Why I am a Conservative

Clear Blue water

Between the Conservatives and Labour/Liberal Democrats

Why I am a Conservative

I didn't grow up in a traditional Conservative voting home. My parents never had a great deal of money, we never had a foreign holiday, I had free school meals throughout my schooling and as far as I know my parents never voted Conservative. But by the age of 16 I was a convinced Conservative. I am a Conservative because I believe in Conservative values - and believe that they are best for Britain.

* Social Justice and Freedom of Speech - I always feel strongly about injustice - maybe there is something fundamentally 'British' about standing up for the underdog - but injustice really gets to me. Probably the one issue that had most impact in convincing me as a teenager of the importance of Conservative principles - was seeing good hardworking honest men lose their jobs - because of trade union bully boy tactics forcing employers to sack them if they wouldn't join a union. Then I lived in Nottingham during the miner's strike when coach loads of Yorkshire pickets came down every day, taking over small mining villages to try to force Nottinghamshire miners to strike - which they refused to do - because union leaders wouldn't let them vote on it. I remember businesses being unfairly targeted by union pickets trying to make their workers come out on strike in 'sympathy' with other workers, despite those businesses which were being forced towards bankruptcy having had no industrial dispute with the union - and so no means of ending this 'secondary action'. The trade union laws which were brought in during the 1980s by the Conservative government were a very necessary safeguard to the personal rights of individuals. Tragically, there are strong voices in the Labour Party that want to repeal this legislation and allow unions to inflict 'secondary action' on uninvolved businesses.

While I worked in the developing world I again came across discrimination - against non Muslim minorities in Pakistan and against ethnic minority groups in Afghanistan. Shortly after my wife and I were married, we put on our lives on the line by confronting a Taliban governor in Afghanistan about his racism in refusing to allow a development project amongst an ethnic minority group.

Sadly, we face some of these same issues of injustice in Britain today - only here they are caused by political correctness - a perverse ideology adopted by the Liberal-Left. This claims that certain groups must be protected from criticism and even given special privileges because of perceived hostility towards them in previous generations, an ideology which is sometimes enforced with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle!) forms of intimidation. Why is it that the government often appears more keen to listen to certain groups in the community than to others? Why is it that those who dare to criticise aspects of Islam or 'gay rights' face various levels of intimidation? Why is it that family values campaigners who on current affairs programmes question whether it is in the best interests of children to be adopted by homosexual couples - now face a police investigation? Why is it that the racial and religious hatred bill proposed by the Labour government would have made it difficult for even academics to raise legitimate issues about Islam? Freedom of speech is something that we must safeguard passionately.

* Community - There is such a thing as 'society' - and we see it at its best in the voluntary organisations that help our local communities, hospital driver schemes, Women's voluntary service, church groups, scout and guide packs and so forth. But 'society' is not the same thing as the state, society doesn't flourish when the central government in London tells people exactly how they must live, it flourishes when people are encouraged to make their own decisions, and to look after themselves as far as they are able, rather than being dependent on the state, and above all to care for others. The most important expression of society, and the one that most of us come most closely into contact with, is the local community. That's why Conservatives emphasise ' localism' - local accountability and having a variety of different approaches to solve local problems - rather than the central government control and one size fits all approach that Labour policies emphasise. For example, the Labour government have 'told' schools which foods they are 'allowed' to use in school dinners - as a parent I too am concerned that children eat healthy food, but believe it's far better for the government to trust the professionalism of head teachers to help their children learn to make good choices, rather than create a 'nanny state' where the government tells people from the earliest ages everything they must do.

I believe very strongly in community. While working overseas I was involved in a form of development known as 'Community Development' - essentially this is about helping local communities to help themselves, asking them questions to help them think through both what their real problems are and what are the underlying causes of those problems. Then helping them to develop solutions to those problems themselves - while the aid agency 'primed the pump' by providing the material resources the community lacked to help themselves. Where such community development projects take place - the local people think of them not as the aid agency's project - but as ' their village's project'. This is a fundamentally Conservative approach to helping disadvantaged communities both in the UK overseas. It's much better if the local people can be helped to help themselves - and feel that they are helping themselves - rather than the government simply coming in and doing things 'for' the local community. One approach gives people a real sense of their own worth and dignity and the importance of their own community, the other often fails to meet real needs, isn't owned by the community and projects often end up being disused or vandalised.

* Family values - The most fundamental building block for society is the family. However, this most vital part of our social fabric has come under serious threat in recent years from 'Social Liberalism' - a philosophy that was adopted first of all by the Liberal Party then by Labour. This approach has fundamentally undermined the uniqueness of marriage as New Labour have deliberately redefined the family, in the words of Lord Irvine Labour Lord Chancellor as, adult couple relationships - with no mention of marriage being an 'ideal' or even the necessity of couples parenting children being male/female. At the same time the Labour government signalled its end of support for marriage as the best ideal to aim at, by withdrawing funding for National Marriage Week. The social cost of the Labour government actively promoting a range of different relationship and parenting 'options' is likely to be high. In a free society everyone has the right to choose what sort of relationships they want for themselves, but those choices don't all produce equally good results. If government promotes 'diversity' for the sake of diversity, then society suffers. Research clearly shows that children brought up in traditional 2 parent families not only achieve better educational results, but also have a lower rate of involvement in juvenile crime as well as a whole range of other social indices, including mental health problems and avoidance of teenage pregnancy.

* An economy that enables business to flourish - businesses provide the bulk of employment in our country - a healthy business economy is essential to maintain our employment levels and the standard of living that we enjoy. Much of the money that funds our public services - schools and hospitals comes from tax paid by businesses. Only with a healthy business economy can we help those who need it most both at home and overseas. However, if industry is overtaxed it cannot do this. In fact, there is a multiplier effect - whereby reducing the amount of tax paid both by individuals and by businesses stimulates investment, with the resulting economic growth providing more tax revenue not less. Tragically, the UK is currently facing an economic downturn as the economy works through the results of Gordon Brown massively increasing the amount of tax that businesses and individuals have to pay as well as adding vast numbers of extra regulations that cost businesses an extra £40 billion pounds.

* Law and order - I believe that we need to be firm on crime. Every good school teacher knows that the way to maintain discipline and avoid bad behaviour escalating is to set the boundaries by cracking down very firmly on the less serious misdemeanours. This is essentially the approach of Social Conservatism. The Social Liberalism promoted by Labour and the Liberal-Democrats takes the opposite view - wanting to have a softer approach to 'less serious crime' - such as not arresting those carrying up to 500 joints of Cannabis, allegedly so that police can concentrate on more serious drug crime.

* Strong Defence - I believe that Britain needs a strong defence force. Those who put their lives on the line to serve our country need our full support. Tragically, services chiefs recently had to say that defence cuts were putting the lives of British special forces at risk. Conservatives believe in giving the men and women of our armed forces our full support.

* British sovereignty - I am proud to be British, I believe strongly in maintaining our national sovereignty. This is a Conservative principle - that's why Conservatives are committed to keeping the pound. Gordon Brown says that he wants Britain to replace the pound with the euro as soon as certain economic tests are met. But not only is the pound is a very central part of Britain's cultural heritage, joining the euro means that the role played by the bank of England in managing Britain's economy would be given to a European Central Bank - Gordon Brown would be giving away a huge amount of our sovereignty to a faceless EU institution.

My Vision for Britain

I want my children to grow up in a society which has strong economy, with low unemployment, where people are rewarded for their hard work - including teachers, nurses, and others in the caring professions.

I want my children to grow up in country where anyone can start a business, without having to spend 10 hours a week complying with government regulations before they can even start earning money.

I want them to grow up in a country that trades freely and cooperates in many areas with our European neighbours - but where large areas of our economic and legal systems are not controlled by Europe. I want them to grow up in a Britain that has free trade links with many other countries in the world, that neither taxes imports from developing countries, nor allows the EU to undermine farmers in developing countries by dumping subsidised food surpluses on the world market.

I want them to grow up in a Britain that is not divided into 'haves' and 'have nots', a country that is 'One Nation' not two, where family background or low income is no barrier to achievement in life. A country where the overwhelming majority of people own their home and are able to pass them on to their children and grandchildren - without the government taking ordinary families homes away through inheritance tax and other stealth taxes. I want to see a Britain where people have are encouraged to have savings in the bank that will cushion their vulnerability to life's unforeseen mishaps. A nation where people are encouraged to help themselves, but where the state provides a safety net for those who can't. I want to see a Britain where those on low incomes pay less of their income in tax, instead of relying on means tested benefits where the government takes with one hand and after much bureaucracy gives back with the other - in the form of means tested benefits, a system which traps those on low incomes by taking away 70% of all extra income that they receive - though a combination of tax and reduced benefits. I want them to grow up in society that values freedom of speech, that makes a fundamental distinction between criticising ideas, beliefs and ideologies - and abusing and inciting hatred against those who hold to those beliefs.

I want my children to grow up in a society where they are proud to be British, in a society that rejoices in its cultural diversity - Scots and Welsh, Irish and English, Asian descent and Caribbean descent - and many others. But where the our identity of being 'British' is far greater than the sum of its parts, just as the the flags of England, Scotland and Ireland symbolically merge together into the Union Jack.

I want them to grow up in a society where racism is not tolerated - neither the racism of the far Right, nor the politically correct racism of the Left.

I want them to grow up in a society with strong but fair law and order - where neither minor nor major crime is officially 'tolerated'. Where teachers are able to teach effectively in schools because school discipline has been given a proper legal basis.

I want them to grow up in a Britain that put a high priority on the environment, which has diversified its energy sources into a greater reliance on renewable sources including tidal power, but a Britain which takes a broad definition of environmental concern - and includes the conservation of Britain's rural landscape, rather than destroying it with thousands of windfarms.

I want them to grow up in a country that has a strong armed forces that are there, fully equipped and ready when we need them, that is fully supported by the Government and and that plays its part in peacekeeping missions around the world.

I want my children to grow up in a country where young people's heroes are not just pop stars and footballers, but are people who have led lives of self sacrifice - serving their country in the armed forces, their fellow men as overseas aid workers, their local community in voluntary work - and even serving their nation as political leaders. I want them to grow up in a country where politicians tell the truth - and can be trusted, where leaders set an example of honesty, integrity and concern for others - examples that young people will want to follow. I want them to grow up in a country where character is more valued than diversity, where government is not afraid to promote what is right - including the central importance to society of marriage and the family. I want them to grow up in a society where people are treated equally regardless of their race, gender or age, where people are accepted as people - regardless of their beliefs - Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian - but no one is forced to agree with them, or forbidden from critiquing them.

I want them to grow up in a country that conserves the best of the past - but is open to the future - because that is historically what Conservatism has been about.

I want them to live in a country that in the very best possible sense has put the Great back into Britain again.

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