The Joy of Six 1284

Ben Quinn explains how the National Trust fought back against the culture warriors: "When it comes to disinformation, [Celia] Richardson speaks of taking 'a broken windows approach' - borrowing from the criminology theory that addressing low-level problems creates an atmosphere that discourages larger ones."

"From the 19th to 20th century, children were physically removed from their homes and separated from their families and communities, often without the consent of their parents. The purpose of these schools was to strip Native American children of their Indigenous names, languages, religions and cultural practices." Rosalyn R. LaPier says Joe Biden's apology for the horrors of Native American boarding schools doesn’t go far enough.

Dominic Grieve has some good advice, which the Conservative Party will ignore, concerning the severe problems that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would cause.

It is all too clear that unelected bureaucrats now control what happens on the West Yorkshire Rail network on the grounds that declining passenger numbers, a result of their own failures, justify further cuts. Curtailments to Sunday and evening services could soon follow. In a reversal of decades of local progress, argues Colin Speakman, West Yorkshire’s once-thriving commuter rail now struggles under bureaucracy and neglect.

"Arlott was a superlative cricket commentator, a failed Liberal politician (was there any other kind in the post-war era?), and a major catalyst in the D'Oliveira Affair. Were it not for John Arlott we may never have heard of Basil D’Oliveira and the controversy sparked by D'Oliveira’s selection for England’s tour to South Africa, turning South Africa into even more of a pariah state may never have happened." Matthew Pennell wrote a post for Black History Month on British Liberals and the D'Oliveira Affair.

Andy Lear searches for the ghost woods of Rutland's Leighfield Forest.

Boris Johnson's 2019 purge will haunt the Tories for years to come

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If Rishi Sunak was meant to offer a fresh start, then his first cabinet was deeply disappointing. There was little sign of a cabinet of all the talents, made possible by the soothing of old enmities, beyond the return of Michael Gove.

In fact it's hard not to be depressed at many of the names he brought back or kept on yesterday: Gavin Williamson, Suella Braverman, Dominic Raab, Thérèse Coffey.

If you try to come up with a list of four more encouraging names, you are likely to come up with something like: David Gauke, Dominic Grieve, Justine Greening, Rory Stewart.

Trouble is, none of that four is still in the Commons. All were among the 21 Conservative MPs who lost the whip in September 2019 for, in effect, voting against a no-deal Brexit.

Gauke  and Grieve stood as Independents in the general election later that year, while the other two did not defend their seats under any label.

It's clear that Boris Johnson's 2019 purge will continue to hurt his party for years to come, and not just because it cannot spare people of that talent.

If the Conservative Party is to have a future that does not involve a permanent shift to being the English Nationalist Party, then at some point the moderates are going to have to fight back.

And if they are going to do so, those moderates and the party as a whole will need a leader - a Tory version of Neil Kinnock, if you will.

It's possible to imagine that such a figure can be found among the four names I chose. It's much harder to imagine he or she is to be found in Sunak's new cabinet.

Lib Dems will not oppose Dominic Greive at the next election

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It's all happening behind the Sunday Times paywall tonight:

A leading Tory Brexit rebel has struck a secret deal with the Liberal Democrats in what is the first significant move towards the formation of a “remain alliance” at the general election. 

The Liberal Democrats have agreed to stand aside to help former Conservative Dominic Grieve save his Beaconsfield seat, paving the way for a Brexit showdown at the ballot box.

The article says our adopted candiate, Rob Castell, has agreed to stand down "following talks with party bosses".

We polled just 4000 votes in in Beaconsfield at the last two general elections, but in 2010 we received more than 10,000, so this move may make the difference.

I am not going to oppose this move, but let's beware of thinking that all we need to do is stand down in enough seats and we are bound to win.

David Howarth helps write report on forcing a referendum on Theresa May's Brexit deal

Best for Britain has published a report looking at ways the government could be forced to call a referendum on Theresa May's Brexit deal.

Roads not yet explored: Routes to a final say sets out four possible roads to this outcome:

• Amendments to the Section 13 Motion
• Replacing no deal with a Final Say
• Voting down the deal and negotiating a Final Say
• Demonstration of political support to get no deal off the table 

The second option is the most radical as it would make the raising of taxation dependent upon the government agreeing to a second referendum.

For more detail, follow the link above and download the report.

It appears to be the work of Dominic Grieve, the leading Conservative Remainer, and David Howarth, the former Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge.

Howarth always struck me as the most intellectually impressive Lib Dem MP of his era. I am glad he is involved in the campaign against Theresa May's deal.

Good Liberals were up in arms when the police raided Damian Green's Commons office in 2008

It seems tomorrow's Sunday Times is reporting that police found "extreme pornography" on Damian Green's computer when they raided his Commons office and impounded it in 2008.

When we have finished giggling, it might be a good idea to recall that at the time all good Liberals were up in arms over that raid.

Here is the House Points column I wrote for Liberal Democrat News that week...

MPs Collared

Michael Jabez Foster said just one constituent had raised the search of Damian Green’s office with him. It was "self-indulgence", he argued, for MPs to debate it.

But the people of Hastings and Rye should be more concerned with the health of parliamentary democracy. So this column is devoted to some of Monday’s more enlightened contributions.

Theresa May: "Constituents do not give information to their Member of Parliament on the basis that one day it might be pored over by police officers. Parliamentary privilege is not our privilege; it is the people’s privilege."

Elfyn Llwyd: "It seems rather strange that we should be discussing the whole idea of prejudicing the inquiry, given that the Government tried to force through the 42-day measure on the premise that we were all going to discuss issues to do with individuals."

Simon Hughes: "If the police knocked on the door of one of my constituents in Southwark or Bermondsey, everybody inside would know … they do not have to let the police in unless they have a warrant."

Dominic Grieve: "Since the passage of the Official Secrets Act 1989, the leaking of material not concerning national security has ceased to be a criminal offence. On what basis, therefore, is a civil servant arrested for that, and on what conceivable basis is my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford [Damian Green] arrested?"

Menzies Campbell: "Our responsibilities involve both the scrutiny of Government and the redress of grievance. If we cannot be confident that our communications with our constituents are confidential, there is necessarily an inhibition in our ability to fulfil those responsibilities."

Andrew Mackinlay: "Leaks are food and drink to me as a backbench Member of Parliament, and I do not want to stop them coming to me."

Kenneth Clarke: "I first met the Leader of the House [Harriet Harman] when she was the legal adviser to the National Council for Civil Liberties. She was a pretty feisty, radical lawyer in those days, and … she would not conceivably have made the speech then that she made an hour or two ago. She would have been leading demonstrations outside about the behaviour of the Government."

I am not sure what Simon’s claim tells us about South London, but it was a good debate.

Private Eye's lead story was on this blog in 2008

The lead story in the new Private Eye concerns hacks' attempts to turn up some dirt on our new prime minister.

They hoped to find it in a privately published history of the Oxford University Conservative Association that appeared in 1994 and left no episode of backstabbing or vote-rigging undocumented.

Trouble is, that history has suddenly become very scarce. Even college libraries known to have held copies now claim they do not.

But the Eye has seen one and can reveal that no wrongdoing by either the young Theresa Brasier or the young Philip May appears in it.

It does however have a story about Damian Green being thrown into the Cherwell.

I would be more impressed by this if it had not already appeared on this blog in 2008. This is what I quoted then:

One person who will perhaps be a little anxious at the news that David Davis has been replaced as shadow Home Secretary by Dominic Grieve is Conservative MP Damian Green, who has the immigration brief in Grieve's new department. 

The two men were at Oxford together in the 1970s, when Green (educated at Reading grammar school) was an undergraduate at Balliol College and his new boss (educated at Westminster public school) was at Magdalen. Green, who a contemporary remembers as an earnest sort of chap, was invited to a black-tie dinner at Magdalen and polished his shoes accordingly, but after dinner - and, sadly, history does not record the reason for this - Green found himself picked up in a display of high spirits and deposited in the Cherwell by a group of Magdalen hearties, including Dominic Grieve.

Quoted, because was not a scoop by me either. The story had appeared in the Observer's diary column Pendennis.

Still, I make that Lord Bonkers 1 Lord Gnome 0.

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"Citizen’s Income (also known as Basic Income and many other names) was Liberal Democrat policy for a while, until it got dropped in 1994. Despite some people wondering if it might make a return under a previous leader, it's remained in the Home for Former Policies ever since." Nick Barlow wants to set that policy free.

Head of Legal has a video of Dominic Grieve speaking on human rights: "There are 'plenty' of Conservative supporters of human rights, he claimed, and he said they will win the internal debate – but 'must not stay silent'."

Andy Boddington writes on homelessness and an encounter in a Ludlow churchyard.

"Post-war austerity and the accompanying rationing were the reasons why spivs existed and during the General Elections of 1950 and 1951 the Conservative Party actively campaigned on a manifesto of ending rationing as quickly as possible." Flashbak looks at spivs and post-war British gangster films.

York Stories hurries to record a fragment of the city's railway history.

The Chelsea Football Fancast pays tribute to the club's former manager John Neal, who died in late November. He rescued us in the early 1980s, when we were threatened with relegation from the old Second Division.

What united Hugo Chavez and the Conservative right?

The answer, it seems, is admiration for Belarus.

Here is a BBC News report from 2006:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has praised Belarus, calling it "a model social state like the one we are beginning to create". 

During a visit to Minsk, he called for a strategic alliance with Belarus to counter "hegemonic" capitalism. 

Mr Chavez later met President Alexander Lukashenko, accused in the West of crushing fundamental rights.

And here is a Daily Telegraph report from October of last year:

The Attorney General today indicated that he may block any Conservative plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights warning that Britain would become a "pariah state" comparable to Belarus. 

Dominic Grieve intervened after Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, refused to rule out leaving the convention following a radical review of Britain's human rights laws. 

Mr Grayling told the Daily Telegraph yesterday that "the current human rights framework under which we are operating has gone badly wrong” and said he "ruled nothing in and nothing out" in regards to leaving the ECHR.

Dominic Grieve may not be attracted to Belarus, but it seems that a substantial element of his party is.

There should be an inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly

The attorney general has rejected calls for an inquest into the death in 2003 of government scientist Dr David Kelly, reports BBC News.

But there should be an inquest, for both reasons of principle and pragmatic reasons.

The principle is that all suspicious deaths should be the subject of an inquest. It is for those who oppose an inquiry to make their case. The argument that Kelly's death was touched upon by the Hutton Inquiry, which was concerned with much else besides, does not convince. And the precedent that inquests should not take place in deaths that are politically embarrassing to the government is not one that should be allowed to become established.

The pragmatic reason is that if you want to put an end to conspiracy theories, it is not a good idea to avoid holding an inquest in a case that has done more then most to inspire them.

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Birkdale Focus reveals that the young Matthew Oakeshott received the approval of Jo Grimond for his research into worker co-operatives - and hopes that the mature version will lead a revival of interest in the idea among Liberal Democrats.

What did Peter Mandelson think of Ed Miliband's victory in the Labour leadership election? LabourList will tell you: "It was a photo finish [and] I felt terrible for David. I felt even more worried for the party."

Peter Black AM keeps us up to date with Larry's progress at 10 Downing Street: "Cats do like to present their latest kill to their human hosts as presents. Do not be surprised at reports of dismembered rats being left in the Prime Minister's study or under the Cabinet Table."

Secularism is vital to building a stable world, argues Edmund Standing at Harry's Place.

The newly published complete works of Gerrard Winstanley, leader of the 17th century Diggers, is reviewed by Ariel Hessayon on Reviews in History: "At last Winstanley, the ‘foremost radical of the English Revolution’, who stands shoulder to shoulder with John Donne, Francis Bacon, John Milton, Andrew Marvell and John Bunyan as one of the ‘finest writers’ of a ‘glorious age of English non-fictional prose’ ... has an indispensable scholarly edition of his writings befitting both his undoubted literary talents and profound insights."

Chameleon at Redemption Blues pays tribute to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - "one of the icons of childhood Saturday evenings" - and reflects on her relations with make authority figures in general.

Quentin Letts praises David Howarth

Tomorrow's Commons sketch by Quentin Letts has just gone up on the Daily Mail website:

The Tories' Dominic Grieve huffed a great deal but was torpedoed by derision when he eventually said he agreed with Mr Straw's decision.

A steelier, stiffer speech came from the Lib Dems' Rumpolian David Howarth, who said that we weren't interested in knowing which Cabinet ministers said what.

We were interested in knowing whether or not there had been ANY discussion of the war decision.

This was about 'a momentous, controversial and disastrous decision to go to war and the collapse-of Cabinet Government under Mr Blair,' said Mr Howarth. Devastating.

"Rumpolian" is a pleasing adjective, and a Google search suggests it is catching on. I shall start using it myself.

Damian Green in cold water

While Damian Green is enjoying an unexpected period of celebrity, it is time to remind readers of the time that he was thrown into the Cherwell by Dominic Grieve.

David Cameron's reversion to type will help Lib Dems

The article of the day is John Kampfner's piece about the death of the husky-hugging side of David Cameron. It begins:

These were words to gladden the heart. "Wealth is about so much more than pounds or euros or dollars can ever measure. It's time we admitted that there's more to life than money. It's time we focused not just on GDP, but on GWB - general well being." This was David Cameron, 2006 vintage. His speech to the Google Zeitgeist conference suggested a new set of political and economic priorities. He spoke of a "passionate desire for capitalism with commitment". He noted that many companies and ordinary people "are expressing a profound dissatisfaction with rootless, rampaging globalisation".

Fast-forward two years, to the verge of a recession and the fears of knife crime, and what do we hear? Society is broken; more prisons should be built; more people should be denied bail. While the Tories are nowhere near the point of Michael Howard's dog-whistle anti-immigrant pitch of 2005, they are slipping back into their political comfort zone. That is a shame for the country, and a lost opportunity for them.

Developments today have shown how right Kampfner's analysis is.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, has announced that a Tory government would:

amend the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act so that police no longer need to secure authorisation to conduct surveillance on those suspected of non-terrorist offences.

The changes would mean that the police would automatically be able to:

• Use covert video or listening devices in premises or vehicles.
• Watch premises to identify or arrest suspects.
• Conduct visual surveillance of public locations.
• Patrol, in uniform or plain clothes.
• Use thermal imaging and X-ray technology.
• Conduct surveillance using visible CCTV cameras.

And Simon Milton has defended the actions of councils who use the act to spy on people. He says:

"Generally [the powers] are being used to respond to residents' complaints about fly tippers, rogue traders and those defrauding the council tax or housing benefit system.

"Time and again, these are just the type of crimes that residents tell us that they want to see tackled.

"Without these powers, councils would not be able to provide the level of reassurance and protection local people demand and deserve."

Milton is the person who was put into City Hall by the Tories to act as Boris Johnson's representative on Earth.

All of which confirms the impression that the attractive green, liberal Toryism of David Cameron's first couple of years as leader were no more than an act. The Tories now seem to believe that because Labour is so unpopular they are free to return to what they really believe in.

It may be a tragedy for the country, but it represents an enormous opportunity for the Liberal Democrats. When liberal-minded voters see the Conservatives in their true colours, it will make it far more likely that they will decide to stay with us after all.