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Nick Griffin on Question Time

Like any sensible person, I passionately disagree with almost everything which Nick Griffin and the BNP stand for and say. They are without question racist, obnoxious, ignorant neo-Nazis of the worst sort. Was it not awful to hear him seeking to justify the Ku Klux Klan, vilifying gays and Moslems and escaping censure over his anti-Semitism merely by saying that he had never been convicted of Holocaust- denial. (Ignoring, incidentally the fact that Holocaust-denial is not an offence in the UK.) So I despise and deplore everything about Mr Griffin and wholeheartedly disagree with what he and the BNP stand for.

Yet I am equally clear that he has a perfect right to explain his views, including on Question Time. He is a duly elected MEP and his Party achieved the necessary threshold to allow them a Question Time appearance. We may not like it, but many people voted BNP, which gives them the right to be heard. Had we suppressed them simply because we disagree with them, where would it all end? Who is to decide who we agree with and who not? It’s close to censorship, and the very kind of thought policing which many of the protestors outside the BBC Television Centre last Thursday would so abhor.

As I discovered on my recent trip to Tibet, the Chinese Government will not allow pictures of the Dalai Llama to be displayed in Buddhist monasteries in Tibet in a move very redolent of the height of the Northern Irish Troubles, when the British Government allowed Martin McGuiness to be interviewed on TV, but then for some reason which I have never quite fathomed insisted that an actor’s voice should be dubbed on to the film. Suppressing other peoples’ views in that way if anything gives them credence rather than vice-versa.

And anyhow, it was apparent from his contributions that Mr Griffin was juvenile, ill-informed, illogical, incoherent and in almost every way totally unconvincing. So in some ways, I would actually not mind whatever exposure to the public he seeks as it will tend to demonstrate simply how very unattractive he and his Party are. The British electorate are by and large pretty sophisticated and intelligent and are unlikely to be significantly swayed by Mr Griffin and his like.

So my only criticism of the BBC would be that I would rather there had been a couple of questions at the beginning of the programme on the BNP and racism, but that thereafter the programme should have moved on, as it usually does, to other policy matters. That would have highlighted even further how foolish Mr Griffin was, especially by comparison with such experts as Jack Straw, and such a convincing and intelligent performer as Baroness Warsi. It would also have prevented Griffin from claiming that he was the victim of some kind of bullying witch-hunt, which I am afraid that the programme did seem to be approaching at some moments.

I may passionately disagree with what you say, Mr Griffin; but I will also passionately defend your right to say it.

What A Way To Run A War

So it was back to Parliament with a spring in our step, ready to hold the Government to account and get ready for next year’s General Election, only to walk slap bang wallop into the brick wall of 650 letters from Sir Thomas Legg.  My approach to all of this is straightforward.  If anyone fiddled their expenses, or made some kind of an error in detail in their claims, then just like any business, they must repay whatever is demanded, and face other consequences for what they have done.  If, on the other hand they have no case to answer, then they must be given the chance to answer any questions, and then be exonerated.  All MPs are at the moment being ‘tarred with the same brush.’  We really must get it all behind us and get on with the job we were sent to Parliament to do.

It was a foreign affairs and defence week for me.  A Press Conference on Tibet, meetings with Mongolian and Chinese Ambassadors, a reception for the Light Dragoons recently returned from Afghanistan with horrific casualties, a lunch at Bowood with Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP, Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, and dinner with Kevan Jones, Junior Defence Minister amongst other things focussed my mind on our military effort, which is so important to so many people in this area.

The Prime Minister produced a slightly half-hearted commitment to send a further 500 troops to Afghanistan, but with all sorts of conditions attached to it, including, in my view the wholly irrelevant question of an agreed outcome to the Presidential elections. If we need more troops – and the generals were asking for 2000- we must send them irrespective of political considerations. President Obama is meanwhile considering whether or not to send 40,000 more, and the Pakistani army are engaged on a huge operation in South Wasiristan in a desperate attempt to obliterate the Al Quaida and their Taleban hosts. We must give them every possible support in that.

Meanwhile, Mr Brown slipped out an announcement that he is to cancel all TA training for 6 months, ignoring the fact that training is in fact all that the TA who are not actually on Operations, do. Abolish the training and many soldiers may simply ‘get out of the habit.’ Will we really have a viable TA with real critical mass in six months time? Up to 20,000 members of the TA all told have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would they really have been capable of that effort if their training had been cancelled in this way. I raised the matter with Ministers during a well-attended defence debate on Thursday.

And then in the middle of all of that, the Government finally published a much-delayed report on defence procurement (much of which is managed from Abbey Wood in Bristol) showing that our sclerotic defence acquisition systems result in 5 years delay on most new equipment requirements and £2 billion a year wasted. It’s a complex subject, but quite plainly it’s a shambles. Meanwhile, our boys on the front line are denied some of the equipment – especially helicopters and armoured vehicles- which they so urgently need. As another hero’s body was repatriated through Wootton Bassett on Thursday, these thoughts must have been on many people’s minds. What a way to run a war!

Into Government

If the polls after the Party Conferences are to be believed, then, unless there are some pretty dramatic developments over the Winter, it is beginning to look increasingly likely that Her Majesty will ask David Cameron to form a Government very probably next May 6^th. And everyone in my Party- and I suspect through most of the country - will breathe a pretty hefty sigh of relief. But the chilling message from the Conferences is not about who will form the government. It’s about what an unholy mess we will find, and what massive pain it’s going to take to clear it up.

The Tory Conference was ostensibly highly exuberant – 12500 people crammed together in Manchester planning the victory; 2500 journalists alone – roughly double the number to have attended Labour; lobbyists of every complexion. Fringe meetings coming out of your ears. There is no question about it: my Party is riding the crest of a wave, and it was tangible at our Conference. Yet behind that exuberance was a very sombre mood. Was it not extraordinary to hear grim faced George Osborne tell the Nation about how much he was going to have to tax them; what deep cuts there were going to have to be in public spending; no complacency or triumphalism there. The interest alone on our massive debt is more than our transport and defence budgets put together. We have to do something about it now or it will hang over our children’s heads for a generation.

Liam Fox told us that he wanted a 25 % cut in MOD civil servants, some 12500 of whom work in nearby Abbey Wood. It may well be the right thing to do, but what pain it will bring. Yet how foolish to see the Government by contrast cancelling all training for the Territorial Army for six months. 12000 or so TA soldiers have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not be able to match that service a year from now. General Sir Richard Dannatt’s appointment as a Conservative defence adviser caused a stir. I personally strongly support it. He has sacrificed his military career speaking up for the army and his soldiers, and I welcome the fact that he is now ready to work with us putting right so much that is wrong with defence policy. And that only works while it’s fresh in his mind. I know that he will be just as tough a critic of a Conservative Government if it does not come up to scratch militarily as he is currently of Labour.

And what an entrancing and moving speech was David Cameron’s. No gimmicks; no wandering around the stage shirt sleeved cracking jokes at Labour’s expense. No triumphalism; no attacks on the other side at all. This was David Cameron laying out in clear terms who he is, what he and the Party stand for and what he was going to have to do as Prime Minister. No rhetoric, no Punch and Judy. Just straight talk; from the shoulder.

Parliament’s back now (at last), but I suspect that it will mainly be a ‘phoney war’ from now until actual hostilities break out around next Easter. As the Royal Mail workers alienate themselves by striking; the economy teeters along at the bottom and unemployment rises; as the situation in Afghanistan remains dire; the Prime Minister discredited within his own Party; with Parliament largely discredited and badly in need of renewal; all I would say is: for heaven’s sake let’s get on with it. The next six months will be misery. How I wish that Gordon Brown would just bow to the inevitable and call an election.

There Is A Tide In The Affairs Of Men

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune….” There is something about this time of year and again around 21^st March – roughly around the Autumnal and Vernal Equinoxes - which sees dramatic and unpredictable weather patterns. The appalling tragedies in Indonesia and Samoa are evidence of that. But there are also a disproportionate number of earth-shattering events in the affairs of men every year at around the same times. If there’s going to be a Stock Exchange collapse, if the Government is close to falling; if there are to be surprise deaths or similar dramatic events, there’s a pretty good chance that they will happen in the two or three weeks either side of the Equinox.

The Party Conferences have been pretty dramatic (leaving aside the Lib Dems who were out-dramatised by paint drying). At Labour, they tried their best – Sarah Brown’s eye-watering tribute to her ‘hero’ husband, and Lord Mandelson’s emotional plea for acceptance being the sort of performances which give amateur dramatics a bad name. I leave it to my readers to form their own judgement of the Tory performance in Manchester, but it will not surprise you to hear that I certainly found it pretty dramatic and inspiring. David Cameron does indeed seem to me to be ‘taking it at the flood.’

Yet by far the most dramatic event of all was the tragic and absurd sight of the people of Ireland who, having voted ‘No’ to the outrageous and centralising and wholly distasteful Lisbon Treaty, were somehow or another bribed to give it a hearty ‘yes’ the second time around. It looks as if the Polish President will sign up to it without much delay, and even the euro sceptic Czech President seems to be wavering. If that is the case, we Brits will become part of a bureaucratic, unelected, transeuropean super state without having had the opportunity to vote ourselves on whether or not we want it. Mr Blair will doubtless become President of Europe; we will have a European Foreign Secretary, doubtless moves towards a European army; and we will have given up large areas of  policy decision-making to ‘Qualified Majority Voting’ which basically means that we get it whether we like it not. One of the worst things about the Lisbon Treaty itself is that it may only be amended or abandoned if ALL of those 27 countries who have signed up to it agree to reopen the discussions. So it is perfectly possible that an incoming Conservative Government in six months time will find itself a signatory to a Treaty which we believe will fundamentally and irrevocably damage our Sovereignty; and there will be nothing at all we can do about it. And all of that is without so much as a ’by-your-leave’ from the British people. So much for Mr Blair’s empty promise of a referendum on the subject - the allure of the Presidential palace was too great for him to risk it.

So this Autumnal Equinox has seen troublous times indeed. Maybe we should remember some other words from Julius Caesar (who, incidentally would have been well advised to ‘Beware the ides of March’ - a few days distant from the Vernal Equinox.): “Who is here so base as to be a bondsman?...Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman?...Who is here so vile that he will not love his country?” The Lisbon Treaty risks undermining those fine patriotic sentiments.

Long Summer Recess

It sometimes feels like it’s ‘Open Season’ on MPs, and it sometimes feels like we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves! Incessant jokes about ‘expenses’ are well-deserved collectively even if I personally was not involved. Tabloid attention has now turned to ‘fact-finding’ trips at the taxpayers’ expense; yet many of them are perfectly justifiable. Select Committee visits, for example, provide important insights into how things are done overseas the better to scrutinise the performance of our own Government. Visits paid for by overseas governments -  such as my visit to China – are invaluable, although of course one always has to analyse with a healthy dose of scepticism why said foreign government is ready to pay for it. It is perhaps worth remembering that 50% of all Congressmen in the US do not possess a passport, which is bound to produce a degree of insularity. The third easy hit for the dinner party jokester – our lengthy summer holidays – seems to me much closer to the mark.

Ours is a demanding trade, and we need a decent break. A week or two travelling is perfectly justifiable, and some time to prepare for, and attend, the party conferences pretty fair. But I have to say that I agree with Speaker Bercow’s speech this week which indicated that he felt the House ought to sit in September. With the world in turmoil in the way it is, why should we let the Executive rule the roost unfettered for so very long without due scrutiny? Hade we been sitting at the moment, for example, we would doubtless have had at least a Ministerial statement on the discovery of nuclear bunkers in Iran, presumably a debate on the economy, and a means of supporting our troops in Afghanistan amongst other things.

The oft-advanced argument that we need all this time to be hyperactive in our constituencies also needs closer scrutiny. I, as a presumably typical example, have been pretty busy. I’ve had at least one engagement most days, and spent two or three hours a day at my desk. But do we really need to? Is the constituency really a better place through having us nosing around into issues and matters which should very often anyhow be the preserve of local councillors? I greatly enjoy my visits, surgeries, speeches to the Rotary Club, opening of fetes and the rest of it. And my main satisfaction comes from helping my constituents with their many and varied problems. But is it really what I am paid to do? Am I really a cross between a social worker and an ombudsman?

Perhaps it is worth remembering that my main job is to represent the people of North Wiltshire in Parliament, not represent Parliament to the people of North Wiltshire! Over the years we have increasingly encouraged the notion that our job is to be “good constituency MPs”. And I for one love that aspect of it. But nonetheless, surely my real job should be helping to criticise legislation, scrutinising what the Government is doing at home and abroad, seeking to rein back on the over-mighty Executive. Indeed, I suspect that Prime Ministers with too large majorities for whom Parliament is an irritation in the exercise of their unfettered powers would like nothing better than to send troublesome backbenchers back home to their constituencies for as long a time as possible. I am itching to get back to Westminster and getting stuck into it.

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