TRADITIONAL Tory party conferences of the past have been staged-managed snorefests that represented Theresa May’s old thrilling “strong and stable” catchphrase. This year’s conference appears to be somewhat different and transparently lays bare current Conservative Party open wounds and serious divisions. There is no doubt that one-nation Conservatism is moribund and that mainstream Tory policies mirror, as Richard Tice has observed, those of the far-right party Reform UK.
Indeed, high-profile figures in the Tory party, including present and former Cabinet ministers, have eulogised the politically objectionable Nigel Farage in a desperate attempt to encourage the feeble-minded pariochalists who vote for Reform UK to switch their allegiance to the Conservative Party. They should not find this very difficult if evidence from the Home Secretary’s latest rancorous utterings is scrutinised.
READ MORE: Rishi Sunak takes aim at Nicola Sturgeon at Tory conference
Ms Braverman rejoices in demonising human beings in general and migrants in particular whilst using phraseology that the right-wing press capitalises on to desensitise their unfortunate readers and spread fear, hatred and a callous disregard for the most vulnerable nationally and internationally.
In fact, what alarmingly emerges from the Tory party conference is not just the robustly popular support for crypto-fascist policies and soundbites, but the competition amongst party heavyweights to outdo each other in embracing extremist views that would have been dismissed in previous years as hardline, militant and fanatic.
Look no further than the crowds that flocked to see the vacuous Liz Truss spout support for libertarian right-wing ideologies, glorify the poisonous and morally repugnant GB News and exult in her new role as the female Trump (what a truly frightening thought), darling of UK populism and, ludicrously, a rival for Rishi Sunak’s job in the immediate future.
READ MORE: Senior Tories called out by fact checkers after false claims at conference
The fact that her time in office caused an economic tsunami and that she possesses the political understanding of a dead herring has not in the least way dissuaded her rabid supporters and sponsors from using her utterly perplexing popularity to wage internecine war with the present Prime Minister and his dwindling band of defenders.
To consider Ms Truss or the Bond villain that is Ms Braverman as leaders of the UK Government in the near future must surely cause even the most ardent Scottish Unionist to review their political stance and the choices that now face the Scottish nation. Both ladies have heads that may be viewed as emptier than a hermit’s address book, but that only makes them more malleable in the hands of the unscrupulous forces of Conservative capitalism and moral bankruptcy.
The fight for whatever soul the “Nasty Party” ever had is truly on, and it is one that Scots must hope ends in implosion. Never has independence been so vital or so alluring.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
INTERESTING to see that the A75 was given a mention in Sunak’s closing speech in Manchester. Clearly a sop to the nest of Tories who rule the roost down here.
For some time there have been bleatings from the likes of Findlay Carson MSP, and of course our very own (Fluffy) Mundell and his son, demanding the Scottish Government find the money to upgrade this road. However the road has two problems which appear to have been overlooked, and they are the need to bypass Crocketford and Springholm, two horrendous pinch-points on an otherwise modern well-maintained road. Fix them, problem solved!
READ MORE: Prime Minister officially scraps Manchester leg of HS2
It’s always worth stepping back and examining the reasons why Tories want something, and in this case, they were anxious to get Holyrood to spend its money on a project that would mostly benefit the UK.
As I say, once these two bottlenecks are sorted you will have a perfectly good road, as good as anything else in Scotland, and one which predominately exists to get Ulster freight onto the M6 at Carlisle. It is not one of Scotland’s major arteries, in fact it is Ulster’s major artery.
Down here in Dumgal, if we want to visit our capital city we must go up and join the M74 and then leave it and go through Biggar up to Edinburgh, on a windy, twisting road which skirts round every knoll and ridge, and is a disgrace in this day and age.
The road around the Loch Lomond side is another example of a road out of time, and out of date, and of course there are many others, like the road round the Rest and be Thankful and the A96.
So next time the Tories are wanting to help you out, always read the small print!!
Roddy Maclean
Annan
LAURA Pollock’s article, “Why Iraq began celebrating its Independence Day 91 years on” (Oct 4) is somewhat “scant” in describing the truth about WHY Britain ruled over the Arab nation.
It is well recorded that Winston Churchill hated the Arab people, ALL Arab people. In 1924, Churchill, along with “Bomber Harris”, was responsible for raining down bombs of almost every type on the Iraqi people. Bomber Harris even wrote the gory details on the destruction aerial combat had on the defenceless ordinary men, women and children trying to go about their daily lives, and “who had no escape”, in his most articulate and chilling account (read Sven Lindqvist’s A History of Bombing, page 48).
In 1921 Churchill said he was “ready to authorise the construction of gas bombs at once” to use on these same defenceless people. All this in order to keep control of the wealth of Iraq for personal fame and glory and under the guise of “it is for the British Commonwealth”.
Do justice to history and the Iraqi people by making everyone aware of how evil, destructive and greedy people like Churchill, Harris and the English Westminster political leaders were at that time. Most certainly NOT a “Great” Britain.
Jim Todd
Cumbernauld
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