Will the Tories challenge the bully state?
Monday, October 5, 2009 
I am currently in Manchester for the Conservative party conference. For the second year running Forest and The Free Society are taking part in a two-day mini conference known as The Freedom Zone. This year's event features 53 speakers, 24 events, and 14 organisations including ConservativeHome, The Taxpayers Alliance, Forest and many more.
This morning I chaired a meeting - co-hosted by The Free Society and The Freedom Association - entitled "Politics and Prohibition: will a Conservative government challenge the bully state?" Speakers were Roger Helmer MEP, chairman of The Freedom Association; Brian Monteith, former Forest spokesman (and MSP) and author of The Bully State: The End of Tolerance; and Shane Frith, director of Progressive Vision.
It was a little unbalanced because the speakers (and the chairman!) were united in their view that something has to be done to roll back the bully state in areas such as smoking, drinking and driving, but it was a useful exercise nonetheless.
I ended the meeting on a personal note by explaining that I have always voted Conservative. At present however I feel disenfranchised because none of the leading parties represent my views on lifestyle issues. If David Cameron wants people like me to vote for him, I said (and increase the Tories' percentage of the vote), he needs to show some leadership on this issue.
Tomorrow night Forest is hosting a drinks party - with the support of The Freedom Association - in support of the Save Our Pubs and Clubs: AmendTheSmokingBan.com campaign. If you live in Manchester you are welcome to come. Beluga Bar and Restaurant is in Mount Street, outside the secure zone, so you don't need a conference pass.
In a couple of hours we're off to Beluga for the inaugural Freedom Dinner organised by The Freedom Association. Guest speaker is Dan Hannan MEP who gave that marvellous anti-Brown speech in Brussels that was such a hit on YouTube. Should be fun.
Reader Comments (26)
Hello Simon. I will be making my way to Manchester tomorrow to meet two of my F2C mates and Chris Snowdon at the Reading Zone (wherever that is) tomorrow. Hope to bump into you and say hello.
This is the most positive news I've heard for ages and it has slightly lifted the poiltical depression I've felt all day.
I wish I could join you at the Beluga Bar but I have work committments.
Simon, my best wishes for your work at Manchester and congratulations on all your campaigning.
It seems to me that people who are not themselves affected just do not perceive the cruelty of the total smoking ban.
Most of those supporting it are probably well-meaning and believe they are doing good.
Could you ask them how they would feel if, say, newly bereaved at a hospital casualty unit, they were driven out into the road to smoke a cigarette?
Perhaps you could ask how they would feel if it were their mother who, over eighty and muffled up against a gale, was pushed in a wheelchairout of the hospital warmth, to take a few hasty puffs at a cigarette.
Maybe it is their uncle or father or a neighbour who, a veteran of the 1939-45 war is now cut off from his pint, a chat and, maybe, a game of dominoes at his working men’s club, because old friends no longer go to it.
Well-meaning, kind people just don’t see all this pain, unless they or someone they love is affected.
Put it to the bright young things and to the suited middle-rank and file at Manchester that they have a duty towards those who have no voice or power, to make some provision for them.
At the core of the prohibitionist campaign there may be some real malignity but not so much in the mass assent to it. They almost certainly feel they are on the side of the angels.
I fear that David Cameron and his lieutenants are being ‘too clever by half’. Politics should not be just about what will spin well or might be spun against destructively.
After 50 years observing the erosion of a way of life
for which so many died,I see no one of stature who is
willing or able to reverse the decline.The current
Tory band of hope hardly raises the spirit let alone
elevates any aspiration of freedom.It would seem the
only way to human dignity is down the path of chaos.
I and my friends are not interested in fine words of
freedom as long as one Englishman stands outside one
English tavern just because he has chosen to smoke a
cigarette.
Talking is over
Remind them that we (well, some) voted for them to 'work for US' and not for them to dictate to us.
If David Cameron and the Conservatives realy believe in Freedom then they will give the right back to publicans the choice to allow the use of a legal product on private property - pubs and clubs are privately owned and as such should have the right to decide if smoking which is perfectly legal should be allowed on their PRIVATE property. Unless I see this in their manifesto they can forget my vote. After 12 long years of soviet britain under Labour I wont vote for anybody that dosent support real freedom.
Oh for rousing shouts of 'Hear Hear' and waving of Order Papers by the Opposition MPs at a declaration like yours from their front bench, RECCARED.
You know, I sometimes set out writing comments and wonder "why the hell do I bother"?
All I ever read about is the "spin", "lies" and "fudged truth" about what is happening in this grey, miserable and blighted country that I call home.
With the possible exception of UKIP, no-one in politics is actually standing up and saying "this is not right - it's not how this country should be". Most of the general public are saying this but, they are not given a second thought. The are given a choice of "more of the same" - just choose which ties the wear and which logo they adhere to.
Cameron, Blair, Brown, Mandy, Clegg - they are just chant the same mantra - with a few words changed here and there to show how "different they are". They are NOT - they all simply wish to get to the trough, make as much money out of us as they can, cover it all with propaganda and, more or less, sell us into slavery.
The recent EU lunacy and the facile reactions of all but UKIP, to me, clearly demonstrates that they are all "in it for what they can get" - the man in the street is unimportant - other than being the "workhorse" for their personal enrichment.
We need, nay - we DEMAND a political party that puts itself squarely behind the continuation of this as a sovereign country and pledges to transform it from a drab, scared, worried and grey country to a good, secure and happy place to live.
It's pretty simple when you think about it. People as simply sick and tired of the "status quo" - because it is not what we want or deserve. WE need to ignite the country, it's people to get back to work, get back to believing that hard work will be rewarded and get some national pride back.
To do that needs a dynamic, charismatic and,above all, HONEST and dedicated leader - who believes in THIS country - and not simply being an "area" of Europe - governed by unelected, faceless and unaccountable "commissioner", who cannot be deposed, held accountable or even identified. People who vote themselves obscene amounts of money - OUR money.
I don't see anyone, with the possible exception of UKIP, who come close to offering what we want.
No wonder then that, when faced with a vote, most people think "what is the point, the government always get in". They want, demand and deserve someone to actually stand up and offer true leadership - and we are almost out of time now.
David Cameron is NOT what we are looking for. Nor is Nick Clegg, Mandy, or Brown. You know, I am a disabled 56 year old, with no experience of politics, no experience of public speaking, not very good with words and terrified of what is coming but, for all that, I would be willing (if anyone would back me) to have a go at offering the people of this country what they want. Purely because I don't feel I could do a worse job than ANYTHING that is on "offer" now.
Paul
Great stuff, Simon !
How I'd LOVE to see Dan Hannan (young as he is) topple Cameron in a Palace Coup.
In the meantime, however, it's Last Chance Saloon for Mr Cameron - as far as THIS Freedom-lover is concerned.
He'd better come up with something a little more substantial than Mom's Apple Pie, and soon.
LAST chance, Dave........................
Help maybe at hand from the Conservatives. Shane Frith has set up Progressive Conservatives a libertarian pressure group within the party and to quote: "Progressive Conservatives is a new group for classical liberals in the Conservative Party.
We know that progress is achieved by maximising liberty, in both economic and social fields."
We don't like smoking bans, alcohol bans, ID cards etc and is being launched at the Conservative Party tomorrow by Dr Syed Kamall MEP - Chairman, Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP, Dan Hannan MEP, Michael Rock and Shane Greer. I hope you agree some heavy hitters. Michael heads up the youth wing 18-35 of the Conservatives and Shane is Executive Editor of Iain Dale's TotalPolitics magazine.
Shane in a moment of madness has put me on the executive.
No need to put your hand in your pocket yet but please feel free to join. I have included the Facebook page and web site.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_2309869772#/group.php?gid=74600009981&ref=ts
http://www.progressive-conservatives.org
They ain't getting a vote from me unless they come clean about a referendum and amendment of the smoking ban.
(Hi, Norman and thanks for your good wishes on other thread. BTW I've been avidly reading my book - the methgelin sounds worth a try!)
I notice that the event even got a mention by the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8291235.stm
Dave -
It's dark outside, and raining heavily.
But you've managed to bring a LITTLE sunshine into my day.
Thanks.
At least the younger section of the Party doesn't seem to have been ENTIRELY taken over by five-a-day tree-hugging fun-runners and refugees from the Woman's Page of the 'Guardian'.........
Dave Atherton.
Many congratulations on finding such a heavyweight home for your immense talent and political aspirations. Good luck to you and to the new movement.
We know that the majority of people are now non-smokers and, as Pat Nurse found at the UKIP Conference, they actually don't realise that there is a problem. Even the smokers tend to go along the "it's not fair" route. Please take along with you and never cease to impress upon your colleagues that the bigger picture is much more sinister than that. Non-smoking is BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH and simply increases the population's need for dependence upon the medical "profession" and their drugs. It is the pharmaceutical companies' immense and ever increasing wealth which funds global control and the present dark Orwellian corruption.
Here is yet another reminder of the truth:-
This is written by Dr. William Campbell Douglass, voted “Doctor of the Year” by the National Health Federation.
http://www.freedom2choose.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1773&p=111480&e=111480
Dave - please take this knowledge with you and never forget to preach it.
Can anyone tell me if I heard correctly. Did Con Health spokesman Andrew Lansley say he was abolising health quangos ... and putting the money into fighting smoking, alcohol and obesity ...? I'm sure I heard him say that.
If I misheard it was because I was really excited at the announcement to end the waste that is health quangos but then caught the middle of his sentence when he said something about lung cancer, thousands of avoidable deaths, milliiions of pounds cost to treat unhealthy lifestyles... please someone, tell me he didn't...
I'm beginning to think that I hear the same old, same old Tories whose only change is the adoption of the worst that NuLab have imposed upon us... Gulp!
Pat,
This was his speech as far as I can see:
http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2009/09/Andrew_Lansley_Our_chance_to_make_the_NHS_the_finest_in_the_world.aspx
He mentions obesity and drinking, but not smoking.
Link didn't come through right for some reason.
You need to add this at the end:
_chance_to_make_the_NHS_the_finest_in_the_world.aspx
May the force go with you Simon!
You tell em for us.
You should bring Nannyknowsbest's blog with you for reference.
It says exactly what we are all feeling.
Shane in a moment of madness has put me on the executive.
Has he? I can't see anyone called Dave Atherton there.
I usually run away from anything that's got 'progressive' in its name as fast as I possibly can, because it usually means the exact opposite.
Donnie99 said "Unless I see this in their manifesto they can forget my vote. After 12 long years of soviet britain under Labour I wont vote for anybody that dosent support real freedom."
Manifesto or not, makes no difference, if and when they get into power they move the goalposts to suit themselves! Manifestos are only the carrots to get us to vote for them, not their cast iron ideas on policy once they are in power!
If you remember, at the last election the Labour manifesto stated there would not be a blanket smoking ban and there would be a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty - both were very soon reversed once they were back in power!
Idlex, my biography and photo have not been uploaded yet, but if you go to the Facebook page I am there.
Syed Kamall (London) Chairman
Shane Frith (London)Executive Member
Jp Floru (London)Executive Member
Michael Rock (UCL)Executive Member
Shane Greer (London)Executive Member
Martin Le Jeune (British Sky Broadcasting) Executive Member
David Atherton Executive Member
Adrian Pepper Executive Member
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=74600009981&ref=ts
Thanks helen,
Couldn't access the link but I did find his speech online and it still worries me ... what d'ya think he means ...
"Primary Care Trusts. Strategic Health Authorities. The health Quangos. And the Department of Health itself.
They spend a total of £4.5 billion in administration every year.
So we will cut that bill by £1.5 billion within four years.
All this from the back office to the frontline.
…. do you remember when Tony Blair said the reason he was increasing health spending was to bring our healthcare system up to the best in Europe?
But what happened?
While we do as well as the rest of Europe on heart disease, we are much worse on deaths from cancer, from lung disease, from osteoporosis and from arthritis.
And we have more obese people and heavy drinking
And so, I am determined upon change."
It's the kind of "change" he is talking about that really scares me. I suspect we will get more NuLab health fanatics dressed in blue. They ain't getting my vote, for sure!
That man looks very suspicious to me.....take him down and hang him immediately!
Please promise me that you will never serve on a jury Pat.
OK, maybe I have pre-judged Lansley but it isn't anyhting to do with the way he looks. It's what he says, or rather what he hints at, or doesn't say. He isn't being clear about what he intends to do about the smoking propaganda issue, or the blanket ban, but he does mention those health issues used over the last 12 years to beat us with. He is also,i'm told, culturally anti-smoking. I don't want the Tories to pick up the mantle of denormalisation. As you know, this issue is THE most important one to me so whoever says the right things on this will get my vote. So far, it is not the Tories.
How about the BNP Pat, I believe they say they will do something about the ban don't they?
Ok, they might, but I can't abide racism and discrimination which to me is what the smoking ban is all about. Denormalisation is a cultural attack aimed at outcasting people. Smokers of whatever culture, colour, gender, race or creed are my brothers and sisters. That's why I wouldn't vote BNP.
I worry more that if the 3 parties do not do something about the blanket ban, then there will indeed be people who will turn to the BNP.
I tell those who have told me that they are thinking of voting BNP, because of this issue, that a better choice is (Shhhh - you know who). It is still the only non-racist non-discriminatory party that has made itself clear on this issue