The not so ‘Conservative’ Party conference

By Anthony Webber:

 

I  have attended different party conferences for some years as a media commentator, and this year’s Conservative one at Manchester was their first since the covid -19 crisis .

What we all know is the mainstream political parties have all endorsed in one way or another the government policies on covid -19.
This has not only been exceptionally sad but very disappointing , as we have had a Parliament which has let the public down by its lack challenging and scrutinising of the government agenda.

The Labour Party has lost the right to genuinely call themselves “Her Majesty’s Opposition ,” being little more than government cheerleaders.

The Labour run Wales government has revealed its true hand by by using underhand tactics to bring in covid vaccine passports for various large gatherings .
Clearly all this has to be challenged but it gives an indication of what would happen if a Labour government was in power U.K. nationally .

In this sort of climate the attitude of the Labour Party only serves to help the Conservative Party present itself as being moderate and balanced in its policies on covid-19, when the reverse is the case .

So with the Conservative party conference the main speeches in the auditorium and also those made at fringe meetings, all focussed on how wonderfully they have coped with the covid -19 “pandemic,” and avoided questioning whether their way of dealing with it was “the right thing to do” in the first place.

It is what is called a policy of “denial,” a denial of politcal reality and of the facts .
They are quite ready to accuse others of “denial” on issues which suit them, but on covid policies, they are the true deniers of fact and the purveyors of misinformation.

No mention of the successful policies of countries like Sweden and others which never had lockdowns and other restrictions .

It could easily be said , why should any political party facilitate criticism of their policies, especially ones which have had such a fundamental bearing on the lives of everyone across the U.K. ?
The answer is that one of the reasons for party conferences is that they enable the debating of policies and new ideas, and it is healthy for parties and the very nature of democracy itself, for these important things to happen . If they don’t happen or don’t happen sufficiently then their value is diminished .
In fact there is a danger that when questioning of official policies is seen to be not advisable , that party delegates in a democratic society become little different to party delegates in places like communist China .
The Covid -19 policies of the current government have not been fundamentally questioned at this Conservative party conference and neither by the Labour Party conference either . In fact these policies, as we know, have had no mandate of consent from the U.K. electorate whatsoever .

This is one of the major reasons for the Parliamentary Petition to have National Referendum to abolish the awful Coronavirus Act which I have started . It has already received about 12,000 signatures in about 5 days so it is to be hoped that all true Democrats and freedom lovers will sign this and get it to the 100,000 figure which is needed to obtain a Parliamentary debate .

However, one great attribute of political parties and politicians is when they have the courage to admit they made a mistake or mistakes, and to then try to rectify them.
This has not happened with the Conservative party at their conference ( nor the Labour one) and they are able to get away with this because they have the mainstream media on their side . A media which because of emergency powers and other factors, the government controls their editorial freedom.
This means that virtually everything  against government covid -19 policies is effectively no platformed . For the Conservative party, which in the past has championed a free media and values of freedom generally, to be the party which is now championing the opposite values, is depressing indeed.

This is not to say that there is no Conservative opposition to the current policies of their leadership . A small number of Tory MP’s have spoken up and voted against important issues such as the renewals of the Coronavirus Act . It takes great courage to do that in the face of the adversity of the party hierarchy .
One example is Sir Graham Brady ,MP, speaking at a venue meeting outside the conference venue against the covid -19 vaccines passports, coercion’s  and mandates . This was organised by the Together movement and was part of their laudable campaign to influence MP’s and others on these important issues.
Different campaigners were outside the entrance to the conference centre with Piers Corbyn as well, giving out  leaflets with banners for people to see.

Inside the conference centre it would be wrong to assume all the delegates supported the government’s covid -19 policies . Many did not and explained their reasons to me in conversations on the subject . So there is an information debate going on within the Conservative party rank and file , which even though it is a minority , it is a growing one, as more people wake up to the true facts .

A number of attendees were not happy about the vastly decreased space and number of seats in the main auditorium compared with the previous conference .
This meant that large numbers could not personally witness key Minister’s speeches, especially the Prime Minister’s keynote speech at the end of the conference .
The speeches were full of soundbites and initiatives which sounded  promising , but when subjected to analysis they are never as wonderful as made out .
However , I do intend to make some comments on some of these speeches separately in a later article/s.

I always think that a positive point about party conferences is the many fringe meetings which are held .
This Conservative one was very good in that regard and anyone wanting to get into depth on a wide range of politcal subjects would not have been hugely disappointed .
These meetings are many, and in competition with each other as well as the events in the main auditorium. They start early in the day and can go onto late in the evenings when they have many receptions so there is quite a social agenda . Many people attend because of the social side .

The covid -19 situation , as we all know , has proved to be very divisive , some would say even more so than the Brexit issue .

With this party conference I had lost so much respect for some politicians that I could hardly bare to be in the same room as them and often avoided them completely . My experience of going to party conferences had taught me to seek the good in people rather than think too much of the differences, and this seems to get me through ,but it is not easy . If you are at someone’s conference you have to act as a guest would in someone’s house and behave with dignity and respect . From my point of view it is important to me to carry out fair and accurate  reporting and this I continue to try to do .
One point which merits mentioning is the fact that all attendees were sent what appeared to be very strict covid -19 guidelines to adhere to . Of course they were not compulsory as that would not have gone down well. It was interesting to see that a minute minority actually wore face masks with the majority including MP’s carrying on as though there was no “pandemic.”

I saw a group of what looked like six formers turn up with their teachers , all decked up in face masks as they had abided with covid requirements in the notifications . Clearly they were surprised that they stood out
like sore thumbs and I doubt if their masks stayed on for long !

I have not referred to the Liberal Democratic Party as they have been starting to go into
proper opposition mode with voting against Coronavirus Act renewals which gives them a big plus . However they made the mistake of having an online rather in person party conference this year, and thus suffered the consequences of that decision .
The Reform party, who are lockdown sceptic, had their conference on the day of the start of the Tory conference ( also in Manchester) . UKIP , Greens and others are having their conferences over the next few weeks .

What particularly concerns me is the mistake of the U.K. government in allowing the Home nations to have separate covid -19 policies  as long as they adhere to the main agenda.
It is simply unacceptable to have two of those countries , i.e. Scotland and Wales to have coercive vaccine passports for venues and events . We must have a proper United Kingdom and the British government must step in to stop such lunacy by these devolved administrations.

 

Anthony Webber
Independent Political Commentator
anthonywebber@cwgsy.net