Toby on Tuesday

'Part And Parcel...'

Last Friday night, BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions? came from Pickering’s Kirk Theatre.   On the panel were Shami Chakrabarti, or Baroness Chakrabarti of Kennington as she is now after Jeremy Corbyn’s recent act of patronage, Tim Farron of the LibDems, Conservative Brexiteer Harsimrat Kaur and former Conservative Remainer but now Policing and Fire Services Minister and Brexiteer Brandon Lewis.   Our own, excellent in-house economist Rex Negus managed to ask a sensible question about the need for an effective opposition, but amid all the humbug and posturing it was funnily enough Tim Farron who made the one really salient point of the evening.  What he said was that any Brexit deal would ultimately be a stitch-up between civil servants in Whitehall, Berlin, Brussels and Paris.  He claimed this as a good reason for a second referendum, a claim that was wholly spurious, but his insight that the fingerprints of the bureaucrats would be all over the final deal was probably correct.

This is one principal reason why UKIP will be needed as much as ever during the coming years.   The other principal reason is that traditional, patriotic Labour voters, horrified by the direction their party is taking under Jeremy Corbyn, will need a new home.   They may never be able to bring themselves to vote Conservative, but a revitalised UKIP, committed to secure borders, strengthened defences and the restoration of so many of our industries, not least our fisheries, would be a compelling home for millions of forgotten voters.   Certainly the party of Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan, Labour Mayor of London, who recently declared that “living with terror attacks is part and parcel of living in a big city” no longer inspires any confidence, to put it mildly.

What does inspire confidence is the new UKIP, under the leadership of Diane James.   And what is reassuring is that Steven Woolfe, the charismatic North-West MEP who was unable to enter the leadership election himself, has just written a fine piece for the online publication HeatStreet (http://heatst.com/world/steven-woolfe-mep-ukips-future-is-bright-with-diane-james-as-leader) which is well worth reading in full.   What Steven says is that, “On Friday Nigel Farage, one of the nations’s most influential and effective politicians, stood on the platform at the UKIP conference and gave his last speech as leader...Moments later UKIP’s new chief, Diane James, took the stage as the party’s first female leader...Diane has a vision.   She is absolutely right to say that in the short term, UKIP must remain a loud and relevant voice in ensuring that Britain gets the best deal from leaving the European Union.   It was clear that Britain must take full control of its borders and reduce net migration.   It was clear that Britain must not continue to pay into the EU budget...” and much more.   

In essence what Steven, like Diane, is saying is that Brexit really must mean Brexit and a cosy stitch-up between civil servants will be good neither for Britain nor for the EU.   Brexit can be the catalyst for fundamental reform across the EU and a botched agreement will do no good to anyone.   But the real point is that Steven, with his strong Northern base in Labour’s heartlands is the perfect foil for Diane with her impeccable roots in the Conservative South.   Together they can reinforce UKIP’s role as the truly national party and his fine HeatStreet article is the starting point for a reunited UKIP in which all regions and all political backgrounds can find a home.  So let’s hope that in the new, strengthened UKIP there will be a major role for Steven.   And do please find time to read his splendid HeatStreet article.

But to return to Labour and its London Mayor’s claim that living with terror attacks was the new norm in big cities, we have to ask ourselves what steps we can take to eliminate as far as possible the many dangers that our country faces.  We know the source to be a virulent form of fundamentalism called wahhabism, onto which young men in particular have latched to provide them with a sense of narcissistic power.   We know that much of its funding has come from Saudi Arabia.   We know that it has infiltrated far too much of our own country.   And we know that, unless we can obtain complete control of our borders, the virus will only develop.   So to those who say that, with Brexit, UKIP’s work is done, I would reply that it has only just begun.   The Brexit negotiations will be complex, challenging and could easily divide our political system once more, yet the security of our country is paramount and cosy deals cooked up by civil servants will just not work, however plausible they look on the surface.   So UKIP, with new leadership from Diane James, hopefully from Steven Woolfe, and from many more will serve our country well in the years ahead, and could come to replace a Labour party that no longer resonates in its Northern heartlands as the true opposition!

Until next Tuesday!

Toby