The negation of conservatism
The negation of conservatism
The Tories appear to be losing their collective mind. The voters may agree
I wrote here earlier today that, of the candidates in the Conservative party leadership contest, Kemi Badenoch was the only one who ticked all the important boxes.
I also wrote that the popularity of Penny Mordaunt among the party’s grassroots members, who will decide between the final two candidates, was particularly alarming given that on transgender she was on the wrong side of the war against western values which Badenoch had robustly committed herself to defend.
Since then, the candidates have been winnowed out by votes among Conservative MPs. The remaining candidates tonight are Rishi Sunak who topped the poll in this round with 88 votes, followed by Penny Mordaunt with 67 and Liz Truss with 50. Next came Kemi Badenoch with 40, Tom Tugendhat with 37 and Suella Braverman with 32.
Another knockout round among MPs is scheduled for tomorrow. Today’s survivors are now scrabbling for the votes that had gone to those who were knocked out this afternoon, Nadhim Zahawi and Jeremy Hunt.
The near-hysterical media narrative that has now developed is that Mordaunt will win the leadership because of the party’s opposition to front-runner Sunak over his fiscal prudence as Chancellor of the Exchequer in not slashing taxes (yes, really; the Tories’ obsession with tax cuts at all costs is another story).
Mordaunt’s rise is astonishing. Conservative Britain is desperate to be freed from the socially destructive insanities of identity politics, the green lunacy and the threats to Britain and the west. You think? Yet all this is what Mordaunt appears to champion.
Despite trying to massage her unfortunate declaration that “trans men are men, and trans women are women” by claiming she was only referring to their status in law, in 2019 Mordaunt, who was then minister for women and equalities, appointed an advisory panel on LGBT health. As was pointed out here, a majority of the panellists were on the side of militant trans activists in the ongoing battle between them and “gender critical” feminists.
Mordaunt has also been a cheerleader for Stonewall. The is the LGBQT-etc pressure group that has so upset lesbians in particular by its fanatic championing of the erasure of what it means be a woman and its bullying of those who disagree.
So extreme is Stonewall that Britain's human rights watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has not renewed its membership of Stonewall’s “diversity" scheme. The scheme has also been ditched by the BBC, Department of Health and the House of Lords. An independent report commissioned by the University of Essex found that Stonewall gave it incorrect and potentially illegal advice on transgender issues.
Yet in 2019, Mordaunt gave the keynote speech at Stonewall’s workplace conference in which she praised the organisation for “fighting for justice” and hailed the government for wanting to
reform the way that trans people can legally change their gender, and make the process far less bureaucratic and intrusive.
Next, Islamic extremism. Conservatives are surely dead against this and would shun Islamist bodies. You think? Yet last year, Mordaunt met up with Zara Mohammed, the new Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), an organisation with which the government had cut ties. As the Telegraph reported:
She has since been accused of undermining Whitehall’s long-standing policy of “zero engagement” with the MCB, which has been in place since 2009.
The Government first suspended ties with the organisation, which is Britain’s largest Muslim group representing mosques, schools and charities, after one of its leaders allegedly supported violence against Israel…
Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, called for a public explanation, remarking: “Successive governments have imposed a ‘no contact’ rule with the MCB for many years, and with good reason.”
He added: “For a minister to breach established policy is therefore shocking, and she needs to explain whether this was a mistake arising from poor advice from officials or her own initiative.”
A Government spokeswoman said: “The UK Government has a long standing policy of not engaging with the MCB and that has not changed.”
And then there was Mordaunt’s article in the Telegraph in which she doubled down on the green insanity of Net Zero, claiming that
up to three million green jobs could be generated by 2030, creating apprenticeships, jobs, and training opportunities right across the UK.
This when Net Zero policies are bringing Germany to its knees, threatening acute fuel shortages across Europe and with Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert, warning of a “cataclysmic” energy crisis in Britain.
These are not conservative policies but a negation of conservatism — the instinct to defend rationality, moral decency and the values that create a shared sense of national purpose. If the Tories elect Mordaunt as their leader, they will not deserve to win the next general election. And with them appearing to have lost their collective mind, the great British public may well agree.
Recent posts
My most recent exclusive post for my premium subscribers argues that adults have turned from being protectors of children into their sexual predators. This is how the piece begins:
And you can read my most recent post that’s available to everyone, arguing that only Kemi Badenoch has what’s required to lead Britain away from the cultural cliff-edge, by clicking here.
One more thing…
This is how my website works.
It has two subscription levels: my free service and the premium service.
Anyone can sign up to the free service on this website. You can of course unsubscribe at any time by clicking “unsubscribe” at the foot of each email.
Everyone on the free list will receive the full text of pieces I write for outlets such as the Jewish News Syndicate and the Jewish Chronicle, as well as other posts and links to my broadcasting work.
But why not subscribe to my premium service? For that you’ll also receive pieces that I write specially for my premium subscribers. Those articles will not be published elsewhere. They’ll arrive in your inbox as soon as I have written them.
There is a monthly fee of $6.99 for the premium service, or $70 for an annual subscription. Although the fee is charged in US dollars, you can sign up with any credit card. Just click on the “subscribe now” button below to see the available options for subscribing either to the premium or the free service.
A note on subscriptions
If you purchase a subscription to my site, you will be authorising a payment to my company Dirah Associates. In the past, that is the name that may have appeared on your credit card statement. In future, though, the charge should appear instead as Melanie Phillips.
And thank you for following my work.