Monday 28 November 2016

Toby on Tuesday
 
'Once More Unto The Breach Dear Friends, Once More'
 
 
 
Finally, we have a new leader and a new leader of whom we can all be very proud.   The process has been tortuous, but the result full of promise for the future.   Paul Nuttall is the man for the hour.   With a strong academic background as a history lecturer first at Hugh Baird College and then at Liverpool Hope University, he will be able to hold his own against all those sneering pundits from the BBC and Channel 4.   Nigel Farage was a meteor, a comet hurtling through the political firmament, throwing out huge quantities of light and heat, torching any lesser planet foolish enough to try and block his path.   By contrast, Paul will be our Pole Star or North Star, the stable constant by which political voyagers steer their course.   He is precisely what will be needed in the coming years as the great prize of Brexit starts to slip away from our grasp and the Remainers use every subterfuge to prevent its happening.   Whatever our Government may say, the initiative is fading and it will be UKIP’s mission to regain and reinforce it.   Paul will be ideal leader for this great task.
 
And I hope sincerely that, having won the argument on Brexit, UKIP will now wage war on that other great evil of our time, the scourge of political correctness.   Unseen, undetected, with its roots in Stalinist doctrine, it has sought to colonise the western mind over the past two generations, just as the EU has sought to colonise Europe.   Like George Orwell’s Newspeak in his “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, political correctness exists to stifle empirical evidence and thwart political debate.  It exists to deny argument and, what is so disgraceful, has taken root in our universities where open debate is the principal reason for their existence.   The end of the curse of political correctness will be as great a liberation for the human spirit as our exit from the so-called European Union.   It is not racist to say that Britain should welcome those who can add to the civilisation and prosperity of our society and reject those who would undermine it.   
 
A software engineer from India should naturally be made welcome here.   By contrast, members of the Black Axe mafia from Nigeria, which uses voodoo rites and machete attacks and which is now firmly embedded in Italy, must not be allowed to use the EU’s freedom of movement rules to come here.   Nor is it islamophobic to say that the greatest threat to the peace of the world, and indeed to peace-loving Muslims, is the Salafi strand of islam, which receives so much funding from Saudi Arabia and which has penetrated so much of European life..   And Putin’s Russia should be seen, despite everything, as a prospective ally in what is now a clash of civilisations.   And nor is it homophobic to say that, if homosexual relationships are to have the tax and other benefits of civil partnerships on the grounds of fidelity, then so should heterosexual relationships.   Nor is it hard-hearted to say that poor countries need free and open trade without tariff barriers and not the corrupting culture of Overseas Aid.   And above all they need good government.   Nor is it anti-Scots to say that Scotland, with a population and economy broadly similar to Yorkshire’s, benefits disproportionately from the Barnet formula and the SNP needs to grow up and acknowledge just how privileged Scotland has become.   
 
And finally it is not anti-European to say that the EU is the greatest job-destroying, civilisation-wrecking, arrogant, incompetent project in the history of the Continent and its day of reckoning will arrive very soon.
 
The other day, the egregious Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, EU apparatchik and author of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, declared that Britain needed high levels of immigration because “native Britons are so bloody stupid”.   No doubt the purring pundits all nodded in agreement, but had a UKIPper said something similar about any other group, he or she would have almost certainly been reported for a hate-crime.   Of course the consolation is that the world of Lord Kerr is drawing to a close.   After the Referendum, UKIP’s task in the coming years will be to dismantle a failed ideology and replace it with new and sensible structures based on empirical evidence.   Paul Nuttall is the one to lead this great project and, with the Brexit vote and our leadership election behind us, for UKIP the best is yet to come!
 
Until next Tuesday!

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Toby on Tuesday

'Apparatchiks and Agendas'

 
                                                                                                                                Picture: Daily Express
 
 For the first time in well over a generation, we are about to have the pleasure of a U.S. President who knows and loves Britain.   We are about to have the pleasure of a U.S. President determined to prevent an accidental war with Russia over its support for what is, despite everything, the legitimate government of Syria.   And if Argentina is foolish enough to attempt another invasion of the Falklands, we will have the pleasure of a U.S. President to whom the Falkland Islanders can look for support.   We will have the pleasure of a U.S. President happy to see Britain at the front of the queue for a trade deal which could even involve Canada in a North Atlantic Free Trade Association.   
 
And above all we will have the pleasure of a U.S. President open to the idea of reinstating Winston Churchill’s bust in the Oval Office from which it was removed by the overtly hostile Barack H. Obama.   Yet to listen to the wretched, self-righteous, self-regarding, narcissistic, wrong-headed and anti-democratic pundits who fill the media and the old political parties, some global catastrophe has happened.  The truth is that Donald Trump will be a fine President who will fulfil his promise to make America great again.   And when America is great, then Britain as her close cousin and true ally, will become great again too.   So to the whingers in Westminster and Whitehall I say, “grow up, seize the opportunity and be glad that UKIP and Nigel Farage have made this new dawn possible!”
 
But today I don’t want to write about the U.S. Presidency.   Rather I want to alert you to the next date in the calendar, 4th December, when the global rejection of the old, failed order gathers pace and Italy goes to the polls in its own referendum.   For Italy’s Prime Minister, the apparatchik Matteo Renzi, is trying to reduce the power of Italy’s Upper House, its Senate, and thereby increase his own hold over the political system.   And under Italy’s constitution, his plan must be put to a referendum.   Originally Renzi  declared that, if unsuccessful, he would resign although he is now backtracking on that pledge.   For the truth is that both Italy’s Northern League and its Five Star Movement, the chief opposition groups, are campaigning against this crude attempt to concentrate yet more power into the hands of the Brussels-driven bureaucracy.   So we can expect yet more turmoil in Italy, buckling as it is under the burden of the employment-destroying Euro currency.
 
So 4th December is likely to be yet one more stage in the collapse of the E.U. Project.   That day too sees a presidential election in Austria, itself unable to cope with its own migration crisis.   So Brexit was only the start of a long process that is sweeping the West.   It will be painful for those who have become used to living well off a failed ideological agenda which benefited only those who managed it, but for the rest of us it will be a liberation.   And it will be a liberation that we should all welcome, not only in Britain, but also across Continental Europe, where Germany’s intelligence services have finally confirmed that “hundreds of jihadists” are among all those “refugees” who have entered the E.U., and last week above all in the United States of America.   Democracy is doing its job across the West and, inspired by Brexit and the new U.S. Presidency, 2017 could just become the year when the West at last moves to ensure its own survival!
 
Until next Tuesday!
Toby

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Toby on Tuesday
'The Bloodless Revolution' 
 
 
 
 
Until last week, probably the most unpopular judge in legal history was George Jeffreys, Lord Chancellor from 1685-88 under King James II.   An alcoholic, which he attributed to kidney disease, he was notorious for keeping brandy in his inkwell and then drinking it through his quill pen while passing sentence.   But we in Britain have always had a healthy scepticism about our judiciary.   And a few weeks ago I wrote about a bizarre evening spent sitting next to the wife of a prominent pro-Remain London High Court judge at a dinner.   She berated me for being a UKIPper, she berated “Northern white trash” for voting Leave, she asked those who were there if the younger members of our families had voted Leave and, when we all replied ‘yes’, she declared, “You’re all so complacent, you Yorkshire people, it’s horrific!”   And she moaned that her son’s hopes of getting a job with Goldman Sachs were now in ruins.   I almost said that the best thing her son could do if he wanted a useful and productive life would be to come and start a business in Yorkshire, but didn’t really want to risk another outburst.  But the truth is that most High Court judges have risen up under the Blair, Brown, Clegg, Cameron dispensation, for which devotion to the EU was an essential qualification, and we can only be thankful that their era is now passed.
 
But today I don’t want to write about the Article 50 case itself, but rather about how the judges’ supporters complained when their decision was subjected to perfectly proper public comment.   For if our judges want to behave like politicians, they mustn’t object when they are consequently subjected to the rough language of politics.   Strong words are the weapons of political life and, if they choose to play the game, then they cannot be immune to robust criticism.   Vigorous debate is central to Britain’s political tradition, which could be why they don’t like it.   Of course the strongest language of all was reserved for Judge Jeffreys, the “Hanging Judge”, notorious for his Bloody Assizes after the Monmouth Rebellion.   The last time before we joined the EU when a British government tried to hand power over to a foreign authority was under King James II.   Following the Battle of Sedgemoor he sent Jeffreys down to Taunton to deal with the rebels, the UKIPpers of their day.   There he found a total of 1,381 of those charged guilty of treason.   Of these some 170 were executed, beginning with Dame Alice Lisle, the last woman in England to have been executed by judicial sentence.  Jeffreys’ black cap, his sarcastic outbursts and his quill pen loaded with brandy entered the annals of judicial infamy.  And the public outcry was so great that in 1688 there followed the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution, the Brexit vote of its time, when James II was bundled off to France, never to return.   As for Jeffreys, he ended up in the Tower of London where he died the following year.  
 
So our High Court judges shouldn’t be surprised that, when they behave like politicians, they are treated like politicians and they should be reminded that strong words hurt nobody.   But what is clear from the whole Article 50 case is that there is serious trouble ahead for Theresa May both in the House of Commons and, more especially, in the House of Lords, groaning as it is with hysterical Remainers from all parties and none.   And if next month’s appeal to the Supreme Court doesn’t succeed, as it may well not, I would be very tempted in Theresa May’s position, to call the Remainers’ bluff, announce a General Election and, as part of her manifesto, to go not only for Brexit but also for a full and thorough reform of the House of Lords.   It is obvious that the so-called Upper House will use every tactic to delay and neutralise Brexit.   The Cameron/Clegg Fixed-Term Parliament Act is an obstacle, but one which may just have to be overcome.   In this way, as well as achieving Brexit, all the flotsam and jetsam of the Blair years can finally be removed from the political stage and the detritus of that failed era, the years of Blair and Heirs-to-Blair, finally consigned to history!
 
Until next Tuesday!
 
Toby

Monday 7 November 2016

Toby on Tuesday

'With Liberty And Justice For All'

Today Americans go to the polls in their Presidential election. There are in fact four candidates who have ballot access in all, or almost all, states - Hillary Clinton (Democrat), Gary Johnson (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green) and Donald Trump (Republican). And just as we in Britain rightly objected when President Barack H. Obama came here in April during our Referendum campaign to intimidate us with his bullying "going to be at the back of the queue" threat, so our American cousins would object if we were to pass judgement on any of the candidates in their election. However, we can comment on that rich harvest of leaked emails from Hillary Clinton's private server hdr22@clintonemail.com when they relate to our own country.   And there are some priceless gems among them which spell out how the world really works.   For example, six weeks after her appointment as Secretary of State in 2009, her aide Sidney Blumenthal wrote to her, "On economic policy, the UK is no partner and no bridge to Europe," while our very own  Cherie Blair, clearly freelancing at the time, tried to get Hillary Clinton to meet members of the Qatari royal family and wrote, "As you know I have good links to the Qataris."   So welcome to the new world order of the past generation, where those who have run the global power nexus plainly see their electorates as mere fodder, to be thrown a few treats every four or five years but otherwise simply as tools in their relentless greed for money and power.

But they have been found out and our Brexit vote was the catalyst.   Whatever the result of today's poll, the truth is that the world of the Blairs and the Clintons, the Camerons and the Obamas is drawing to a close.   The combination of venality and poor judgement has been their downfall.   It now seems extraordinary that it was only seven months ago that the preening figures of Cameron and Obama conspired to deny Britain our democracy.   One has gone, while the other has just a few weeks left.   And as for the Blairs and the Clintons, no swollen bank balance can compensate for the sheer collapse of their reputations.  Now closer to home we in UKIP have an election of our own, just as important to us as the US poll.   Like the American electorate we have four candidates too, Suzanne Evans, Paul Nuttall MEP, John Rees-Evans and Peter Whittle AM.  But all four are completely united as UKIP rebuilds for the next stage of our journey, seeking to replace Labour in the Midlands, the North of England and Wales.   And our election is taking place against the background of a thriving post-Referendum economy.   The false threats behind Project Fear have been exposed and a great national recovery has begun.   And I was struck by a letter in last week's Daily Telegraph from an Italian businessman from Siena, Tuscany called Viscardo Paganelli, in which he wrote:

"As an Italian businessman, I am seriously considering moving my business to the UK after Brexit.   The EU has proved to be a disaster for Italy, with youth unemployment at 45 per cent., a stifling taxation system, plummeting property values, and (according to official statistics) national unemployment at more than 12 per cent.   Many in Italy look to Brexit with the hope that it will be the beginning of a new era, in which democracy wins out over bureaucracy and arrogance."   Well, all I can say to that is "Welcome Viscardo - benvenuto to Britain.   You and your business are more than welcome here.   You might even want to join UKIP and help rebuild our country as a truly global, outward-looking nation well away from the failing EU project!" And whoever our friends in America choose as their next President, we in UKIP will carry on working for a safe-haven Britain, a friend to all but with secure borders in a deeply troubled world!

Until next Tuesday!
Toby

Tuesday 1 November 2016

 Toby on Tuesday
'A House Divided'

With just a week to go before polling day in the U.S. Presidential election, it’s a good time to revisit some of the great Presidential speeches in American history.   And among the greatest was Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech given in Springfield, Illinois on 16th June, 1858.   Warning of slavery-based disunion three years before the outbreak of the American Civil War he declared, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.   I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free...”   Of course Lincoln himself lifted the theme of his great speech from St. Matthew’s gospel in which Jesus says, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand...”   And those words of wisdom still hold true, not least for UKIP as we approach yet one more leadership election.   If we in UKIP are to achieve our potential and replace the Labour Party in the Midlands, the North of England and Wales, then our watchword now must be unity, unity and still more unity.
The 23rd June Referendum was an astonishing achievement for our party, but now that Brexit has, apart from the remaining irreconcilables, become the new consensus, our task has in some ways become much harder.  The simple theme that set us apart from all other political parties has gone and our new Government has moved quickly to colonise the ground that we held until June.   So we have to mark out new themes based on the rebuilding of our economy in the old Labour heartlands and then exporting around the world through bold new trade deals.   But none of this will happen if any of us, least of all our MEP’s, indulge in publicly criticising their colleagues or anyone else in or party.  Of course the vast majority of our MEP’s work away quietly, serving their constituents and their country to the best of their ability, but they rarely get reported.  One example is my good old friend William Dartmouth, MEP for the South-West and UKIP’s trade spokesman.   As a matter of principle he speaks only well of all his colleagues, is invariably loyal and concentrates his energies on writing compelling publications on the folly of the EU project and Britain’s prospects for global trade once we cast off the shackles of the EU.    But of course you don’t hear about him on the BBC and other media, which have far more fun reporting on the rifts and back-biting within our party.   William won’t be standing for our party’s leadership, but there will be candidates who seek to be forces for unity and it is to one of these that we must now look.   Although UKIP Thirsk and Malton will not try to influence our members’ votes, the need for unity and discipline must clearly be overwhelming.
And a strong UKIP is needed more than ever.   Our role in the past has been to speak the unvarnished truth and this will be equally true during the whole Brexit process.  And the truth is that Brexit Britain must avoid being dragged down by the Euro-banking crisis and the Euro-terror crisis.   Last week, Italy’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena suspended trading in its shares as it embarked on a rescue package while, far more significantly, Germany’s Deutsche Bank’s woes deepened.   Bizarrely, David Folkerts-Landau, Chief Economist of Deutsche Bank, demanded a 150 billion Euro bail-out fund to recapitalise the Euro-banking system saying, “Europe is seriously ill and has to deal with the existing problems extremely fast otherwise a crash will be imminent.”    And last week too the terror threat on the Continent grew still further.   Yet the Brussels ideologues refuse to consider the restoration of national currencies or the possibility of securing borders within the Schengen zone, both of which are essential to Europe’s recovery.   So a strong, disciplined and united UKIP is needed more than ever if we are to serve our country as effectively in the future as we have done in the past.  For my part, I detect an outbreak of sanity in UKIP and a growing recognition that, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”   And those words will guide us as we vote in what hopefully will be our very last leadership election for several years to come!
Until next Tuesday!
Toby