Conservative Estrangement Syndrome 

(Photograph: Parrot of Doom, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

I read an article probably a few months ago by Nick Timothy, saying that the Conservative Party must change to be electable. Since then I have been considering why it is that I think of myself as a conservative, why that outlook reflects my values and why I and many of my friends feel so estranged from the Parliamentary Conservative Party.

Perhaps I am alone in my outlook, perhaps I am like the ‘Little Prince’ on my own planet conservative while the rest of the conservative world moves like a giant army with unified purpose. I somehow suspect not, but thought it might be good to share my thoughts with others.

What is it to be conservative ?

I believe that a conservative outlook is at heart one of tolerance, blind to creed, colour and name, looking for the best in others. A pragmatism which accepts that the world is far from perfect and never will be, but that we in our own small way work to leave it better than when we arrived. It is an outlook that reflects the Anglican values of 30 or 40 years ago and is rooted in Common Law, Habeas Corpus and individual self determination.

We know that life on this earth is limited and therefore everyone should be able to make the most of it in the way they wish, without being directed or ‘nudged’ by Government. We should be free to say and do what we want unless forbidden by law, though the law has gone too far in its limiting of free speech. Some speech is offensive, and in the era of social media where cowards hide behind ‘nom de plume’s’ to throw vitriol or stalk those they don’t like, it can be extremely upsetting. However, the solution is not to bring in bans on what is said, but instead to insist that you can only comment on social media sites using your own name. My sort of conservatism wonders what has happened to manners – we were brought up to believe that ‘manners maketh man’, and surely the brutality of some public discourse would not happen if those taking part displayed better manners towards each other.

Free speech should be the very cornerstone of our democratic society. I believe that, as conservatives, we must defend the rights of anyone, however much we disagree with them, to say what they want to say. I have therefore always thought the laws brought in by the Blair Government against so called hate speech to be wrong. As foretold at the time, they have been used more widely than intended, and are employed by pressure groups to shut down their opponents. I also find it disappointing and hypocritical of our so called ‘Conservative’ government, while it postures about how essential free speech is in schools and universities, it has sought to cancel and shut down questions about its own actions. We have seen this with Andrew Bridgen, who in pointing out the failures of Government covid policy was banished from the Parliamentary Party. The Prime Minister and Chief Whip should be hanging their heads in shame for this action, they have failed the simple test of practising what they preach.

In making the most of our lives, the state should be structured to encourage us to stand on our own two feet and not rely on the generosity of others to survive. That means keeping what we earn, paying our own way for services, and not being beholden to the taxpayer for our daily bread. We cannot continue on the present trend where over 50% of the population are drawing more from the state than they are paying in. People have to be responsible for their own actions – we can’t expect the taxpayer to bail us out at every turn. Why should success be penalised to bail out the feckless? Why should anyone bother striving when the fruits of their labour are simply grabbed by the taxman, and disbursed to those who choose not to bother?

The state should always be on the side of those who do things properly, work hard, look after their families, build businesses, employ others, and contribute to society. The poor will always be with us, but the way to help them is found through education and work, not handouts. Why is a so-called Conservative government at war with private landlords, driving them out of business? They are, in most cases, the epitome of what we should be encouraging. Skewing laws in favour of tenants as well as the tax system against landlords, is having the opposite effect of solving the existing accommodation shortage.

Defence, we are often told is the primary duty of government; I wish it were. In particular, since the vandalism wrought on our armed forces by the Cameron government, they have not been in any way fit for purpose. Penny-pinching, poor procurement, and often employed for political rather than military purposes, I find it hard to see how we could defend ourselves let alone our dependencies, contribute to the defence of our Nato allies, or meet our UN obligations. The state of our armed forces is a disgrace with equipment shortages in all areas, poor accommodation, low manpower, a dysfunctional recruitment process, and a poor and arrogant system of procurement. I find it awful that defence of the realm has been treated by a Conservative governments like a salami from which another slice can be taken to throw at populist projects. On this one issue the current administration should have been flung from office, but they know that defence holds no votes until we hit trouble. The war in Ukraine is now showing up what a hopeless state things have become and how enfeebled our armed forces are, and yet the army has just been cut again.

Health and social care is a major area, and the NHS is a disaster. I believe the organisation would be in some form of ‘crisis’ even if there were no patients.   Command economies never work in the long run. The key to the health service is that no one is barred from care because of lack of funds, something that I very much support. However, delivery does not have to be through a state owned and run organisation. Equally, social care is not something that should be fully funded by the taxpayer; we must be encouraged to save for our old age, and the tax system should also encourage us to look after ourselves in our dotage.

As a conservative I have been appalled by the groupthink in government, firstly over Covid policy where panic and complete lack of reason caused us to adopt the attitude of a totalitarian state in our attempts to control the disease. The disgraceful censorship employed to shut down those questioning policy and the lack of application of all that was learnt by our forefathers in how to deal with respiratory viruses was also abominable. Those who applied logical arguments against Covid policy were at best ignored or at worst silenced. What is even more shocking is that the government is sill prosecuting and fining people for breaking, what in many cases, are now seen as flawed lockdown rules, when instead there should be a blanket amnesty and refund of all fines with interest.

The other prominent area of groupthink is the whole net zero debate, where species biodiversity, global heating, plastic over use, CO2 emissions and habitat destruction appear to be conflated into one climate change box. Those who question net zero policies are shut down and caricatured as climate change deniers, yet those peddling the climate change narrative have a multitude of very weak arguments that government policy panders to. As an example: we are told that cows are bad for the environment and need to have their numbers reduced to stop climate change due to their emissions of methane and CO2. This argument fails to consider the cow in its entirety. They and sheep being ruminants should be viewed as walking compost heaps – they take up carbon turning it into protein that we consume, CO2 that they breathe out which is essential to the growth of more grass and a carbon rich pile of nutrients that helps form the humus upon which agriculture depends. If you consider that in fields grazed by ruminants the soil level increases year by year, whilst in those fields that are continually cropped the soil level declines without the introduction of organic matter such as dung, you will realise how flawed their argument is.

I could go on, but I have gone on too long! We voted Conservative in 2019, but seem to have got a variety of wet socialism, which certainly doesn’t reflect my outlook. But perhaps I am the one who has lost his way?

Alastair MacMillan runs White House Products Ltd, a manufacturer, distributor and exporter of hydraulic components to over 100 countries. He is a supporter of the Jobs Foundation.

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