With the prospect of a referendum on the
single currency now looming large I am anxious to persuade my colleagues of the
importance of avoiding the ‘NO’ campaign becoming too closely associated with
individual politicians, or, for that matter, with the hugely discredited
Conservative Party, for fear that it is seen to be partisan rather than an
organisation which transcends everyday party politics. At a breakfast meeting
of the European Research Group (ERG) I try hard to persuade the assembled
company, particularly Lord Pearson of Rannoch, that to win a referendum it is
essential that the campaign is strongly identified with the issue rather than
with the personalities of those leading the charge. Our message has to be sold
like a commercial product, soap powder or whatever, where prominence is
invariably given to the brand name rather than to the name of the manufacturer
or its directors. Malcolm Pearson is clearly not convinced and when he goes on
to say that Yorkshire millionaire, Paul Sykes, recently resigned from the
Conservative Party due to the Shadow Cabinet’s pusillanimity on the single
currency issue, is in town, I ask him if he would involve me in his meeting
with him. Not convinced that Malcolm will do this I put my secretary, Vicki, on
to tracking Paul Sykes down, the upshot of which is a ‘phone call from him the
following morning and an appointment to meet him at lunch time.
My advice to Paul Sykes, for which he
expresses himself grateful, is firstly that the ‘NO’ campaign has to be
non-attributable and must avoid giving prominence to individual politicians
which would be counter-productive. Secondly, the campaign needs to be
essentially populist, in contrast to the corporatist ‘YES’ campaign. Thirdly,
no time or effort should be wasted in trying to build up a mass membership
which would require a sizeable administrative organisation. Finally, there is a
need to establish a ‘mission control’ capable of representing and co-ordinating
the campaign as well as being able to issue instant rebuttals as and when
necessary.
As well as directing my fire at the ERG I
also try to influence Bill Cash’s Amsterdam Group (formerly the IGC Group) by
telling them that there is only one game in town and that is a ‘NO’ campaign
against the single currency and how important it is that the campaign be kept
anonymous – Bill Cash being in most peoples’ eyes the most likely politician to
hijack the campaign for his own glorification! I also urge the group to use
whatever opportunities arise to persuade Wm. Hague to stop qualifying his
opposition to the single currency by relating it to a time scale. As a matter
of principle one is either for it or against it - putting time limits on his
opposition is simply making his stance look barely credible.
Meanwhile the Norwegian Ambassador who,
unlike the majority of his fellow countrymen is an unreconstructed Europhile of
the first order, tells me and the other officers of the Anglo Norwegian All
Party Parliamentary Group that Britain’s failure to join the single currency is
an act of cowardice! For sheer silliness this remark rivals that of Adair
Turner, who, in his capacity as Director General of the CBI, responds to my
question about the effect of fixed exchange rates upon unemployment levels by saying
that the problem with the Gold Standard was that, as with the ERM, ‘we went in
at the wrong rate’. Whereas it is a matter of opinion as to what the correct
entry rate should be, history demonstrates that the result of fixed exchange
rates is almost invariably an increase in unemployment. On entry into the ERM
in October 1990 unemployment in the UK stood at 1.67 millions but by the time
of our unceremonious exit in September 1992 it had risen to 2.85 millions, just
as between 1923 and September 1931 the fixed exchange rate imposed by our
adherence to the Gold Standard had driven unemployment up from 1.25 millions to
2.9 millions. This is an argument that I shall use again and again whenever the
subject of the single currency arises and whenever I hear people make the
wholly unsubstantiated assertion that joining the single currency will ‘bring
down interest rates, lower inflation and reduce the level of unemployment’.
This is what the dreamers said before the UK joined the ill-fated ERM, the
forerunner of the single currency, and five years later they are still saying
it, as though the leap in unemployment, the rash of bankruptcies and the tidal
wave of repossessions between 1990 and 1992 had never happened.
from "Cracking the Whip" the fast-paced political memoirs from Christopher Gill, MP for Ludlow and Maastricht Rebel
Buy your ebook HERE
Book Description
Fast-paced political memoir by a former Conservative MP
charting the infiltration of the Conservative Party by non-conservative
elements and the subversion of a once-great political party. On 1st May
1997 the Conservative Party suffered a most humiliating defeat at the
hands of the British electorate and found itself in Opposition for the
first time since Margaret Thatcher swept to power in 1979. In this book
Christopher Gill follows the path taken by the Conservative Party after
that defeat. Many Conservatives, both in Parliament and outside it,
hoped that the spell in opposition would be spent analysing the reasons
for defeat, replacing those responsible and rejuvenating the party
machine for the battle to come. Instead those responsible for failure
secured their grip on power and moved ruthlessly to dominate the Party,
pushing aside those who objected and destroying all opposition. The
author traces the way this was achieved out of sight of the media - all
too enraptured with reporting the doings of the shiny new Labour
government. He explains how the decisions made then led inexorably to
the failure of the Conservative Party to achieve victory in 2010 and to
the dithering responses of a hamstrung coalition goverment. At what
point in time the Conservative Party ceased to be a truly 'conservative'
Party is a matter which might engage the attention of future historians
but the author clearly points the finger at those to blame and explains
how they achieved a spectacularly successful coup for the
'collectivist' infiltration which has left the Tory Party paralysed.
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