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ISSUE 1592
Monday 4 October 1999
Blair 'tricks' denounced by Thatcher
By George Jones, Political Editor
LADY THATCHER today disowns Tony Blair as the inheritor of her legacy and
accuses him of perpetrating a "shameless confidence trick" on the British
voters at the last general election.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 1999
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{{<Begin>}}
ISSUE 1592
Monday 4 October 1999
Well done, Tony - you've given William his chance
By Margaret Thatcher
Blair 'tricks' denounced by Thatcher
I DID not enjoy being leader of the opposition. It is the most taxing and
frustrating job in politics, and it is certainly no easier now. Under William
Hague's predecessor, the party suffered a truly devastating defeat, discussion
of whose causes will doubtless keep many tongues wagging and books selling.
When so many traditionally Conservative voters turn against the party, the
effects on morale are huge. Mr Hague is having to fight on every front.
So how is he doing? Superbly. He is clearly one of the best leaders of the
opposition our party, or any party, has had. He is a gifted strategist, a
brilliant debater - who regularly worsts Mr Blair at the Dispatch Box - and he
displays in abundance the single most important quality in a politician:
courage.
But Mr Hague's qualities need help from events. Though a political cliché, it
is true that oppositions don't win elections; governments lose them. That means
that it usually takes a fundamental error by those in power to see a change of
government.
Last Tuesday, the Prime Minister probably made just such an error. His speech
to the Labour Party Conference revealed that Conservatives were right to claim
that he and his colleagues had an agenda at odds with New Labour's polished
banalities. Mr Blair's speech was a hymn of hate against conservatism. More
than that, it was an assault on many of the proudest achievements of this
country.
According to the Prime Minister, conservatism is to blame - apart from an
undisclosed number of unsolved homicides - for what he scornfully describes as
a "century of [British] decline". We should ponder this carefully.
For Mr Blair and his party, the heroism of our Armed Forces in two world wars,
the relinquishing of Empire and creation of a Commonwealth of independent
nations, the maintenance of Britain's constitutional stability and matchless
rule of law, the re-taking of the Falklands and our unique contribution to the
defeat of communism - these things are mere historical detritus, to be swept
into New Labour's all-purpose political dustbin.
Hardly less revealing is the Prime Minister's new frankness about the
Conservative 1980s, from whose baleful legacy he intends to "liberate" Britain.
That was, of course, the period when public spending was controlled, taxes were
cut, trade union power was reduced, the police were strengthened and the
nuclear deterrent updated - all in the face of vigorous, sometimes violent,
hostility from the Left.
It was Mr Blair's solemn undertaking that he accepted, indeed welcomed, those
reforms that made his party electable. But we now know that this was one of the
most shameless confidence tricks in British political history.
Of course, some will say that this is not now very important. But it is. For if
New Labour is simply exploiting the Conservative legacy, apeing Conservative
policy and parodying Conservative values, while inwardly hating conservatism
itself, then it will certainly revert to socialism as soon as it thinks it can.
As The Daily Telegraph has argued, most of the British people are indeed at
heart - if not always by voting pattern - conservative. Conservatives believe
in encouraging private property, upholding the law, broadening choice,
strengthening families and defending the national interest. Correspondingly,
conservatives distrust government interference in people's lives, government
intervention in the economy, government campaigns to induce political
correctness - above all, they distrust governments that try to act like God.
Perhaps this is why, having read the Prime Minister's speech several times, I
am now so distrustful of Mr Blair's stewardship. If he believes that he
personally is able to create a country in which there is no poverty, no hunger,
and no unhappiness, then he is somebody who should be watched - and closely.
The illusion that a political leader can achieve heaven on earth by "creating a
system so perfect that nobody needs to be good" (as T. S. Eliot put it) is at
the root of the totalitarian impulse.
I am prepared to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt and accept
that his intentions are high-minded. But that does not diminish the dangers
with which such hubris threatens the country.
On one thing, though, Mr Blair and I are in agreement. I, too, believe that the
20th Century has seen an epic struggle: not between the forces of progress and
the forces of conservatism, but between the forces of socialism and the forces
of conservative liberty. Socialism - essentially, the doctrine that the state,
not the individual, knows best - has been tried in every different shape and
size. Even the Nazis were National Socialists.
Socialism's results have ranged between the merely shabby and the truly
catastrophic - poverty, strife, oppression and, on the killing fields of
communism, the deaths this century of perhaps 100 million people. Against that
doctrine was set a contrary, conservative belief in a law-governed liberty. It
was this view which triumphed with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall.
Since then, the Left has sought rehabilitation by distancing itself from its
past. But its instincts have not changed. That is quite evident after just two
years of Labour government. True, the British economy is growing well.
But the wealth created is not going back to individuals in tax cuts - in fact,
the tax increases already made will take an extra £40 billion over the lifetime
of this parliament. Or consider savings, so crucial to the independence and
security which conservatives want to encourage: the savings ratio has fallen
sharply following a £5 billion tax grab against pension funds.
In other areas, the Old Left's old hatreds are just as evident under New
Labour. The Left's vendetta against the police has been advanced by a
frightening assault on police morale under cover of the Macpherson report. The
Left's dislike of the Union of Britain and Northern Ireland is being amply
satisfied as hundreds of terrorist thugs are released from prison before any
decommissioning of weapons, while the Royal Ulster Constabulary is placed on
the rack.
The Left's egalitarian chippiness is indulged by the abolition of assisted
places, the neutering of grant maintained schools and the threat hanging over
our remaining grammars. In fact, the only "new" supplement to this well-thumbed
Left-wing programme is New Labour's enthusiasm for the loss of Britain's
independence inside a federal Europe - but is it really so surprising that
people who heartily dislike Britain's history in the 20th Century would like to
see our national identity abolished in the 21st?
This year's Labour and Conservative party conferences come about halfway
through the life of a parliament. Politics is again a serious business. The
leader of one party has revealed what he is and what he wants. He could not
have been clearer. His aim is the end of the Conservative Party and, in a
certain sense, the end of Britain. William Hague may not thank me for saying
so, because it won't help even his steely composure, but he now has the
opportunity of his life.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 1999
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{{<Begin>}}
ISSUE 1587
Wednesday 29 September 1999
Blair's vision for the next 100 years
By Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent
Blair moves in for the kill
TONY BLAIR told his party yesterday that his mission was to turn Britain into a
"model 21st-century nation" and to ensure that "progressive politics" dominated
the next 100 years.
Opening his speech in Bournemouth, the Prime Minister said the task for "New
Britain" was to create "a nation based not on privilege, class or background,
but on the equal worth of all". And for the party the mission was to tackle the
legacy represented by its failure to win a full second term ever in its
history.
He said: "That is our unfinished business. Let us now finish it and with it
finish the Tory party's chances of doing as much damage in the next century as
they've done in this one."
Mr Blair dubbed today's Tory party "the party of foxhunting, Pinochet and
hereditary peers - the uneatable, the unspeakable and the unelectable". Clarke
and Heseltine were "outcasts"; Hague, Widdecombe, Redwood and Portillo were in
charge.
To loud laughter, he went on: "The only party that spent two years in
hibernation in search of a new image and came back as the Addams family. Under
John Major it was weak, weak, weak. Under William Hague it's weird, weird,
weird."
Mr Blair said he understood the "frustration" felt by Labour members about "20
years of Conservative government still not put to rights". But the foundations
of "New Britain" were being laid and Labour could be proud of its record of
economic competence. Parodying Harold Macmillan, he said: "I can stand here
today and say to the British people: you have never had it so . . . prudent."
Under Labour, long-term youth unemployment had halved and 650,000 jobs had been
created. He said: "And here's one for us to put back down a few Tory throats -
fewer days lost in strikes than any of the 18 years of Tory government. Who
says Labour's not working now?"
The Government had to deal with technological change and in the 21st century a
talented workforce would be the country's most important resource, just as
plant and capital were in the 19th and 20th. He said: "Fail to develop the
talents of any one person, we fail Britain."
Labour wanted to give everyone equal access to knowledge and opportunity. The
class war was over, but the struggle for this kind of true equality "has only
just begun".
Mr Blair said the 21st century would not be about "the battle between
capitalism and socialism" but "between the forces of progress and the forces of
conservatism". Conservatism meant that "the old prejudices, where foreign means
bad. Where multi-culturalism is not something to celebrate but a Left-wing
conspiracy to destroy their way of life.
"Where women shouldn't work and those who do are responsible for the breakdown
of the family. The old elites, establishments that have run our professions and
our country too long."
These had kept women, black and Asian talent out of top jobs and senior parts
of Government and the Services and had kept "bright inner-city kids from our
best universities". Mr Blair said that these interests opposed the creation of
the National Health Service and that "the forces of conservatism allied to
racism are why one of the heroes of the 20th century, Martin Luther King, is
dead".
On Europe, Mr Blair said that for 50 years Britain had been torn between the
Continent and the United States in its search for an identity in the post-
Empire world. He said: "I pose this simple question: is our destiny with Europe
or not? If the answer is no, then we should leave. But we would leave an
economic union in which 50 per cent of our trade is done, on which millions of
British jobs depend. Our economic future would be uncertain.
"But what is certain is that we would not be a power. Britain would no longer
play a determining part in the future of the continent to which we belong. That
would be the real end of 1,000 years of history."
In his only reference to the single currency, Mr Blair said: "A decision must
be dependent on the economic conditions and on the consent of the British
people in a referendum."
He went on: "If we believe our destiny is with Europe, then let us leave behind
the muddling through, the hesitation, the half-heartedness which has
characterised British relations with Europe for 40 years and play our part with
confidence and pride, giving us the chance to defeat the forces of
conservatism, economic and political, that hold Europe back too."
On Northern Ireland, Mr Blair also attacked the influence of the forces of
conservatism. He said: "Walk through Belfast. No armed soldiers. Drive through
it. No road blocks.
"Last year, for the first time in 30 years, not a single member of the security
forces was killed. In 1996, 8,000 plastic bullets were fired. This year, 99.
Yes, there is violence and any violence is unacceptable. But don't throw away
all that has been achieved."
In a direct challenge to the Tories, he said: "We supported you when you were
in government - don't make our task harder now because that would be the real
betrayal of the children of Northern Ireland."
Mr Blair admitted that there were conservative forces in the Labour Party
opposed to his modernising reforms and he offered a fresh explanation of his
Third Way doctrine. He said: "The Third Way is not a new way between
progressive and conservative politics - it is progressive politics
distinguishing itself from conservatism of Left or Right."
The party was "rewriting some of the traditional rules of politics". Now
economic efficiency and social justice "are finally working in partnership
together".
On transport, Mr Blair defended his deputy, John Prescott, saying: "To read
some of the papers you would think John Prescott had created Britain's
transport problems."
On education, Mr Blair said that the Government was tackling the culture of
failure in inner-city comprehensives and that he was setting a new target of 50
per cent of young adults going into higher education in the next century. He
also announced plans to encourage more people to stay at school beyond 16.
The NHS also required reform. He said: "I say in all frankness to the BMA - you
want our reforms to slow down, I want them to speed up," disclosing plans to
quicken the implementation of the booked appointment system which will make it
easier for patients to see consultants when they want.
Turning to law and order, the Prime Minister said: "It is time to move beyond
the social indifference of Right and Left, libertarian nonsense masquerading as
freedom. This generation wants a society free from prejudice, but not from
rules, from order."
Mr Blair said that his Government had a moral purpose and that this was best
expressed by his desire to support families and communities. He said: "If we
are in politics for one thing, it is to make sure that all children are given
the best chance in life."
Mr Blair said that Labour's history was such that its potential had never been
realised. He said: "Born in separation from other progressive forces in British
politics out of the visceral need to represent the interests of an exploited
workforce, our base, our appeal, our ideology was too narrow."
But Keir Hardie, Labour's founder, would have been "proud" when Britain helped
to cancel the debt of African nations deep in poverty, Mr Blair said. "And
wouldn't Clem Attlee and Ernie Bevin have applauded when in Kosovo, faced with
racial genocide in Europe for the first time since they fought fascism in the
Second World War, it was Britain and this Government that helped defeat it?"
Winding up, Mr Blair catalogued the elements "arrayed against us: the forces of
conservatism, the cynics, the elites, the establishment, those who will live
with decline, those who yearn for yesteryear, those who just can't be bothered,
those who prefer to criticise rather than do.
"On our side, the forces of modernity and justice, those who believe in a
Britain for all the people, those who fight social injustice, those who believe
in a society of equality, of opportunity and responsibility. Our job is to
serve. Our workplace, the future. Let us step up the pace. Be confident. Be
radical. To every nation a purpose. To every party a cause.
"And now, at last, party and nation joined in the same cause for the same
purpose: to set our people free."
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 1999
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A<>E<>R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
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A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
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