Tory traditionalists launch liberal fight
A group of Conservative MPs has unveiled plans to repel the “modernising” forces within the party.
Twenty-five right-wing Conservative MPs have banded together to promote their own brand of “social conservatism” centring on traditionalist notions of the church, patriotism and family values.
Led by Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh, the group is unhappy with the liberal rhetoric coming from certain figures within the party.
Last week, openly gay Conservative MP Alan Duncan rebuked right-wing, “moralising” colleagues for “censorious judgmentalism” which threatened to condemn the party to electoral oblivion.
Mr Duncan dropped out of the race to be leader of the party, warning that the “Tory Taleban” would condemn it to “oblivion”.
But in their pamphlet The Strange Desertion of Tory Britain, the Cornerstone group calls on the new leader of the party to put forward tougher policies.
And they are looking to the United States for inspiration, where the Republicans’ “faith, flag and family” philosophy delivered US president George Bush two election victories.
Michael Howard’s general election campaign, on the other hand, was “too timid” on tax cuts, welfare service reform and family values”.
Mr Leigh said: “Combined, tradition, the nation, the family and free enterprise represent the instincts and preoccupations of most Britons and so, unsurprisingly, they have the capacity to inspire.
“In the USA too, these core conservative issues excite voters. George Bush understands this and wins.
“Strangely, the Conservative party has deserted conservative Britain, and so Britons have deserted us.”
And Mr Leigh slammed the culture of “rampant liberalism” in the party for its unthinking adoption of New Labour’s Third Way mantras.
“The liberals have constructed an empire of cultural assumptions which, conservatives must realise, you either surrender to or fight,” he said.
“Emulating New Labour both lacks authenticity and is unlikely to make us popular.
“We must seize the centre ground and pull it kicking and screaming towards us. That is the only way to demolish the foundations of the liberal establishment and demonstrate to the electorate the fundamental flaws on which it is based.”
The group is likely to back either David Davis or Liam Fox in the Tory leadership race.
