Toby on Tuesday 

“Emotional crutches….”

 

Last week saw the broadcast of Channel 4’s “UKIP: The First Hundred Days”, with its apocalyptic vision of the start of Nigel Farage’s Premiership. In truth, UKIP’s hallmark good sense and good humour would prevail, and Britain would start to emerge from the politically-correct nightmare into which we have sunk. Priyanga Burford was brilliant as the Sikh MP Deepa Kaur, who would indeed be a fine asset to our Party, but otherwise it was all predictable stuff. Yet these hatchet jobs from Channel 4, The Guardian and their friends do us no harm and in fact vindicate our cause, so I am happy to say to our enemies at Channel 4, just keep those brickbats coming!

But the news of the past days that really affects the General Election here is the leaked document from Conservative Headquarters which states that for their party Thirsk and Malton is not a “target constituency” and the new Conservative candidate is not a “target candidate”. I have been puzzling why this should have happened. At first I thought that it might be linked to last year’s bizarre decapitation of the sitting MP by the local Conservative Association. Despite having been William Hague’s Constituency Chairman in Richmond when he was leader of the Conservative Party, this remains a mystery to me. Instead I believe that it has been caused by the presence in Yorkshire last July of the malign and sinister figure of Matthew Parris.

Now, most of you will not have heard of this little known but deeply influential man. He is a former MP who is at the core and heart of the Cameron experiment and, if you want to discover what 10 Downing Street really thinks about our country and its people, you have to follow the comments and articles of Matthew Parris. Where this is significant is that Matthew Parris was in Yorkshire last July to oversee and manage the selection of the replacement official Conservative candidate. He was the “Moderator” at a closed meeting where that new candidate was chosen, but his attitude to constituencies like Thirsk and Malton only became clear three months later in the run-up to the Clacton by-election.

What he said then, in an article in the Times about the Clacton voters and by association about the Thirsk and Malton voters, was, “I am not arguing that we should be careless of the needs of struggling people and places such as Clacton. But I am arguing – if I am honest – that we should be careless of their opinions.” This in a nutshell summarises the contempt that David Cameron, Matthew Parris and those around them have for non-metropolitan Britain. And he went on, “if you associate tattoos with youth, Clacton will surprise you. Father time is busy with his scythe here….only in Asmara after Eritrea’s bloody wars have I encountered a greater proportion of citizens on crutches or in wheelchairs.” For a moment, the curtain was lifted and we saw through Matthew Parris’ article how constituencies like Clacton and Thirsk and Malton are truly seen by the occupants of 10 Downing Street.

Now, the good men and women of Clacton duly responded and Douglas Carswell won a resounding victory at the by-election, where the result was:

UKIP – 21,113 votes (59.7%)
Conservative – 8,709 votes (24.5%)
Labour – 3,957 votes (11.0%)
Green – 688 votes (1.7%)
LibDem – 487 votes (1.3%)

So if you really want to see why 10 Downing Street has given up on Thirsk and Malton, remember that Matthew Parris was its appointed “Moderator” presiding over the choice of its new candidate last July and its true voice in the run-up to the Clacton by-election in October. For my part, I pledge that, if successful in May’s General Election, I will commit myself to the well-being and security of those on crutches and in wheelchairs and, yes, those who sport tattoos, whatever their age. And UKIP will never turn its back on those who live in constituencies like Clacton and Thirsk and Malton, remote from the febrile world of London, with its desires and demands. The closed, narcissistic world of Matthew Parris, David Cameron and their chums is one in which none of us would ever want to live. In May, there will be a chance to replace it with a UKIP future, not the one caricatured last week on Channel 4, but a sensible moderate world in which truth and good sense finally prevail.

Until next Tuesday!
Toby