Campaigning Against Britain joining the Euro 1997

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 copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE 

Book Description

Publication Date: 12 Oct 2012

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.

Farming and Fishing - events in the House of Commons

February 2000

On Friday 4th I journey to Much Marcle in Herefordshire to meet representatives of the ‘Commercial Farmers Group’. The experience is disappointing and somewhat depressing. My point to them is that unless they are prepared to think ’outside the box’ (of the CAP) there is really nothing that I can do to help them. Henry Fell won’t even address his mind to that possibility, Robin Malin says there’s no point – we’re in and we’ve got to make the best of it – Eric Drummond says nothing and only Anthony Colburn is brave enough to suggest that maybe we should be thinking in terms of getting out. I am at a slight disadvantage as a result of not having yet had the opportunity to read this morning’s ‘Daily Telegraph’ in which the group is featured.

As a still loyal member of the Conservative Party my wife and I pay good money to attend the Party’s Winter Ball. This is held on Monday 7th February and our table has been organised by Malcom Moss. I am not sure that he is being serious when he tells me that in the forthcoming debate on the Fishing Industry I should talk about ‘renegotiation’. Is he telling me this to wind me up or has there been a change of policy and a reneging on the commitment to bring Fisheries back under national control?

I get my final bite of the cherry with Eleanor Laing on Tuesday 8th.

She is now doing a survey of Members views and attitudes which suits me fine. Afterwards I entertain my wife, Patricia, to tea in the Pugin Room where she suggests that I am being too frank in baring my soul to Eleanor. It would be an exaggeration to say that I am past caring but on the other hand I am in no mood to equivocate. As far as I am concerned, back home in Shropshire, I am an archetypal Conservative but within the Parliamentary Party I can’t help feeling quite untypical. The Party, I tell her, needs to use language that the proverbial ‘man in the street’ can understand – our problem is too many professional politicians and too little common sense!

Being called to speak third in the debate on the Fishing Industry initiated by Tim Loughton (East Worthing & Shoreham) in Westminster Hall on 9th February I make a ‘no holds barred’ speech in the vain hope that this will precipitate some reaction within the Party but sadly I am almost inevitably going to be disappointed.

In the afternoon I bob up and down throughout yet another Prime Minister’s Question Time but by now the Speaker is well aware that I only stand when I’ve got an awkward question to ask. The chances of ‘catching her eye’ are therefore not good. Later in the week I will be furious at not being called at Agriculture Questions when it proves necessary for me to stand at Business Questions, which follows, to make my point there.

from "Cracking the Whip", the fast-paced memoirs of Christopher Gill MP for Ludlow

Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

Book Description

Publication Date: 12 Oct 2012

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.

 

Reform of the Conservative Party (1997)

As a long standing member of the Party and one who had an active involvement in the voluntary side of the Party before being elected to Parliament, a background which is not typical of many of my Parliamentary colleagues, I am determined to make my voice heard in all matters affecting Party reform. The Party is intent upon setting a minimum membership fee which it has never had before and at a meeting in CCO on 3rd December I try to interest Vice Chairman, Archie Norman, in the idea that it would be better to create two classes of membership with Full members paying the agreed minimum subscription or more and Associate members paying whatever they can afford, the reality being that many existing members regard their subscription more as a donation to a cause that they wish to support than as a means of obtaining the privileges that go with full membership.

Similarly, I ask Party Chairman, Cecil Parkinson, to consider whether the cause of Party democracy would not be better served by allowing the voluntary side of the Party to elect the Party Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Treasurer and a majority on the proposed Board and to leave the election of Leader in the hands of the duly elected MPs. In reply Cecil tells the meeting that he is absolutely on side with Wm. Hague on these matters and that there would be enormous risks in allowing the voluntary side of the Party to elect the Party Chairman – we shall see!

There is encouragement from Paul Sykes when he telephones on 10th December to say that he has finished meeting all the people that he felt he wanted to see and that in future there is only one person that he will want to meet when he comes to London and that that person is myself!

The last word as far as 1997 is concerned must however be reserved for our erstwhile Leader, the Member of Parliament for Huntingdon. On 17th November, at the Parliamentary Party’s weekly ‘Forward Look Group’ meeting at which the week’s business of the House and other matters are discussed, I raise the question of a replacement for the Royal Yacht BRITANNIA. There is no support forthcoming from those present and the Chief Whip suggests that I leave matters as they are for a while, not least because we don’t know what the Royal family themselves think and in the meantime to talk to Shadow Defence Secretary, George Young (Hampshire NW). The following day I am able to introduce the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Royal Yacht Group, Lord Ashbourne, to George Young as we travel back to Westminster by river ferry after attending an event onboard HMY BRITANNIA laid on by the Royal Navy Presentation Team. George appears to be only moderately interested in the question of a replacement Royal Yacht and seems to be more focussed on settling the fate of the existing one before giving any consideration to the provision of a new one. He says that opinion polls carried out by the last Government demonstrated that the idea was not a sure-fire vote winner, to which I feel bound to point out that had the survey been taken of exclusively Conservative voters it might well have told a very different story.

Be that as it may I am not inclined to let the matter drop and a few weeks later I table an Early Day Motion (EDM) to mark the end of BRITANNIA’s illustrious service. No less than 81 MPs sign my EDM but when I invite John Major to add his signature he dithers and then declines, saying that if it hadn’t been for one or two in the Cabinet “I would have done something about this”!

The EDM read ”That this House, whilst much regretting the decommissioning of HMY BRITANNIA, wishes to place on record its sincere thanks to all past and present members of her ship’s company, several of whom have served aboard the Royal Yacht for very many years; pays tribute on this her final decommissioning date, to all Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel who have served aboard ‘BRITANNIA’ during the past 44 years; and commends them for their service and dedication to a much loved British institution”.

an extract form the faast-paced political memoirs of Christopher Gill, then MP for Ludlow.

Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

Book Description

Publication Date: 12 Oct 2012

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.

Swan Song of Christopher Gill MP

My Parliamentary ‘swan song’, on 8th May, is a debate that I have initiated in Westminster Hall on the subject of ‘Best Value (Local Government)’. The Government Minister who responds to my speech says that she “found it very interesting to listen to the points made by the hon. Member for Ludlow, although I did not agree with a word that he said”. As a Labourite she would say that wouldn’t she, but that in no way detracts from the fact that I had the best of the argument. Personally I am content that my last debate is about Local Government because that is where I came in, so to speak, all those years ago, as a very young councillor on the ‘all-purpose’ Wolverhampton County Borough Council. What a pity it is that more of my Parliamentary colleagues haven’t cut their teeth in local government before aspiring to run the country but when, at the beginning of this Parliament, I suggested that local authority experience should be de rigueur for PPC s the idea went down like the proverbial lead balloon!

The following day Malcolm Pearson takes me to tea in the Peers Dining Room where we run headlong into Norman Tebbit. Like spontaneous combustion, the two of them are soon joshing about forming a new Conservative Party once the General Election is out of the way! There is nothing conclusive arising from my meeting with Malcolm other than a suggestion that if he wants to publicise the findings of his media monitoring campaign, TFA’s ‘Freedom Today’ would be pleased to run the story. Without prompting, Malcolm tells me that his father-in-law, Robert Fellows, was the Queen’s former Secretary. Whether or not this explains Malcolm’s reluctance to ask questions in the Lords about Her Majesty’s constitutional position in the aftermath of the European Treaties I shall never know.

Today, Thursday 10th May, is the last day of this Parliament and I am pleased to be able to have a final crack at Gordon Brown at Treasury question time. My question to the Chancellor is “In advocating the single currency, will the Chancellor make sure to remind the British people that every time we have been on fixed exchange rates, unemployment has increased astronomically?” Needless to say, Brown sidesteps answering the actual question but concludes his reply by saying “The Conservative Party must make up its mind in this campaign. Is it against a single currency in principle, and therefore for ever, or against it only for one Parliament?” I couldn’t have put it better myself!

At the end of the last vote at 17.51 Nick Winterton invites me to his office in Portcullis House for an end of term drink. There, somewhat to my surprise, I find the Chairman of the ’22 Committee, Archie Hamilton, together with Eric Forth, Edward Leigh, Gerald Howarth and the ‘Young Pretender’, David Davis – not a ‘wet’ to be seen! Enjoying Nick’s excellent champagne and the fascinating gossip makes me late for my rendezvous with James and Penny Cran at the Rochester Brasserie where we unwind at the end of what I can only describe as a far less than satisfactory Parliament.

At 08.10 on 17th May I listen to Wm. Hague being quietly barbecued about his inconsistencies by John Humphries on the ‘Today’ programme. This interview only serves to convince me that, in terms of winning the Election, we haven’t a prayer but I suppose that I’ve known that all along because of William’s failure to come down firmly on one side of the argument or the other or, failing that, at least stick to some sort of fundamental principle!

And so as I head for ‘the blue remembered hills’ of Shropshire I am happy to let my friend and colleague, Teresa Gorman have the last word. Teresa has told her husband Jim that if the Press call he is to say “Teresa don’t do politics no more”!

from "Cracking the Whip" the fast paced political memoirs of Christopher Gill, Maastricht rebel and former MP for Ludlow.

Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

Book Description

Publication Date: 12 Oct 2012

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.

“The Battle for Corby” The Inside Story of the 2012 Parliamentary By-Election New Book Published

Just one week after the thrilling by-election in Corby, the definitive history of the campaign has been written by Corby journalist Janet Bew and published by Bretwalda Books as a printed book and ebook.

Corby journalist Janet Bew followed the by-election campaign from the moment Louise Mensch stood down to the declaration of the final result. She tracked the candidates, followed the campaign teams and analysed the twists and turns of the unfolding drama.

The sudden and unexpected resignation of high-profile Conservative Member of Parliament Louise Mensch threw the national spotlight on to the quiet Northamptonshire town of Corby and its nearby villages. This is a key swing seat that was held by the Conservatives throughout the Thatcher and Major years, but went Labour in the 1997 Blair Landslide. In 2010 the Conservatives won Corby back, helping to put David Cameron into Downing Street.

The 2012 By-election was quickly seen by political commentators as being a key test for Prime Minister David Cameron and his leadership of the Conservative Party. If he lost Corby and lost it badly he would be in trouble. Similarly if Labour did not win convincingly their leader Ed Miliband would face serious questions from his own Party.

But while the commentators sat in their armchairs, the candidates and party workers were slogging it out on the streets of Corby and nearby villages. Corby town is staunch Labour territory, the villages solidly Conservative. But this bi-partisan picture was quickly disrupted by a strong campaign launched by UKIP, with the great and the good of Westminster flocking to campaign in the town - and the idosyncratic Mr Mozzarella providing light relief.

Very soon the Corby By-election developed into one of the closest, bitterest and least predictable by-elections of recent years.

The full story of the campaign is told here, for the first and only time.

Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

Should Europhiles be chucked out the Conservative Party for supporting rival candiates?

Two days before the European Parliamentary Election my constituent and former Conservative MP for Aldershot, Julian Critchley, tells the listeners to the ‘Today’ programme that he will vote ‘pro-Europe Conservative’. In an uncertain world one can always rely upon the pro-EU biased BBC to give prominence on its programmes to the likes of EU fanatics Critchley, fellow Old Salopian Michael Heseltine and Ken Clarke - as if they are representative of opinion within the Conservative Party. In this way, according to their own selective interpretation of their Charter, the BBC discharge their responsibility to be fair and impartial!

Later in the day, at a meeting between the Officers of the ’92 Committee and the Chief Whip, I venture to say that as Dr Adrian Rodgers, Conservative candidate in Exeter at the last General Election, was chucked out of the Party for alleged unacceptable pronouncements I presume that Critchley will be too. I go on to repeat my plea that in the forthcoming ‘re-shuffle’ the Party must rid itself of the last remnants of the failed previous administration. He is definitely not best pleased when I follow this by saying that there must be no back-sliding, irrespective of the outcome of Thursday’s EP Election. He says that ‘we have a policy’ and that ‘we shall stick to that policy’. On a less confrontational note he is interested to be shown broadcast schedules indicating that the Conservative Party Political Broadcast will be going out only in England whereas tomorrow’s PPB on behalf of the Labour Party will go out in all parts of the UK except Northern Ireland.

On the eve of poll, when asked on the ‘Today’ programme whether Critchley will be thrown out of the Party for having championed another Party, Francis Maude can’t or won’t answer the question. When I tackle the Chairman of the ’22 Committee about this issue Archie says that Maude should have known that the rules say that anyone who votes against the Party is automatically disqualified. He goes on to suggest that the Chairman of the local Constituency Conservative Association (CCA) should deal with this problem. When I say that Maude’s procrastination on the ‘Today’ programme will cost us votes and that I have already provided the Ludlow CCA Chairman with proof positive that Critchley should have been chucked out of the Party a long time ago - but that he remains, making a laughing-stock of us all - Archie says that he will get the Party Chairman to have a word with LCCA Chairman, Justin Caldwell. I am not holding my breath as to the outcome because the man in question is an unmitigated Europhile and the rules seem to be interpreted differently for people of that ilk!

On 11th June, the day after the Election, I learn that the turn-out in my Ludlow constituency has been 30% but to comply with EU requirements it will be Sunday before the votes can actually be counted. In the event the local count reveals an amazing 42.9% for the Conservatives, 17.7% for Labour and 13.6% for the rabidly europhile Liberal Democrats. The unanswered question as far as I am concerned is whether, because of my well known hostility to European political union, I am in effect acting as some sort of decoy duck for the Conservative Party. Because I stand as a Conservative and genuinely am a conservative the electorate might be being fooled into believing that my views are consistent with Party policy. Clearly they are not, but that doesn’t deter the Party, either at this election or other elections, from asking me to endorse their candidates – presumably because the Party recognises that my beliefs are more in line with voters thinking than the official Party policy itself! At this particular election I have even been ‘slipped’ from voting one Thursday evening so as to allow me to get home in time to glad-hand Conservative candidate, Philip Bushill-Matthews, around the West Midlands Agriculture Show at Shrewsbury the following day.

an extract from CRACKING THE WHIP the fast-paced political memoir by Christopher Gill, former MP for Ludlow and Maastricht rebel. 

buy your copy HERE

buy your ebook HERE

Book Description

Publication Date: 12 Oct 2012

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.

 

The Aldridge Brownhills Speech - a turning point for Christopher Gill MP

Addressing the Annual Dinner of the Streetley branch of Richard Shepherd’s Aldridge & Brownhills CCA on 22nd October my theme is Tony Blair, the Revolutionary – overturning all our democratic institutions, disorienting the populace by undermining all the fixed points in our society and establishing alternatives to our traditional form of government with his Community Forums, Regional Assemblies, devolution and in the context of Europe, promoting the EU as the alternative to NATO and the WEU for Defence and the Council of Europe as the arbiter of Human Rights respectively, all at the expense of national Parliaments as representative of the sovereign voices of the people.

When I meet Wm. Hague the following Tuesday I run through the theme of my Aldridge Brownhills speech to which he listens with great interest and is kind enough to say that I ‘always say something to make him think’! I tell him that I am not intending to pressurise him on the subject of agriculture in the same way that I have pushed him on fisheries because of the proximity of the next election and he agrees that his EU ‘shopping list’ is already long enough. As I am leaving his office William says that he hopes that I have noticed how much of my advice he has already taken. In answer to that very generous comment I respond by saying that I’ve got no complaints on that score but that what I have had to tell him is, after all, only common sense! When I bump into William’s PPS later that evening I make the point that a counter revolution based upon common sense policies would, in my opinion, be an effective antidote to the revolution being prosecuted by Blair.

The next day I attend the Conservative backbench Defence Committee intent upon making a contribution based upon the theme of my speech at Aldridge Brownhills. In the event the only other attendees are Robert Key (Salisbury) and Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) – it later transpires that Iain Duncan-Smith and the other officers of the committee were, at the same time, sitting in a completely different committee room!

At the ’22 Executive meeting on Wednesday 27th the Chairman voices his concern about the Party’s failure to vote last night against the abolition of hereditary Peers. This is fair comment but symptomatic of the fundamental problem that is dogging the contemporary Conservative Party i.e. the fear of standing up for traditional conservative values, without which we can, of course, kiss goodbye to any prospect of winning the next General Election. In a nation that is intrinsically conservative it makes no sense to be tacking to the left – if the voters want socialism there is no shortage of political parties offering them just that. Throughout the land they can vote Labour or Liberal Democrat or, in Scotland, SNP and in Wales, Plaid Cymru. The Conservative Party is the only party that could, if it was so minded, offer a real alternative to this drab and dreary prospect but for as long as it continues to ape the socialists and ignore its USPs (Unique Selling Points) it will fail to realise its full potential. Why can’t the Party hierarchy recognise that clinging to the concept of Economic and Monetary Union, the concept of ‘ever closer (political) union’ within the benighted EU and a host of other misconceived notions, is the way to political oblivion? The answer to that question may not be so hard to discern. We have in our midst a number of senior colleagues who are not conservatives at all. They probably never ever were conservatives in the first place but attached themselves to the Conservative Party simply because it offered ‘wannabee MPs’ their best chance of being elected or, as seems to me more likely, for the enhanced opportunity that it would give them to promote the collectivist agenda. Are these people the latter-day equivalent of Burgess, Philby, Maclean and Blunt, infiltrating arguably the world’s most successful political party so as to destroy it from within?

Whilst Archie quite rightly raises the question of our stance on reform of the House of Lords I for my part say how disappointed I am that we did not oppose the Food Standards Agency Bill and warn colleagues that others will inevitably raise questions at the next full ’22 meeting about our failure to oppose the Financial Services and Markets Bill.

from CRACKING THE WHIP, the fast paced political memoirs of Christopher Gil MP

Buy your copy HERE

Buy your ebook HERE

Book Description

Publication Date: 12 Oct 2012

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.

 

The 1997 Conservative Leadership Race begins

The question of reform of the Party’s constitution will run and run but in the meantime we have to get on with the urgent task of electing a new Leader. Word reaches me via Mike Penning that there is increasing frustration in the Redwood camp due to the antics of one Hywel Williams – shades of 1995! (see Whips Nightmare p. 158-166) – thus reinforcing my resolve not to get involved. In spite of that decision, on 3rd June, in company with Teddy Taylor and Teresa Gorman, I attend John Redwood’s press conference in the Grand Committee Room. JR’s delivery is frankly wooden but he loosens up during the Question and Answer session where I express the opinion that saying ‘NO’ to the Single Currency six months ago might have prevented the mass defections that we suffered at the polls on 1st May but that to get those people back onboard it will now be necessary to go much further and offer the electorate the prospect of getting out of the collectivist EU altogether.

Earlier in the day Jonathan Collett, Campaign Director of the Bruges Group, who very generously gave several days of his time to help me during the election campaign, has told me that they are backing Peter Lilley but feels sure that they would switch to anyone who was prepared to stand on an ‘Out of the EU’ ticket. For my part I say that I haven’t ruled out the possibility of doing just that and Jonathan rings back the following morning to say that his chairman, Dr Martin Holmes, is enthusiastic that I should.

In conversation with ITN’s Political Editor, Michael Brunson, he expresses the opinion that if an ‘Out of Europe’ candidate stands for the leadership it will indicate a total lack of unity within the Conservative Party although he recognises the strength of the arguments in favour of the idea, not the least of which are the millions of voters who are currently disenfranchised on this issue.

On the morning of June 4th Stephen Dorrell (Charnwood) pulls out of the leadership race and later in the day holds a joint press conference with Ken Clarke (Rushcliffe). The following day the five remaining candidates are invited to make their case in front of the ’92 Group. In the event, Ken Clarke’s presentation is appalling, Wm. Hague (Richmond) and Peter Lilley (Hitchen & Harpenden) are unconvincing and so the choice appears to be between Michael Howard and John Redwood who excels himself by making by far and away the best presentation of them all. Earlier in the day he has attended a meeting of the ‘Group of Eight’ where, in vino veritas after a most agreeable Livery & Court Luncheon at Butchers Hall, I tell him that if I had his intellect I would also be a contender simply because of the absence of any other candidate saying what the voters want to hear us say. As a result of this meeting Teddy Taylor pledges his support to JR, leaving only Teresa Gorman, Richard Shepherd and myself as yet uncommitted. At the lunch one of my fellow Liverymen tells me that he didn’t vote for Rupert Allason in Torbay because of his arrogance – Rupert lost by 12 votes!

from CRACKING THE WHIP - the fast-paced political memir by Christopher Gill, former MP for Ludlow and Maastricht Rebel

Buy you copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

Europhiles Create Trouble in the Conservative Party

In respect of two other arch-Europhiles there is better news., On 29th October Ian Taylor (Esher & Walton) announces his resignation as front bench spokesman on Northern Ireland and three days later David Curry emulates him by resigning as Shadow Agriculture Minister. Not to be outdone, on Remembrance Sunday (9th November), Ted Heath (Old Bexley & Sidcup) will tell the world that he will not be voting with the rest of the Party against the Amsterdam Treaty and that he intends to abstain. This reminds me that, when he was our guest speaker at a highly successful ’92 Group dinner on 4th November, Wm. Hague had made it quite clear that he would be absolutely consistent in what he told different wings of the Party. Called upon to ask the first question I first of all remind William of my experience of having had the Party whip withdrawn in 1994 for failing to respond to a 3-line Whip on the European Communities (Finance) Bill and then go on to invite him to assure the meeting that the Party’s code of discipline had not changed. Notwithstanding Alan Clark (Kensington & Chelsea) thinking that was a “brilliant” question I remain unconvinced that the ‘wreckers’ in the Party will be treated similarly although it has to be said that before the month is out the Whip has been withdrawn from Temple-Morris who has promptly resigned his membership of the Party. Next June he will ‘cross the floor’ and after a decent interval his new-found friends in the Labour Party will elevate him to the House of Lords.

On the day after Ted Heath’s outburst my Whip, Oliver Heald (Hertfordshire North), seeks my opinion on a number of issues such as whether the Conservative Party should abandon Unionism in favour of nationalism; whether England should have its own Parliament; what I think about Proportional Representation (PR) and not least whether I am happy about the imposition of a 3-line Whip for the vote on the Amsterdam Treaty in two days time. With regard to the latter I tell Oliver that the same should happen to Ted Heath as happened to me three years ago when I abstained on the EC Finance Bill. Such a course of action would demonstrate Wm. Hague’s mastery of the Party; would be helpful to the Party Whips in terms of maintaining discipline and might go down extremely well with the millions of our Party’s supporters who now see Ted Heath as a spoiler.

Although Wm. Hague’s policy on the Single Currency is hardly likely to appeal to the relatively few remaining committed Europhiles within the Parliamentary Party these political dinosaurs, who have the effrontery to call themselves the ‘Mainstream Group’, will continue to have a disproportionate influence upon Party policy for a long time yet to come, as evidenced by Hague’s subsequent announcement that his opposition to the Single Currency is limited to the duration of the next Parliament. If he felt that he had to qualify his original position then the most natural qualification would have been to say that it was ruled out for at least the duration of his leadership. Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Shropshire branch of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) one of the members goes out of his way to say that the West Midlands CBI backs Hague’s current policy on the single currency and wants us Shropshire MPs to make sure that he knows it.

When, on 3rd November, I find myself dining with ’22 Committee Vice Chairman, Geoffrey Johnson-Smith (Wealdon) he is seething about the way in which the seminar which the Mainstream Group plan to hold on November 6th is being portrayed as a rallying point for dissidents. More to the point he is angry about the potential this initiative has to create ‘a party within a party’, something which we so-called rebels had been so careful to eschew back in 1994.

an extract from "Cracking the Whip", the fast paced political memoir by Christopher Gill, fomer MP for Ludlow and Maastricth rebel.

Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook version HERE

NEW BOOK OF THE MONTH - Cracking the Whip

Visit the page for this book

Cracking the Whip

New Book of the Month

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 government.
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.


About the Author
Christopher Gill was Conservative MP for Ludlow from 1987 to 2001 - and one of the anti-Maastricht “bastards” who raised the standard of Eurosceptic revolt within the Tory Party. He subsequently served as Chairman of the Freedom Association and later joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP).