Taking Liberties

In response to the Crewe and Nantwich by-election result, I have just received the following email:

"Once again the clearest expression of revulsion from this authoritarian and interfering government. But not a word in the media about the things that have really infuriated many - the ban that prevents us having a cigarette with our pint, even in a PRIVATE club. And the prospect of ever nastier action against people who just want a pint even without a smoke."

I couldn't have put it better myself. The problem is, the Conservatives don't get it either. Driving home from London today I listened to David Cameron call for an end to "bossy, interfering government".

For some reason, he and his colleagues don't seem to understand that, for many people, the smoking ban (or, at least, the savage extent of the ban) is symbolic of the worst excesses of "bossy, interfering government".

Ultimately it comes down to argument and persuasion. Between now and the next general election, we have to convince the Conservatives that the smoking ban is still an issue for many people and there are more votes to be gained than lost with a promise to amend or, at the very least, review the legislation.

For the moment, I suspect they think the benefits of revisiting the issue are outweighed by the disadvantages. Cameron, after all, wants to be perceived as forward not "backward-looking" (a term he used to described Labour today).

Amending the ban will be seen, in some people's eyes, as "reversing" the ban (ie "backward-looking"). Our job is to persuade Cameron and his team that amendments to the ban (well-ventilated, licensed smoking rooms, for example) offer a liberal, non-bossy way forward from the mess Labour has got us into.

Today, on The Free Society blog, Simon Hills queries the purpose of an organisation called Dad Info that "suggests fathers-to-be listen to baby in the womb, bond with children, stay healthy – no smoking, plenty of exercise, that sort of thing – and trades in clichés such as 'It’s easy to sink into slobbery once you’ve had a child'."

By complete coincidence (and I mean, complete coincidence), I have just received an email from the influential Reform think tank. It's an invitation to an event entitled "Is Britain forgetting how to parent?" and it says:

Chris Grayling MP, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will put forward the party’s plans to improve the value of parenting. 

When politicians start lecturing us about the "value of parenting" it's time to run for the hills. Meanwhile, I suggest you read Simon Hills' article HERE.

Before Tories start celebrating (see post below), a former Conservative MSP has added his take to the David Cameron story (HERE). Writing in the Edinburgh Evening News, former Forest spokesman Brian Monteith, now policy director for The Free Society, comments:

There are days when I wonder how I ever was a Conservative. This Monday was one of them. Dawn Primarolo, the English Health Secretary announced she was considering banning cigarettes from being displayed in shops.

This prim paternalist believes that kids are seduced into smoking by the serried ranks of fag packets on walls – why cigarettes should have such an effect when shelves of toothpaste or condoms don't make them clean their teeth or practice protective sex hasn't occurred to her all-knowing mind. If this wasn't bad enough, David Cameron then said the idea is "worth looking at".

If the Conservative leader can't see that making tobacco smoking more mysterious, more rebellious, more unconventional will also make it more desirable amongst the young then he's in the wrong job. Cannabis smoking has grown immensely while being illegal and without the benefit of shop displays – just ask the question why David. I look at the political parties and I really, really struggle to say there's any that will get my vote next time round.

I have known Brian for 25 years. During that time he has never wavered from the Conservative cause and his political CV makes impressive reading. From his days as chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students to his nine-year stint as MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Brian has frequently been the most outspoken Tory on the block, always taking the fight to the opposition and never holding back.

The idea that someone so committed to the Tory cause is having second thoughts about voting for the party should give even Dave "It's worth looking at" Cameron pause for thought. The Conservatives may be ahead in the polls but come the election they will need every vote they can get. Governments can lose general elections but it rarely happens by default. It needs a strong Opposition - as in 1979 and 1997 - so people have a genuine choice. Like Brian, I'm not sure that Cameron represents anything radically different. And why would we vote for more of the same?