Thursday 18 November 2010

Hague - A Brand With No Fire In His Belly

So sums up Tim Montgomerie on Conservative Home in which he asks where is the Hague Mk1. Arguing that the Hague of 2010 is very different to the Hague of 2010, he writes:
"Hague Mk II has not become an enthusiast for European integration but the fire has been extinguished from his belly."
It is not only the fire against European integration that has been extinguished from his belly. Contrast the Hague of 2010 to the Hague of 1999 in his conference speech that year. This was, in my opinion, a good speech in which he promised to give us back our country. Some extracts:
"Vast regional bureaucracies and European political superstructures are not the solution. They are the problem.........The people of this country want and deserve straight talk..........And when the Government of Britain is the most two-faced, interfering, over-regulating, bossy, intolerant, arrogant and crony-run in our history, there is no doubt Britain needs a Common Sense Revolution.........
So if vast regional bureaucracies and European political supstructures are the problem Mr. Hague, why are we still a member of the European Union? If only the people of this country did receive straight talk from our politicians! Oh, and with the birth of the Coalition we still seem to have a two-faced, interfering, over-regulating, bossy, intolerant, arrogant and crony-run government! 

Talking about the United Kingdom as a nation, Hague continued:
"There is the foolish idea that the nation cannot survive in the modern world.........And there is the foolish idea that a single European state is inevitable and that we will miss out on great opportunities if we don't go along with it.Above all else Conservatives will resist this miserable defeatist creed.For if we can resist it then Britain will be ideally placed to seize the opportunities of the modern world.We are the lucky inheritors of a country with unique advantages in the world - a unique relationship with Europe, unique relationships too with America and with the Commonwealth. We have the huge advantages of our language, of our open and democratic traditions, of our political stability and our history of trade and diplomacy across the globe."
Hague concluded his address with these words:
"And so I say to the people of Britain:if you believe that our country is unique in the world but is in danger of losing its identity; if you believe that Britain is a place where you should be rewarded for doing the right thing, but now you are penalised for it; if you believe in Britain as a healthy democracy, but that the standards of democracy are now being tarnished and diminished;if you believe in Britain as a country where the law is enforced and respected, but that now it is not respected enough;if you believe in Britain as a country that will work with its neighbours but never submit to being governed by anyone else;if you believe in an independent Britain.Then come with me, and I will give you back your country.
So Hague now accepts and submits to being governed by someone else and that Britain is no longer an independent country.

William Hague, contrary to what Tim Montgomerie writes, would appear to have most definitely become an advocate for European integration - why else would he be acting and speaking as he does today? Of course, there is an alternative view for Hague's change of stance and that is political expediency. When a new leader of your party is elected, one with views at variance with yours, there are only two choices available. Either one sticks to one's principles, in which case you are considered a maverick (Carswell, Redwood - although questions remain on those two) or you 'knuckle under' on the understanding that when elected to government a Ministerial position of importance is yours, with its 'aura', travel and other perks.

Why else would Hague have changed his stance? A cynical question I admit, but hey we are talking about a politician here.

4 comments:

Sue said...

I did try to tell them what I thought but my comment got deleted.

All I did was mention honour and the gravy train.

Must have hurt their sensibilities.

Anonymous said...

Why does Montgomerie claim that Hague is eurosceptic when he is quite obviously not such a thing?

Because the Tories - the whole bloody lot of them (there are no frickin mavericks) - are involved in an elaborate charade.

An you know what? It bloody well works as well. It works because of the conceit and arrogance of the average middle class Briton who STILL equates presentation with political intent and competence, and who invest their intellectual stock on it.

When the spin is penetrated, and the stinking fetid cesspool of deceit is revelead beneath, these Britons would indulge in doublethink rather than admit that their investment is worth nothing and that they are idiots who keep making the wrong choices.

Britons love their slavery, mate, not never ever ever will be slaves. They love it.

Blogger said...

There are so many people who say the right things when they are in no position to do anything about it, but when given the opportunity volte face, and do the opposite.

Mostly it is retiring individuals (safe with a very comfortable retirement) who, having given up power then feel free to say that they were wrong all along, knew they were wrong, that the public was right all along and whoever replaces them must *now* change things!!

It is common for campaigning opinions to be tempered in power -- while campaigning the case may be overstated for effect.

But Hague has committed such a reversal and betrayal it beggars belief.

Right back to his 1977 conference speech he has said the right things - has he really been living a lie (in public) all this time?

I now have him on a par with Mandelson for self-serving, and Jack Straw for vacuousness.

p.s. You can read his 1977 speech here:

http://free-english-people.blogspot.com/2010/10/william-hagues-1977-conservative.html

Witterings from Witney said...

Sue, two words never to be used on ConHome!

Anonymous: good points made.

pop: yup, hague is a 'turncoat' and yes, have read the 1977 speech in fact linked to it an earlier post about 10 days ago.