Toby on Tuesday 

'Oh what a Circus!'

May 7th is an important anniversary. It is next month’s Polling Day. And on 7th May, 1919, in a remote village in rural Argentina, Eva Duarte Peron was born. At 15, she had left for Buenos Aires in search of fame and fortune. By 1945, she had married Juan Peron, who in the following year became President of Argentina. So she entered history and the Argentine Congress named her “Spiritual Leader of the Nation”. Yet in 1952, at the age of 33, she died of cancer. And thanks to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice she has achieved immortality as “Evita”.

I am still singing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” as I write this, for last Thursday Fiona and I went to the Ryedale Youth Theatre/Kirkham Henry Performing Arts production of “Evita” in Malton. All that I can say is that I am in awe of everyone connected with it. “Evita” is a fantastically difficult production to stage and perform, yet this young company achieved their goal with astonishing grace and skill. Hannah Richardson, still only 16 and doing her A-Levels at Lady Lumley’s (where I shall be on 20th and 27th April for two Question Times) was a truly outstanding Eva, well up to London professional standards. Her husband, Juan Peron, was played by Adam Peel, 17 and at Norton Sixth Form (where I shall be on 15th April), who made the perfect Latin American dictator. Dom Weatherill, on stage for almost all the performance, was truly outstanding as Che. Ollie Fearn made a fine Magaldi, the Argentinian singer and guitarist, while Beth Armstrong, as Peron’s mistress, touched everyone with her beautiful voice. So there’s no need to go to London’s West End when you have talent of this quality in Ryedale. A big thank you to Ryedale Youth Theatre and Kirkham Henry Performing Arts for an unforgettable evening.

Yet the genius of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice cannot hide the depressing truth that Juan and Eva Peron left Argentina, with its huge resources, destitute. Behind their facade of helping the poor, they plundered the country. And after 1945 they welcomed Nazis fleeing Germany, including Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele, Hitler’s “Angel of Death”, in return for treasures stolen from the victims of the holocaust. And they were no friends to Britain. Of course, not much has changed in Argentina since then. The country is still bankrupt and still in default on its overseas debts. And it continues to defy international law in all its dealings. Only last week the Argentine ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office in the escalating dispute over the Falkland Islands. Argentina had just threatened to prosecute oil firms working in the waters around the Islands without formal permission from Buenos Aires, another trumped-up claim from the preposterous President Kirchner as she deflects attention from her disastrous record at home.

But despite all this, Britain has still managed to hand Argentina £225 million from our Overseas Aid budget over the past 20 years. In addition, Argentina receives around £50 million under the EU’s own foreign aid budget, of which we contribute around £7 million. The purpose of this is to enhance Spanish influence in Argentina, the same Spain that is threatening Gibraltar, just as Argentina is threatening the Falklands. Stable, enduring, law-abiding Gibraltar and the Falklands are under pressure on account of the failed policies of these bullies and yet we continue to hand cash over to them, a policy that is both foolish and immoral. And recently, Russia has agreed to lease/lend to Argentina 12 Sukhoi SU-24 Supersonic all-weather attack aircraft, well able to reach the Falklands. One is tempted to ask if British money was used to fund this deal. Whenever anyone questions UKIP’s determination to end the scandal of Overseas Aid, it is worth reminding them of these facts.

So the story of Eva Peron made for a musical of genius thanks to the skills of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and last Thursday was an evening of magic thanks to all that Yorkshire talent. But please don’t be deceived about the truth of life in Argentina then or now. The threat is there and the folly of those here and in the EU who send Overseas Aid to the country is greater than ever. No, we won’t cry for Argentina, but we may may just need to up our defence spending and prepare to see off the bully-boys of the South Atlantic once more!

Until next Tuesday!
Toby