Toby on Tuesday

'A House Divided'

With just a week to go before polling day in the U.S. Presidential election, it’s a good time to revisit some of the great Presidential speeches in American history.   And among the greatest was Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech given in Springfield, Illinois on 16th June, 1858.   Warning of slavery-based disunion three years before the outbreak of the American Civil War he declared, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.   I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free...”   Of course Lincoln himself lifted the theme of his great speech from St. Matthew’s gospel in which Jesus says, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand...”   And those words of wisdom still hold true, not least for UKIP as we approach yet one more leadership election.   If we in UKIP are to achieve our potential and replace the Labour Party in the Midlands, the North of England and Wales, then our watchword now must be unity, unity and still more unity.

The 23rd June Referendum was an astonishing achievement for our party, but now that Brexit has, apart from the remaining irreconcilables, become the new consensus, our task has in some ways become much harder.  The simple theme that set us apart from all other political parties has gone and our new Government has moved quickly to colonise the ground that we held until June.   So we have to mark out new themes based on the rebuilding of our economy in the old Labour heartlands and then exporting around the world through bold new trade deals.   But none of this will happen if any of us, least of all our MEP’s, indulge in publicly criticising their colleagues or anyone else in or party.  Of course the vast majority of our MEP’s work away quietly, serving their constituents and their country to the best of their ability, but they rarely get reported.  One example is my good old friend William Dartmouth, MEP for the South-West and UKIP’s trade spokesman.   As a matter of principle he speaks only well of all his colleagues, is invariably loyal and concentrates his energies on writing compelling publications on the folly of the EU project and Britain’s prospects for global trade once we cast off the shackles of the EU.    But of course you don’t hear about him on the BBC and other media, which have far more fun reporting on the rifts and back-biting within our party.   William won’t be standing for our party’s leadership, but there will be candidates who seek to be forces for unity and it is to one of these that we must now look.   Although UKIP Thirsk and Malton will not try to influence our members’ votes, the need for unity and discipline must clearly be overwhelming.

And a strong UKIP is needed more than ever.   Our role in the past has been to speak the unvarnished truth and this will be equally true during the whole Brexit process.  And the truth is that Brexit Britain must avoid being dragged down by the Euro-banking crisis and the Euro-terror crisis.   Last week, Italy’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena suspended trading in its shares as it embarked on a rescue package while, far more significantly, Germany’s Deutsche Bank’s woes deepened.   Bizarrely, David Folkerts-Landau, Chief Economist of Deutsche Bank, demanded a 150 billion Euro bail-out fund to recapitalise the Euro-banking system saying, “Europe is seriously ill and has to deal with the existing problems extremely fast otherwise a crash will be imminent.”    And last week too the terror threat on the Continent grew still further.   Yet the Brussels ideologues refuse to consider the restoration of national currencies or the possibility of securing borders within the Schengen zone, both of which are essential to Europe’s recovery.   So a strong, disciplined and united UKIP is needed more than ever if we are to serve our country as effectively in the future as we have done in the past.  For my part, I detect an outbreak of sanity in UKIP and a growing recognition that, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”   And those words will guide us as we vote in what hopefully will be our very last leadership election for several years to come!

Until next Tuesday!

Toby