The CEP and the Convention on Modern Liberty

The CEP blog yesterday said that the Campaign for an English Parliament will be attending the Convention on Modern Liberty.

This is wonderful news.

The fact is that "politics" as we know it has changed faster and further since 1997 than we have known it to for 50 years. A chief concern that has manifested itself in declining electoral turnout and voter participation is the decline in trust in politicians. We can talk forever about why that is, but we all know it is the case. People are fed up of politicians and political parties.

That makes effecting change very difficult indeed. Political parties are the organisations that actually get into power. Before and/or during this, they are vehicles democracy and public engagement - or at least they should be. When the public lose faith in them and respect for them and stops getting involved in them, the very organisations that should allow us to express ourselves stop functioning properly. It's a downwards spiral.

Hence the rise of pressure groups.

By being non-party political, but still political, pressure groups can do what they say on the tin. They can pressure parties to accept things that, as individuals, we cannot convince them to accept.

That is why I'm in the CEP. The CEP is a pressure group that is working to achieve what I believe is justice for England - a fully devolved national Parliament for England.

And so the CEP's involvement in this Convention is great news. All these pressure groups are coming together to speak on a unifying theme. All the big names will be there - Liberty, the Taxpayers' Alliance, the Countryside Alliance. The better-known the CEP becomes, the better the chance of achieving its goals.

Joining this Convention shows the CEP is thinking big. As a pressure group, it can do things that a political party cannot.

And to the individuals from the CEP that will give up their time, money and effort to get there, and be brave enough to get on their feet and speak at the Conference: thank you. I know you will do us proud.

The destruction of the Labour Party

Opinion polls over the last 6 months have made grim reading for our beloved Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. With the Tories having consistently above 40% and Labour dipping as low as 24%, Labour could be staring not just defeat in the face, but complete amnihilation.

Were the Conservatives to gain 44% of the vote, with the of 11.5% swing that it would entail, it would see Cameron as PM with a Parliamentary majority of 156. The Tories would have 403 seats and Labour suffering complete wipeout- going from having 347 to 171 (check out this rather nifty little toy).

Can you imagine the effect on the Labour Party of losing almost half of its MPs? It would be devastating- to the point that the Party would be out of power for a generation. And given its financial problems (resulting not only from having over-spent in during the 1997 and 2001 general elections, but its falling membership, loans that need repaying and trade unions feeling miffed), there is no doubt that even if the Party did hold on to 200 or so seats, it would struggle to fund campaigns in these after the Party was out of government.

If it sounds as if I'm revelling in this then you're damn well right that I am. Not because I'm a die-hard Tory (I'm not), not because I think that everything Labour has done is bad (I don't), but because Gordon Brown and the Labour Party tried to destroy England. They tried to destroy it culturally and constitutionally- being destroyed themselves is nothing less than they deserve.

Some of it was for political advantage. Labour thought that by giving Scotland and Wales national assemblies they could dominate these institutions and never be out of power there. That they would harvest England's resources to pay for generous hand-outs to bribe voters there was no problem for them. They also tried to carve up England itself into 9 "Regions", whilst abolishing our historic Counties. Of course there has also been the mass, uncontrolled immigration that affected only England (new arrivals have not settled in Scotland or Wales and it's only recently that they have been encouraged to go to Scotland, where their struggling economy needs the skilled workers). I'm not opposed to immigration, but I do feel that having such high numbers in such a short time has undermined community cohesion and drastically altered the English way of life. At the same time, having large numbers of ethnic minorities was also a great vehicle for pushing "political correctness" further into public life and public institutions. The fact that there are now jobs advertised that English people are not allowed to apply for shows just how far we have come.

But we're moving off the point. Brown and his Labour pals tried to destroy England- the fact that their meddling will see the Labour Party destroyed for a generation is called JUSTICE.

And yet it may be longer than a generation. Part of the Tory revival has been thanks to them being able to present themselves as the Party for people that are disenchanted with the government. They didn't do this in 2001 or 2005. Once the Conservatives are in power, the Liberal Democrats will have a once-in-a-century opportunity to position themselves are the alternative, as the real opposition. Given how far up the creek Labour could be (and going even further), they just might do it.

Personally, I think a return to a Conservative-Liberal politics will do this country the world of good. Not to mention that, of all the three main parties, it is Liberal Democrat members that most strongly support the creation of an English Parliament.

Daniel Hannan

Daniel Hannan MEP is such a legend.

Check out his article in the Daily Telegraph today:

"The former Attorney General is confusing causes and symptoms. We don't walk past a Union flag and say to ourselves, "Ah yes, now that I think of it, this is a fine country". We might display the flag because we already believed this".

"Our distinctive features are being eroded. Our legal system is being Europeanised, our counties regionalised, our regiments abolished".

"If Mr Brown's infatuation with Britishness were anything more than a cloak for self-interest - a ruse to distract attention from his anomalous position as a Scottish MP - he would champion the institutional idiosyncracies that make us what we are".

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

The London Marathon

Former CEP Vice Chairman Tom Waterhouse is running the London Marathon this year to raise money for the Royal British Legion.

A very worthy cause indeed.

Tom was on the CEP's National Council for 3 years and the Vice Chairman for a year. He used to run this blog before me and you might remember him (back in January last year) giving Lord Falconer a run for his money on Radio 5 Live, and for giving Magnus Linklater a battering on BBC News 24!

He also wrote "Answering the English Question"- which you can buy on the left of this page.

So make sure you sponsor him!

Give him your support by visiting www.justgiving.com/tomwaterhouse

There is hope yet

Those of you that have read the post below will know that this blogger has been lucky enough to spend a week in Suffolk recently.

It was just north of Bury St. Edmunds (see post below) that you will find West Stow, home to one of the most remarkable places I have ever been.

The picture on the left here is what it's all about. West Stow was once an Anglo-Saxon village. Archaeologists have been continually excavating the site since 1965, and their discoveries changed how the Anglo-Saxons are perceived (see below).

Since then the Anglo-Saxon buildings have been re-built on the exact places they were excavated. There is a museam hosting all the items found in the village, which is regularly visited by schools and members of the public alike.

Walking around those buildings- with their log fires smouldering, allows you to feel as if you were back in 500AD in a real Anglo-Saxon village. It was remarkable.

Best of all was the museum, which explained that Anglo-Saxons had always been thought of as murderous, brutal savages. Until, that is, excavations like this which proved that, through their pottery, jewellery and artwork, the Anglo-Saxons were cultured and sophisticated people.

The museum told the story of Anglo-Saxon England- ending with this board:


"Norman propaganda denigrated Anglo-Saxon culture and only recently has this been challenged".

All those school children and parents and teachers will read it.

The denigration of Anglo-Saxon culture continues to this day- it's why we can't celebrate our national day or say we're proud to be English without some looney using the word "racist". But this is being challenged. Our cultural ancestors were intelligent, sophisticated people that laid the foundations for what has become one of the finest nations in the world- England.

When you visit places like West Stow, you know that there is hope yet for our young people and for England.

Suffolk

Over the last week Mrs. CEP Oxfordshire and I have been in the fine old English county of Suffolk. Steeped in English history, it was rather nice to go to places such as Southwold, and visit churches dedicated to St. Edmund the Martyr, last Anglo-Saxon king of East Anglia.

Edmund was defeated in battle by the Danes in 869 and, on capture, was ordered to renounce his Christian faith. Being English he would have none of it- it would take more than a slow and painful death to get him to disown his beliefs! The Danes were furious, and so tied him to a tree and executed him. This is thought to have taken place at Hoxne in Suffolk. The Danes hid Edmund's head in the woods so as to prevent his followers finding it and giving him a Christian burial. A wicked thing to do in the very real sense of the word.

However, Edmund's followers returned to look for their fallen king. On searching the woods, a voice called out to them. "Here, here!". Edmund's people followed the calls until they found a wolf- craddling Edmund's head as if it were one of its cubs. When they took Edmund's head from the wild animal and brought it out of the woods, the animal followed them until it knew Edmund was to be laid to rest- and then disappeared back into the woods.

Edmund's holy remains were taken to what is now Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. A huge Abbey and cathedral were built to honour him, which became one of the most famous pilgrimage sites of the times- the remains of the Abbey stand to this day. However, when the Abbey was disestablished in 1539, the Abbey was stripped of all its valuables. Edmund's holy remains were lost and have still not been found to this day.

Edmund's feast day is 20 November. Last year there was a campaign to have him restored as patron saint of England. Despite how highly I regard St. Edmund- I wouldn't change our St. George for anyone.

Northern Rock- who will really pay?

With the whole fiasco over the last couple of days, this English patriot is left asking- "who will really pay?"

Our (Scottish) Chancellor has been accused of incompetence, with the "taxpayer" currently subsidising the bank in loans and guarantees to other lenders to the tune of about £55bn. Apparently this will rise to £110bn, an equivalent of £3,500 per taxpayer.

Meanwhile our (Scottish) Prime Minister hasn't sacked Darling, nor will Darling resign. Neither are accountable to a single English voter- and yet- were Scotland to leave the UK in the next couple of years, what would Brown, Darling and Salmond decide would happen to this incredible burden?

Brown: What about the North Sea Oil?
Salmond: Scotland will have that.
All: Agreed.
Brown: What about this massive national debt?
Salmond: England can keep that!
All: Agreed!