Come 2010, and there will be a general election to win.
But the greatest question remains, what general direction should a Conservative government be aiming to take the country in?
The most important pre-requisite to a successful Conservative administration is a radical change in Governmental outlook - a recognition, not just that New Labour has failed to deliver, but the reasons they failed to do so. In short, Labour failed not for the want of good intentions, or the personal failings of Tony Blair's Court, but for the top-down, 'Whitehall knows best' philosophy of their political thinking, encapsulated by obsessive political centralisation and targets in the Public arena, along with increased red tape and higher taxes in the Private.
Any conservative history of Britain will reveal that when government steps back - be it in any sector of public/private life - individuals and communities step forward, empowered by new freedoms. Conservative policy had this effect in 1951, when many new rules and regulations brought in by the 1945 Labour government were vanquished in a 'bonfire of controls'. Of even greater impact were the economic reforms brought in Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives in the 1980s, where employment law was reformed to the great benefit of the individual, the City of London was released from governmental regulation, and income taxes were substantially cut by pioneering Chancellors Howe and Lawson.
It is with this same conservative spirit that I hope David Cameron's Conservatives will lead with. Contrary to the platitudinous cries that there are no real distinctions between the main parties, there are some unique and encouraging ideas developing into the Conservative Party Platform 2010. Presented in a somewhat broad-brush manner, I will be attempting to identify what I see as the 'centre ground' of the growing movement for conservative reform within the Conservative Party, and address different issues post by post.
Localism
Localism, as we all know, is something every party claims to champion. 'I'm a localist' - such is the refrain - 'I believe in power to the people!'
Sentimentalism is one thing, effective policy another. The central problem of the last few decades (and one partly attributable to unintended consequences of Conservative government policy) has been the stripping away of power from Local Authorities by Central Government and the failure to cede any power back. And the present fact that only a quarter of Local Authorities' revenue is generated locally tells us a lot about how beholden to Westminster they actually are, and subsequently impotent in their responsiveness to voter wants and needs. As has been argued many times by others, unless and until some measure of fiscal flexibility and the ability to raise their own revenue is pushed down to the level of our councils, voters will continue to feel frustrated and distanced from politics at their Town Hall, not to mention as far away as ever from their national representatives in Westminster.
Rights and Justice
Human Rights, as with Localism, is another theme politicians like to utilise when they consider it will give them political advantage. Unlike the supposedly wicked Conservatives, the Labour Party demonstrated its commitment to Human Rights by signing up to the European Convention and passing the Human Rights Acts 1998 into law.
The question remains, however, whether we are better off as a result of this incorporation, or whether we are simply more confused, as gay hard-core prison pornagraphers and aeroplane hijackers make a larger hole in our already-strained public purse. The pertinent question, which has become muddled in the public mind by semantics, is what sort of rights and responsibilities are desirable for us to cherish in our society.
In my judgement, the list of so-called 'negative' rights are the lynchpin of a free society, and the sort of rights that should be championed. Enshrined in our pre-existing common law system, these consist of the right to free speech, due process of law, and the freedom from the unrestrained interference by arbitary state power. These were the rights Communist dissidents fought for in the 1980s. These are the rights Aung San Su Chi is fighting for in Burma.
On the other hand, the wording of Article rights mislead the public and give rise to impossible 'positive' rights such as the 'right to a home' and just about anything that can be argued, regardless of feasibility, on the basis of the catch-all 'Human Rights'. It was obviously not the intention of the European Convention or our Labour legislators to create the impression of such new rights, but the Act has nevertheless raised expectations in the wrong direction, as much of the case law indicates. Add to this state of affairs the litigious mindset of the modern age, and you have a recipe for a more selfish society where everything is based on one's own (skewed) sense of absolute 'rights' and no sense of where rights might stop and personal responsibilities come into play.
Conservative proposals for a so-called 'British bill of rights' offer hope, although there is nothing to indicate it would offer anything not already fought for and won over the course of centuries. And until there is a recognition of the divergent nature of these two types of rights and the fundamental importance of the first, together with a sense of our obligation towards others, there will continue to be mass confusion and little proper debate on the subject. On a recent discussion with liberals, I was startled to encounter hostility to the mere opinion I had expressed that the HRA 1998 might not be all it was cracked up to be. I had not realised that opening the pathway to debate would be an obstacle but it is clearly one that conservatives will have to face up to if we are to communicate effectively.
Further posts will aim to address other dimensions of conservative reformism, notably dealing with the Economy, Public Service reform, and the European Union, and where the Conservative Party is offering signs of encouragement in these areas.
Allow me this opportunity of wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
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