The Constitution Party was formerly the Democratic Republican Party
registered with the Electoral Commission in 2012
.
NEWSLETTER NO 165
Thursday 03 October 2019
.
Leader and Founder, Peter Kellow, writes
WHIG ASCENDENCY
New hope, for those of a Whiggish persuasion, was given by Johnson's speech to Conservative Party conference, yesterday.
Politically I consider myself to be a Whig. There is a widish spectrum of Whiggery and I veer towards the radical or revolutionary end of the spectrum [naturally].
The Whigs created the English Revolution of 1688 as well as the American Revolution of 1775 were sympathetic to the French Revolution of 1789 at its beginning and so are no strangers to revolutions and how to bring them about. They were always been on the side of reforms such as increasing suffrage. The Whigs as a conspicuous political force went into hiding in the mid-nineteenth century [in the UK but not in the US].
The usual story is that they joined the Liberal Party but liberalism in absolutely antipathetic to Whigs. The truth is that they were absorbed into the Conservative Party. Now the Conservative Party was a rebranding of the old Tory Party which took place in the late eighteenth century as the name "Tory" was too toxic at the time.
The Tories were the sworn enemies of the Whigs and opposed the reforms the Whigs wanted and of course all the Whig inspired revolutions. However, the Conservative Party in the late nineteenth century became the home for Whigs and the Whig tradition and so Whigs and Tories coexisted in the Conservative Party, united by a contempt for the growing socialist movement.
The party continued as that, until the arch Tory, Margaret Thatcher, took control in the 1980s, when the Whig elements, which she branded as "wets" were overcome.
The last real intellectual Whig [in the sense that he wrote books] in the Conservative Party was Ian Gilmore - now a mostly forgotten figure.
I have always seen Johnson as a Whiggish figure and it was a disappointment to see him beaten by the strident Tory, Teresa May [remember her?!], for the leadership of the Conservatives. As Foreign Secretary under her, he revealed his worst public school side, when he visited Moscow and was rude and insulting to his hosts. A generous reading of this appalling performance would be that he was under orders from the elite. After all, he had described himself as a "Russophile" before leaving London.
But now he is leader of the Conservatives and PM and so he is coming into his own. His speech to the Party showed a real change of direction from neoliberal Toryism. His use of humour against his opponents - Corbyn and parliament - was effective and genuinely funny.
He demonstrated his absolute belief in Brexit and his determination to see it through on the 31st. Brexit will then be a fait accompli leaving the remainers peeing into the wind, whilst he continues to outline his strong post-Brexit vision.
In the general election in November Labour and the LibDems will be slaughtered. Johnson has already started his purge of Tories in the Conservative Party, as Thatcher purged the Whigs.
For Whigs, things are moving in the right direction
peterkellow@constitutionparty.uk
www.constitutionparty.uk
website pending
Constitution Party
Sent via
