Toby on Tuesday

'Lords a Leaping'

 

For Edward Heath, Europe was a religion.   Those who questioned the project were to be cast into outer darkness.   But for those who colluded in its plots and schemes, no reward - political or financial - could be too great.   And the poison of what was in essence a false religion entered the bloodstream of our whole Establishment.   Britain was to be subsumed by stealth into a country called Europe and, if you objected, you were no longer a fit and proper person.    And if you thought that extreme Europhilia passed with Edward Heath’s death in 2005 you were mistaken, for his spirit lives on in the form of his acolyte, Douglas Hurd, now 86 and Lord Hurd of Westwell.  From 1968-70, he ran Edward Heath’s private office, from 1970-74 he was Edward Heath’s political secretary in Downing Street, in 1974 he became MP for what is now David Cameron’s constituency and Edward Heath’s PPS, from 1979-83 he was Minister for Europe, from 1989-95 he was Foreign Secretary and in 1997 he retired to the House of Lords, where for many years he sat on the House of Lords Appointments Commission.   And in 1993 as Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd signed the Maastricht Treaty under which our laws were wholly subordinated to the European Court and all Britons from the Queen down became “Citizens of Europe”, even though in her Coronation Oath our faithful and dutiful Queen had sworn to govern the British people “according to their laws and customs”.  Now where all this is relevant is that for all those years in which Douglas Hurd sat on the House of Lords Appointments Commission, any candidate for a life peerage who had expressed doubts about the EU project was ruthlessly excluded, while a motley collection of opportunistic Eurofanatics was welcomed with open arms.  And now that motley collection is seeking to overturn the settled will of the British people by rejecting the result of June’s Referendum.

 

Two of the most motley of them all are Lady (Patience) Wheatcroft and Lord (Michael) Heseltine.   Writing last week, Lady Wheatcroft threatened to derail Brexit, declaring “I hope that there would be a majority prepared to stall the bill through the one session of parliament that is possible before the Parliament Act can be invoked.   That would be a break with convention that the House of Lords does not stand in the way of a manifesto commitment.   But when it was a manifesto commitment to plunge into the unknown, I for one am prepared to go against convention”, while Lord Heseltine simply exclaimed, “We all know that the people are not sovereign.   Parliament is supreme.”   Because of the system of life peerages that developed under Tony Blair, the House of Lords, now loaded with Eurofanatics as it is, is where Brexit is most likely to be sabotaged.   And David Cameron’s 13 courtiers, nominated to the Lords only last week, will be among those busy derailing June’s Referendum result.   All this is why UKIP’s own internal difficulties now need to be resolved as a matter of urgency.   As part of an early resolution, I would like to see Nigel Farage become our Party’s President, in recognition of his extraordinary work in turning the tide of history, the excellent Diane James become our new leader and the charismatic Steven Woolfe become deputy leader with specific responsibility for campaigning in the North of England.   No doubt others will have their own ideas of how best to make up a dream team, but the elements are there in UKIP to form one and ensure that Brexit does indeed mean Brexit.

 

The other day, a leading article in the Spectator magazine rightly stated, “Brexit is neither an economic drag nor a stimulus:  it is simply the removal of a constraint.   What Britain now goes on to achieve depends entirely on the vision and ambition of those in power.   Politicians and businesses should snap out of their sulk, and see Brexit for what it is:  the greatest opportunity ever handed to a government by an electorate.”   UKIP’s task now must be to do everything possible to ensure that this opportunity is not squandered, at least not by self-serving former ministers and their chums in the House of Lords still in thrall to the false and failed religion of the EU.   And we need that dream team, I hope made up of Nigel Farage as President, Diane James as leader and Steven Woolfe as deputy leader, in place soon to take our party forward, building on the astonishing achievement of June’s Referendum!

 

Until next Tuesday!

 

Toby