Sabbatical

I am taking a sabbatical from the Conservative Party.  Matters came to a head towards the conclusion of the awful general election campaign.  After over half a century of supporting the Conservative Party, through thick and thin, I became dismayed by the campaign which degenerated from what appeared to be an unassailable position to abject confusion and farce.  It was not clear to me what the Conservatives stood for and long-standing conservative principles seemed to have been abandoned in a shameful, scatter gun and populist charge.  It appeared that fox hunting and free breakfasts were more important than defence of the realm which, once again, had been relegated to a footnote in the manifesto. Indeed, as I write, RAF aircraft are in danger of being shot down by tetchy Russians in both Syria and the Baltic yet nobody seems to care a fig.  Who would have thought that a Conservative Government, seeking a fresh mandate, would be seen to be on the back foot against Jeremy Corbyn and Dianne Abbott on the subject of security and law and order?  Why was Corbyn’s fantasy finance allowed to flourish unchallenged on social media? I hoped, following the electoral humiliation, that some sort of policy reappraisal might have taken place but, on the eve of the Queen’s Speech, I am none the wiser.

So I am looking for inspiration by re-reading Roger Scruton’s “How to be a Conservative.”  Scruton points out that one of the disadvantages of being a Conservative is that, in terms of public opinion, our message is true but boring.  Our assets as a society: “peace, freedom, law, civility, public spirit, the security of property and family life,” have been painstakingly established but are vulnerable to being swept away on populist tides whose message is exciting but false.  “The work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation slow, laborious and dull.”  Now, arguably more than ever, Conservatives must hold true to their roots and continuously defend what we have gained in the past and show how we should hold on to it in the future.

As electoral arguments, vague exhortations to give me a strong hand and trust my judgement just don’t cut it, do they?