Cameron and the "grass roots" update - todays Daily Telegraph

From "The Daily Telegraph" 6th February 2016

"John Strafford, a former association chairman, who now runs the Campaign for Conservative Democracy said the "obvious home for disgruntled Conservatives will be UKIP".   He said "For a long time Tory party members have supported leaving the European Union and unless Cameron pulls a rabbit out of the hat they are going to vote against him.
"These members who have been Conservatives for most of their lives will have to vote against their party for the first time.   But once you start voting against your party you lose your attachment to it and when you lose your attachment you start looking around"

COPOV Forum 20th February

See Events

Cameron and the "grass roots".

David Cameron gave a message to Conservative Members of Parliament on Wednesday 3^rd February on how to vote in the EU referendum - “Members should not take a view because of what their constituency association might say or because they are worried about a boundary review.”  

This is what "The Times" said today:

"John Strafford, chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, accused the prime minister of acting like a dictator.   He said that the Tory leadership had shown "continuous contempt" for party members.

"The essence of leadership is to listen to your followers and then take a decision," he said.   "The essence of dictatorship is to tell your followers what is going to happen". I am afraid Cameron has moved into the latter position of dictator.   What he should always remember is that the party members are the ones that put Conservative MPs into their position.   If you don't listen to them they will react."

IN OR OUT? THE FORTHCOMING REFERENDUM ON BRITAIN’S MEMBERSHIP OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

                  

The following is an article by a member of COPOV. It is a personal one and does not necessarily reflect the views of other COPOV members or of its Management Committee: 

It is looking increasingly likely that within the next six months the general public will again be asked to make a decision on whether to remain in the European Union as it is now constituted. So much has changed in the last forty years when the previous referendum was held. The admission of those former communist countries in Eastern Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall , economic and monetary union with the euro as a single currency, the vast migration into Europe from many states in the Near East, the rise of terrorism and most notably the threat posed by ISIS.  These are enormous changes posing great problems for the leaders of the free world. Is it possible I ask myself for the United Kingdom to adopt a policy of seemingly ‘splendid isolation’ in such a situation?

Let us not kid ourselves. Referendums are alien to the British Constitution and should be used only sparingly. Unfortunately they tend to be used for party political purposes in an attempt to patch up differences within those parties. Most of you reading this article will remember that in 1975 the so called renegotiation undertaken by the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his then Foreign Secretary James Callaghan when put to the Cabinet had seven dissenting ministers who were given a licence to campaign for withdrawal. Twenty or so years later and after the fall of Margaret Thatcher, John Major’s government was rent asunder by differences over Europe. These differences have never been resolved and our party in government again now has to finally face up to the fact that we are split down the middle with those wishing to secede probably having a very slight majority. The referendums concerning devolution in the late nineteen nineties (confined incidentally to only Scotland and Wales) and the September 2014 referendum in Scotland only confirm the dangers of using such a device and should have been a warning. In the nineteen eighties the Labour party holding a large number of seats in Scotland fanned the flames of discontent by accusing the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of having no mandate in Scotland when the Unionists were in a minority in Scotland and were relying on English Members of Parliament to get Scottish business through. And Margaret Thatcher, stubborn as she sometimes was ,only added fuel to the flames by insisting that  the ‘community charge’ (poll tax) be introduced in Scotland first as a trial run for the rest of the country. Secondly the Labour Party accustomed as it was to large majorities in some very safe seats could never conceive of the possibility of ever losing its Scottish fiefdom which it had ruled ever since the mid sixties. The continued advance of Scottish Nationalism since 1998 and the astonishing and unprecedented 2015 General Election results have shown how false that assumption by the Labour party has been. A second referendum on Scottish independence is being mooted in some quarters in the hope of reversing the 2014 decision. And, if by a quirk of fate, in the forthcoming European referendum Scotland votes to stay in and the rest of the United Kingdom votes to come out then we will have a constitutional crisis par excellence. This, of course, may not happen but there is going to be bitterness whichever side wins and the wounds so inflicted will take a long time to heal.

UKIP’s appeal has crossed the party divide appealing to those elements in the Conservative Party who believe in ‘England, my England’ a nostalgic look back at times long gone and to the old working class Labour voter in the South Wales valleys and in the mill and steel towns of North and North East England who feel that the Labour party they once supported no longer understands them run as it is by a rich and powerful elite based in London whose roots in the Labour party are as one person said of Tony Blair ‘like a stick of celery’.  But those supporting UKIP are no visionaries and seem to the writer to be hankering after a better yesterday.

The forthcoming Presidential Election in the United States of America is also affecting the way the writer intends to vote. It seems that the leading USA Presidential contenders in both the Democrat and Republican Parties are likely to be an extreme Liberal and an extreme Conservative with Hillary Clinton for the Democrats having the edge. In some quarters it is rumoured that the United States could conceivably pull its 100,000 troops out of Europe and were this to happen some sort of common European defence policy would have to be thrashed out. The so called special relationship between the United Kingdom and the USA has on times been under severe strain notably when Harold Wilson as Prime Minister  refused quite rightly not to agree to Lyndon Johnson’s request for British troops in Vietnam, Edward Heath, his Common Market negotiations successfully concluded held Richard Nixon in distain, Harold Macmillan was left to repair relations with Dwight Eisenhower after the Suez debacle although judging from the telephone conversations now available over the internet concerning the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962 John Kennedy whose eldest sister had married in Macmillan’s in laws kept the then Prime Minister fully informed about the developing situation.

Ronald Reagan’s love in with Margaret Thatcher (or was it the other way round?) lasted for eight years although relations there were sometimes strained. I remember at one Bournemouth conference in the early 2000’s Sir Malcolm Rifkind relating the story of how Reagan was taking a phone call from Margaret Thatcher and after a harangue of about ten minutes he put his hand over the telephone and turning to one of his aides and whispered ‘Gee! Isn’t she wonderful?’  Tony Blair’s closeness to George W. Bush at the time of the Iraq War probably was not good for either man’s reputation. Even the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his disagreements with Winston Churchill particularly over how to deal with Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin. And while accepting Margaret Thatcher’s view that Europe was the cause of two World Wars in the twentieth century it has to be remembered that Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in the late nineteen twenties and the early nineteen thirties only came about because he was able ruthlessly to exploit the harsh penalties financial and otherwise which had been imposed, largely at France’s instigation, on the German population via the Versailles Treaty in 1919. The USA itself is changing, the white population is shrinking, and there are more and more Latinos and other races taking up residence there.  The United Kingdom never has been and never will be the fifty first state of the USA. We are tied not only by geography but by our history to Europe. That fact cannot be denied. Within ten years people will be asking ‘What was so special about our relationship with the USA?’

Many of our biggest companies when not owned by other European companies have important trade links there. You can get on an aeroplane from Heathrow at 6 a.m. in the morning do business in maybe two European Capital cities such as Paris and Brussels and be back in London at 8 p.m. the same evening. The writer believes that our future lies in Europe and that we will not be forgiven by future generations if we were to leave.

The writer would be the first to concede that not everything is well in the European Union.  Many of our previous Commissioners have been failed politicians from this country. The lavish salaries and perks showered upon Members of the European Parliament coupled with virtually no accountability stinks and just shows how out of touch many of the Members are. Others get well paid jobs there based not on ability but on whom they know. The European Union’s complete failure to come up with a solution to the continuing refugee crisis that is fair and acceptable to all countries has only fanned the flames of discontent and resentment. Surely playing a prominent role in trying to solve the problem is better than no role at all. The writer has grave doubts whether we could in any case successfully implement border controls desirable though they might be.

The reader will by now have probably guessed that the writer will reluctantly vote ‘yes’ for remaining in. As Harold Macmillan once said: Better stay with nurse for fear of something worse. Or as USA President Johnson once said (though his language would have been classed as an ‘expletive deleted’): I would rather have him inside the tent looking out than outside the tent looking in!

Hopefully the debate in the coming months will be fair frank and open with both sides able to freely express their views. The result is very important and will decide the United Kingdom’s destiny for the next hundred years or so.

1 February 2016

Mark Clark Affair - Rob Semple

See Below
Well done Rob Semple for agreeing to recuse yourself from the Party Board meeting during which the Clifford Chance report on the Mark Clark affair will be discussed.   This was the right decision.

The Mark Clark affair.

My comments on Newsnight: https://youtu.be/znGPsQFbQHk?list=PLJxnQXiytA_QeSFwtHuKoP1gedpjb97gt  4 minutes in.

Is this true or is it a wind up?

Subject: FW: State Pension

How come if you can receive benefits up to £26,000 and you don't pay
tax on it, why do you have to pay tax after £10,000 when you go out to
work for it??

 CC:

The RT. Hon. David Cameron, MP

Dear Prime Minister

I wish to ask you a Question:-  "Is This True?"
I refer to the Pension Reality Check.
Are you aware of the following?

  The British Government provides the following financial assistance:-

 BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER
(Bearing in mind they worked hard and paid their Income Tax and
National Insurance contributions to the British Government all their
working life) 

Weekly allowance: £106.00?    

  IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN
(No Income Tax and National Insurance contribution whatsoever)

Weekly allowance: £250.00

  BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER  
Weekly Spouse Allowance:£25.00?

ILLEGAL  IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN  
Weekly Spouse Allowance:£225.00

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER 
Additional Weekly Hardship Allowance: £0.00?  

ILLEGAL  IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN   
Additional Weekly Hardship Allowance: £100.00

A  British old age pensioner is no less hard up than an illegal
immigrant/refugee yet receives nothing.

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER - TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £6,000

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN - TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT:
£29,900

After all, the average pensioner has paid taxes and contributed to the
growth of this country for the last 40 to 60 years.
Sad isn't it? Surely it's about time we put our own people first.      

PLUS THEY CAN WALK INTO ANY HEALTH CENTRE AND GET FREE CARE AND
MEDICINES AT NO COST.

 

Europe Remain or Leave?

Watch here Edited extracts from a lecture given by Roger Kendrick to the COPOV Forum on 5th December.

European Union - Remain in or Leave?

At the COPOV Forum on 5th December Roger Kendrick gave an excellent Powerpoint presentation.   The contents of his slides were as follows:

• Europe
  “Remain In”
       or
  “Leave”
  the European Union?

• Three Key Issues
• Democracy
• Prosperity & Economics
• Future & Who We Are
• Democracy
• COPOV Meeting is The Right Place
  Clue in the Name

• One Person One Vote
• Fundamentals of Democracy
• Vote for an MP to Directly Represent Us
• Majority of MP’s Form New Government
• New Government not Bound by Past Decisions
                                                                                                  But
  One Exception

• International Treaties
• New Governments are Bound by Past Treaty Obligations
• The Elephants in the Room are the EU Treaties
  If the Treaties Don’t Work for Us
  We Can’t Change Them

• Brief History
• 1972
  UK Joins EEC
  (Common Market)
  9 Similar Countries
  38% of World Market (GDP)
  High Tariffs
  Promised UK Veto
  Free Movement of Goods, Services, People & Capital

• Brief History of Membership
• 1972
  UK Joins EEC
  (Common Market)
  9 Similar Countries
  38% of World Market (GDP)
  High Tariffs
  Promised UK Veto
  Free Movement of Goods, Services, People & Capital

• 2015
  EEC  Became European Union
  28 Disparate Countries
  20% of World Market (GDP)
  Low Tariffs
  Qualified Majority Voting (10%) - No Veto
  Free Movement of Goods, (Services?), People & Capital
  Cost £19b Gross & £12b Net pa

• Prosperity & Economics
  Single Market & Trade
  Free Movement of People & Jobs

• “In Campaign” Claims
  Being part of Europe:

• Makes our economy stronger
• Helps British businesses large and small
• Creates jobs for British people, and
  Half of everything we sell to the rest of the world we sell to Europe
  The CBI estimates that 3 million jobs in Britain are linked to trade with the rest of Europe
  ARE THEY RIGHT?

• UK Trade – 2014
  (£ Billions)
  Exports
• UK Trade – 2014
  (£ Billions)
  Imports
• UK Trade Balance – 2014
  (£ Billions)
  Huge Deficit With EU
  Surplus With Rest of World
• Summary
• Huge Trade Deficit with EU - £62 billion
• Nearly Double Total Deficit - £35 billion
• Rest of World – Trade Surplus £27 billion
  What Does That Mean For Jobs?

• Trade & Jobs
• If Exports Create Jobs In UK – We Make Stuff
• Imports Create Jobs Overseas – We Buy Stuff
• So Imports Cost UK Jobs
• UK Trade & Jobs
  
  Deficit With EU Costs UK Jobs
  Surplus With Rest of World Creates UK Jobs
• Conclusion - Trade With EU
  Costs UK Jobs
  Creates EU Jobs

• More Jobs in EU Dependant on Trade with UK
• Than UK Jobs Dependant on EU Single Market
  In Campaign are Wrong About Trade & Jobs

• But There is More!
  What  Is The Effect of the Free Movement of People?

• UK Job Creation
• During Last 12 Months 448,000 Jobs Created
• Who Got The New Jobs?
• New UK Jobs – Last 12 Months
  
  73% of New Jobs To EU Nationals
  27% of New Jobs To UK Nationals
  Not Just One Year
  Long Term Trend
  &
  Getting Worse

• 
   Non-UK nationals working in the UK,
  1997  to  2015
• Economics Is Clear
• Trade With The EU Costs The UK Jobs
  &

• Free Movement of People Takes Jobs From UK Nationals
• Not Just Lost Jobs
  Mass Migration - Putting Huge Strain on:

• Housing & Unaffordable House Prices
• Schools
• Hospitals & GP Surgeries
• Roads, Railways & Tube
  Capital Cost Of Providing The Infrastructure

• Telegraph Yesterday
  “Migrants to account for half of new homes”
  The Fact Is
  UK Cannot Cope With Migration on This Scale

• The Future
  Decision Time

• What Sort of Country Do We Want To Be?
• Addressed Three Key Issues
• Democracy
• Prosperity & Economics
• Future & Who We Are
• Our Decision
• Remain In
• Locked In To EU – 20% GDP
• Controlled By Unelected Brussels Bureaucrats
• Slow EU Growth
• Uncontrolled Immigration
• Lost UK Jobs
• Contribute £12b pa Net
• Leave EU
• Prosper in the fast growing Wider World -80% of GDP
• Restore Our Democracy & Sovereignty
• Exports To High Growth World Outside EU
• Control our Borders
• British Jobs for British People
• Spend £12b on NHS & Education
• Clear Answer?
• EU Elite Dedicated to Creating  a Single State
• The UK Never Wanted To Be Part of an EU Nation
• Time To Get our Democracy Back!
  Vote Leave & Take Control

• European Union
  “Remain In”
       or
  “Leave”
  Questions?

• European Union
  Vote Leave & Take Control
  of our Country again

• Thank You For Listening
  Questions?
  
  

Migrant Tax Credits and the Law

  SIR - Donald Tusk, the European Council president, is absolutely right if he raises concerns that "to bar EU migrants from claiming tax credits of four years is illegal", (report December 7), because that is the central point.

In a democracy when existing legislation causes problems the Government can change the law and if they don't we, the electorate, have the option to vote in a new government at the next election to make the changes we seek.

The European Union is not designed to work in that way; the electorate cannot vote for change because we do not elect the Commission which makes, (but rarely repeals), all EU laws.

Within two years we will have a referendum when UK voters will have a rare opportunity to exercise their democratic right to accept all present and future EU legislation or to restore our democratic right to vote for new governments to change the way we are ruled.

In the meantime we will see whether the EU addresses the policies that the UK Government would like to see changed?

Roger Kendrick