So Norman Tebbit has been even more spectacularly unhelpful than usual. Putting aside his usual right wing rent a quote antics, he has gone one step further and advised people not to vote Tory at the European elections.
Norman Tebbit has given a lot to the Tory Party. He is one of the great working class Tories of the past generation and has shown how Conservatism can strongly appeal in working class areas. He was one of the more thoughtful Conservatives in recent interviews commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Miner’s Strike. Sadly, recently some of his public utterances have becomes almost caricatures of himself. He has gone way too far this time.
Imagine the hysteria from the right wing blogosphere if a Tory “wet” had offered the same advice. There can be no double standards. Peers who take the Conservative Whip must support the Conservative Party. Any direct opposition to the Conservative Party is utterly unacceptable.
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David, Tebbitt did not urge anyone to support another party. He explicitly urged people to vote Tory in the locals (which matter) but to abstain in the Euro elections (which relate to a mere talking shop whose expenses scandals make Westminster look like a Carthusian monastery). He is echoing (see the latest opinion polls) widespread public revulsion at the growth of an arrogant cynical political class hell-bent on self-aggrandisement and whose message to ordinary voters is “Do as we say, not as we do”. Given that the Modernisers and soi-disant “Compassionate Conservatives” seem to be well-represented in this cabal, they would do well to listen to Tebbitt. How low would you like the turnout on June 4 to be?
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