This morning, whilst driving to the Vets I tuned in to Radio 4 and caught Tim Monotgomerie and John Bercow talking about the Conservative Party. Tim has already posted about what John Bercow said, but for those that won't listen he basically said that the grassroots of the party didn't matter and convincing the electorate was the important thing. Whilst I think that John expressed his view poorly, I do understand his point, but Tim has asked a number of questions of John now as a result. The first of these is whether he won his "Buckinghamshire seat because of [his] innate qualities or because [he] stood on the Conservative platform?" The answer is neither.
John Bercow won his seat because he has "Conservative" next to his name on a ballot paper in Buckinghamshire. Whoever stands for the Tory Party in Bucks will win, period. As a Bucks boy I can tell you now that being Tory is in our blood.
I went to both a Secondary Modern and a Grammar in Bucks, and in the Sec Mod I was in a House called Burke. Yes they have House Systems in Bucks still, even in secondary moderns. The other houses were Disraeli, Hampden and Gladstone, all tories.
If you were to ever point at a county in the UK and say "Tory" it is Buckinghamshire. A quick look at Aylesbury Vale Disrict Council website shows that being Tory, for the most part, is a way of life. You can search by party members on the wesbite, the choices are Tory, Lib Dem and Indepedent. Nuff said.
3 comments:
How did I know someone would be a pedant on that point.
I think you'll find Gladstone was both. He was first elected to the House as a Conservative. He served in Peel's Conservative Government, and he was regarded as a "stern and unbending Tory" to his peers. He'd been in Parliament for nearly 30 years before he joined the Liberal Party.
Yes, when he died he was a Liberal (capitalised to denote it as a membership tag), but if you actually look at what he beleived he was still a tory.
However, this does detract from my point about Buckinghamshire just simply be a blue place.
As a constituent of John Bercow, I completely agree with you. I can't imagine not having a tory MP.
As a constituent of John Bercow I have followed his words and actions very closely. The following words come to mind: disloyal, self seeking opportunist, a man of few principles, a man who changes his views with every favourable wind. A man who has moved from being right wing member of the 'Monday Club' to now wanting to be seen as the trendy liberal reformer; who has now got into bed with New Labour. In my view this man would sell his soul to the devil if it meant personal advancement and is not to be trusted. He is the reason I did not renew my Conservative Party membership. I hope a true independent conservative stands against him at the next election, that's if he is not deslected by party officials before hand.
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