🙂
I happen to agree with Dave O’Neill. I not so sure if the Conservative star is rising rather than Blair and the Nulabour star falling.
Brian,
Maybe it was French or idiosyncratic bat tastte, I was nevertheless trying to be funny.
Sorry.
IDS has indeed done a lot. I think it was useful for him and his party to be seen as no-hope types. You think the Labour Party would be in turmoil as much if they thought they might actually lose the next election?
Governments lose elections, oppositions don’t win them.
Why the Tories backed the war
Simon Nixon on a first-class mystery: what made the Conservatives save Blair’s premiership and support an unpopular war?…
One of the most nauseating images of the postwar spin operation is that of a beleaguered prime minister gathering his family around him on the eve of war to warn them that he could be about to lose his job. Now Short has confirmed what few reporters bothered to mention: thanks to the Tories, Blair was never in the slightest danger of losing his job. The hagiographies tell of a prime minister heroically taking on the overwhelming opposition of his party and the country to send the armed forces into war. But what of Iain Duncan Smith, who also took on his own party and the country in order to keep Blair in office? The Tories were just as divided over the war as Labour was. Most Conservative MPs freely admit that the mood in their constituencies, even among party members, was largely one of opposition. How did IDS do it? …
what made the Conservatives save Blair’s premiership and support an unpopular war?
Hm. Because they thought it was the right thing to do?
Scott Cattanach writes:
How did IDS do it? …
As IDS said in his speech yesterday (see the link, above), he recognises there have been two great shifts in the last 20 years; the first being the fall of the Berlin wall, the second being the murderous outrage, if that simple word can possibly be strong enough, of the Islamofascists, on September 11.
Before the first shift, we in the UK relied on our fellow European AND Americans, to defend us from the Russian socialists (which I think gave the forces of liberty a political dominance, over socialism, with the idiot Labour party being full of communist fellow travellers). Between the first and the second shift, however, everything became ambivalent for a full decade (which I think let in New Labour, Clinton et al, and their Third Way monkey nonsense).
But after the second shift, when the Islamofascists filled the collectivist global enemy vacuum, EVERYTHING, in the UK’s defence, has shifted to a shared (junior partner) reliance JUST with the Americans (which may mean the end of the Third Way, the end of ambivalence, and the growing resurgence of liberty).
Therefore, whenever given a choice between supporting the US, or rejecting the US, for the foreseeable future, especially if in opposition to the Europeans, in all matters of defence, the UK only has one choice, in almost all circumstances, until at least the end of Islamofascism. And that is to support the US, and ask for their support in return, should we require it.
This, I guess, was the nature of IDS’s route of persuasion for getting the conservative MPs onside. It says much for his growing authority, that he kept dissent to a minimum, except from that old fool Ken Clarke, in contrast to the terrible time Blair has had with his idiot backbench Labour MPs.
And long may this alliance continue.
Great! Someone who may actually help people awaken to what’s coming with the EU unless things change.
From comments of this board and other UK boards, my understanding is there is some controversy regarding the Conservatives, or perhaps just this man in particular? If he will help prevent the UK from handing over national sovereignty to the EU, can’t you just ignore what you don’t like and get behind this guy?
Losing one’s national sovereignty seems to trump almost any other issue I can think of. If he can help prevent this, you still feel you can’t support him?
BTW: I’m a political ‘mutt’. There is no *one* ideology or party that suits me 100%. I like bits and pieces of many of them. So, I’m not suggesting you consider the Conservatives because I love Conservatives.
I’ve never voted for someone who I liked/agreed with 100%. Sometimes I agree with 40% or less of what the candidate I vote for believes in.
(It’s *very* hard to decide when you’re a political ‘mutt’.)
Your political decisions being made in Washington is just as much a multi-national concentration of political power as having them made in Brussels.
Then again, we did start out as your colony – I suppose its only fair for you to be ours for awhile.
Andy,
IDS is just another lovable peculiarity that your eccentric island is customary of. IDS is indeed just as fascinating as are left-hand drive, boiled meat, slow trains, Sacha Distel, Weapons of Mass Deception & Queen’s Mum’s exorbitant overdraft.
You’re right. Turning points were Berlin wall & Islamofascism. The missing link being US suicidal imperialism & lack of multilateralism.
I hope the Brits will be smart enough not to systematically back up any US inspired idiocy (Iraq) & to educate this country towards more pragmatic & long-term partnership with Europe, for instance.
You still do not seem to get it, Kodiak… many of the people who comment here and almost all of the people who actually write for Samizdata.net do not want ‘partnerships’ with Europe… they do not want ‘partnerships’ with their own fucking governments, let alone foreign governments which regulate and steal from people in other luckless nation-states. We have our own mafias to deal with and wish you would take your bleating about ‘multilateralism’ and stick it… somewhere interesting.
When we write about the antics of governments from a seemingly supportive position, it usually pertains to just on tactical support on issues we support for quite different reasons than the objectives being pursued by the state in question.
We do not want more cooperation between nation-states, we want more non-coercion driven social interaction between people (such as trade) in which states have no driving role at all. I don’t know who you think you are talking to most of the time but it sure as hell ain’t me.
Perry,
Thanx for the literary appreciation.
I was just replying to Andy anyway.