Christian right just wants tolerance? Pull the other one

Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by OHC in International, United Kingdom

ConservativeHome religious contributor Melanchthon posted last night a so-called ‘Plea for Tolerance’, claiming that Christians were persecuted and looked down upon in political life.

We understand that the rest of you will never really accept our twisted, unnatural beliefs and practices – that would be too much to ask. We seek only toleration. Now, up until recently, many of you have been prepared to tolerate us in your own way. You may have quailed at really granting us full freedom to hit our children or deny abortions or contraception to our youths, but by and large, provided we kept our beliefs and practices personal, in the privacy of our homes, churches, and consciences, up to a point you were content to leave us alone.

The problem with the religious right is that they are not content to keep themselves to their own homes, churches, and consciences. They, by definition, try to fuse religion with politics.

Conservatives ought to be fine with parents telling their kids not to have abortions. But demanding legislation for other people’ kids is not fine. I’ll leave aside the ‘Christians just want full freedom to hit their children’ argument.

Particularly, they lose the right to call themselves private or persecuted when they demand legislation by virtue of this being a ‘Christian country’ or ‘Judeo-Christian morality’. They are public and proud of it, and by institutionalising their beliefs, they discriminate against other people.

And that would be fine if we believed that the state is the right venue for that, but we don’t. Indeed, the ‘religious right’, as believers in the state imposing their values on the rest of society, are not really right wing at all. They are left wing and centralising statists. As such, they deserve to be left behind.

A religious turn is a turn backwards

Posted on 26. Jan, 2010 by OHC in United Kingdom

As part eight of ConHome’s series on Sealing the Deal, Tim Montgomerie suggested hitting up specific target constituencies of swing voters, and producing digests of news for them. Having set it up, it can’t come as a surprise that he highlighted the role of the CCF at targeting Anglicans as one such group of ’swing voters’. One problem: it’s a vote-loser.

Church-goers are not one of the largest blocs of swing voters. Indeed, church-goers are not one of the largest blocs of anything. The number of Anglicans attending church each week declined to just over 1.5% of the population in 2008: fewer than the number of Muslims that attend mosques.

To quote the British Social Attitudes survey out today, “There has been a sharp decline in religious faith in Britain … from politics to private life, many domains are seen as off limits to clerical involvement. Our research also revealed that just over half of people in Britain (52%) fear that the UK is deeply divided along religious lines.”

Wow, that really sounds like Britain’s itching for a more religious government! Chasing the Anglican vote will help solidify the votes of rich, White people from the shires – as if that’s the core demographic whose votes the Conservative Party is chasing! Hell, even Conservatives are turning away from religious monopoly.

It will scare off the 52% of the population that wants less religious divide in the country and the majority that think that politics and religion should be firmly separate. If the Conservatives follow the Anglican vote, they risk undoing the restoration of the party’s brand and risk losing crucial seats at the next election. That doesn’t sound like a good strategy to us.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

Posted on 18. Dec, 2009 by RK in United Kingdom

As you may well know there is already a hot debate going on on ConHome between the ever delectable Alex Deane of Big Brother Watch fame and Gavin Barwell, Cabinet member for Croydon Council. It’s about CCTV. Yes, that old chesnut!

Well I think what has to be said has already been said, but allow me to throw in the delightful phrase as mentioned in this blogpost’s title. Who watches the watchers?

How do we know what’s going on with our data, our images, our audio conversations and who has the right to collect and/or disperse these as they see fit? And who are they answerable to? Surely not the government who are well known for the data loss fiascos? Surely not the politically driven cabinet members, councillors, the executive agencies or quangocrats? Yes. I have full faith in this system. Oops, I left my sarcasm button on.

The UK is the most spied upon nation in the world – why doesn’t it have the lowest crime rate?

So, in conclusion- Gavin Barwell says that 26 arrests were made in a month thanks to CCTV.  I say that were the hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on the whole CCTV infrastructure in that area used to recruit police officers and keep them on the beat, you’d likely have made more arrests over the course of the month, alleviated the burden on other officers in the force and driven down crime as a whole via deterrence.

But what do I know eh?

Watching… like hawks

Posted on 28. Nov, 2009 by OHC in United Kingdom

ConHome has announced its launch of two new project pages: one dedicated to think tanks and one dedicated to ‘Left Watch’. As we like to think of ourselves as a mini-drink think tank, and want everyone to keep right (Ed: we’re so lonely with just YouTube videos of Dan Hannan for company), we’re obviously very excited at this.

Just check out the banner for Left Watch:


No, please don’t check out Polly (Ed: you need help). What’s that on the right? Oh, but a left-turn sign. I wonder where they could have got that idea from…

Eurosceptics to the fore

Posted on 04. Nov, 2009 by OHC in United Kingdom

In the Daily Mail today, David Davis issued a challenge to DC over a referendum on Europe, or lack thereof:

What we should do is, in my view, clear. We should have a referendum, not on the treaty, but on the negotiating mandate that the British Government takes to the European Union.

This is the same David Davis that came top of the ConHome poll on who members wanted. Given that the only candidate that came close was the even more eurosceptic John Redwood, it represents a huge challenge to Cameron’s position on the EU.

Two hours until Cameron’s emergency press conference. Whatever he announces, something tells me David Davis might come up in the Q&A.

The right winning – where it goes libertarian

Posted on 02. Nov, 2009 by OHC in United Kingdom

ConservativeHome has posted an excellent piece about the ‘pussy-footing’ Conservatives in Canada. Whilst the Tories have had a minority government since 2006, they’ve done very little in power since then, or their renewed election victory in October ‘08. Result? There might as well not be a Conservative government at all!

But we at KeepRightOnline don’t think all is lost. Out in Alberta, PM Stephen Harper’s oil-rich and virtually tax-free home province, the Progressive Conservatives are dominant, but are being pressed from the right by the erstwhile Wildrose Alliance. The battle for the leadership of that party was won by the libertarian (and pro-choice) Danielle Smith over the social conservatives – proving that the right-wing in Canada isn’t as beholden to the religious lobby as the Liberals would like you to believe.

As a result, it’s not nearly as likely to ostracise itself as the religious right did the GOP down south of the border – and stands a good chance of actually winning outright the next general election. Actual conservatives in charge? Now that’s an idea.

Danielle Smith: the future of Canadian conservatism?

One conference down, one to go!

Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by RK in Features, United Kingdom

That’s right ladies and gents- YBF6 is just around the corner. Renowed for training young politicos and activists, the YBF6 event is never more relevant. With scandal and sleaze at the forefront of British politics, many politicians and youngsters alike are likely to be caught out and scalped by the vultures that are both the media and the blogosphere.

YBF is known for informing activists to be honest, decent and transparent and all the while being able handle tricky and often misleading questions from the aforementioned organisations.

At just £120 (£65 for FT students) for 3 days/nights worth of training (and intense fun, I might add), this is not to be missed. This is your chance to learn about conservative ideas, meet and network with like-minded activists and receive valuable resource materials ahead of the General Election next year.

The 6th Young Britons’ Foundation Training Conference takes place at Wellington College, Berkshire from lunchtime of Friday, 23rd to lunchtime on Sunday 25th October 2009.

Confirmed speakers include:

* Eric Pickles MP, Conservative Party Chairman
* Rt Hon Lord Forsyth, Former Secretary of State for Scotland
* Daniel Hannan MEP
* Douglas Carswell MP
* Paul Goodman MP, Shadow Home Office Minister
* Greg Hands MP, Shadow Treasury Minister
* Andrew Rosindell MP, Shadow Home Office Minister
* Matthew Elliot, TaxPayers’ Alliance
* Iain Dale, Blogger and Publisher
* Paul Staines, Guido Fawkes
* Nick Wood, Former CCHQ Head of Media
* Johnathan Isaby, ConservativeHome
* and many more to be revealed over the coming weeks!

Among the topics that the 6th YBF Activist Training Conference will cover are:

* Television and radio skills training
* Handling negative information
* Becoming a candidate and winning elections
* Running successful campaigns
* Message development
* Internet activism and e-campaigning
* Building your CV
* Networking your way to success
* Getting the best jobs and internships avaliable
* Direct mail, personal solicitation and other fund raising tips

In order to book your place click the link here.

No influence without integrity for Ashcroft

Posted on 22. Sep, 2009 by OHC in United Kingdom

It seems that the times, they are a-changin’, as Michael Ashcroft has bought controlling stakes in PoliticsHome, ConservativeHome, and ConservativeIntelligence for a cool £1.3m. In doing so, Ashcroft has embarked upon the blogosphere’s largest spending spree since Guido last went to the pub.

In response, Andrew Rawnsley has resigned today as Editor-in-Chief of PoliticsHome:

I became Editor-in-Chief on the basis that PoliticsHome was dedicated to being a non-partisan site clearly independent of any party both editorially and financially. It was essential for users of the site that they could feel absolute confidence in the political independence of PoliticsHome. I do not believe that can be compatible with being under the ownership of the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

But, uh, wait a minute. Was Observer columnist Rawnsley unhappy with the ownership of another Conservative, Stephan Shakespeare? Was he unhappy that Shakespeare also owned ConservativeHome, part-owns the Conservatives’ favourite pollsters YouGov, formerly owned (the conservative) 18 Doughty Street, and ran as a Conservative candidate in 1997? Or did that not impair PoliticsHome’s integrity?

The ConHome/PolHome corporate arrangement will remain the same and the offices will remain in the same building, but with Shakespeare’s name joined by Ashcroft. No big deal. If anyone thinks that an Ashcroft investment means a huge change in fortunes, they can’t have been to watch Watford FC play recently (Ed: poor you…).

The beauty of the blogosphere is that reputations can be built quickly by those with integrity (like ConHome itself), whilst well-funded party-liners rarely make headway (Dolly?). The other side of that is that reputations can be lost quickly if audiences become disillusioned.

Bad Conscience complains about the Conservatives extending their power onto the interwebs:

Ashcroft no doubt smells a profit. But just as importantly he thinks the on-line frontier is an important one for his party to fight on.When blogs cease to become the preserve of nerdy losers, and real power-players like Ashcroft move in, it matters.

But that can’t happy if it just becomes a party voice. If Lord Ashcroft’s investment compromises the integrity of either PoliticsHome or ConHome, they’ll go down the pan, along with Ashcroft’s profit.

Lib Dems nicked our points!

Posted on 27. Jul, 2009 by keeprightonline in United Kingdom

How did this happen?

Take a second… think about it… UPDATED

Posted on 25. May, 2009 by keeprightonline in United Kingdom

This week as many of you may already know, Former Birmingham University Conservative Future President Dan O Doherty was expelled from the Conservative Party for allegedly wearing a Hitler moustache to a fancy dress party- and then posting a picture of said incident on Facebook. Right, so that’s the gist of what’s happened- but let’s take a moment to analyse the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate incident.

Comments on the article posted on Conservative Home yesterday decried the CF ‘Thought Police’ while Party Officials are said to have contacted Mr. Doherty to criticize his actions and expel him from the party. That won’t be the end of Dan, however. We all know Matt Lewis, of Maddygate fame is said to be active once again in the Conservative Party- for shame I say, but not for the shame of the action, more the shame of the lack of judgement of the individual.

Perhaps one might have felt that no longer being in an executive position within BUCF, he could get away with doing these things? Perhaps it was an alcohol-fuelled student error, which is not a strange thing to happen in an organisation with an average age of 18. True or false, when you’re in these societies, in these positions and representing and national political party (on any scale) you need to watch it. WATCH IT. Let it be a message to the lot of us.

Quoted as saying, “I don’t hate everyone, I just hate women” and known for once defending Enoch Powell’s, “Rivers of Blood,” speech and then later seeming to backtrack on his endorsement, Mr. Doherty is not a malicious or racist individual, but one perhaps lacking the media savvy and what one might call Diplomacy 2.0 skills.

So once again, Conservative Future is learning lessons- as if the organisation wasn’t without it’s problems before. KeepRightOnline suggests that right now is the time for strong leadership for CF, and for decisive action to be taken in asking the members if they really have what it takes to represent the Conservative Party proper (this is no reflection on Mr. Doherty). Perhaps some are looking for a title, some are looking for networking or drinking buddies, most of us however, are in it for the good. The good of the party, good of our communities and the good of the country.

Let’s KeepRight, people.

Update 26/05/09: Daniel O’Doherty has since commented that the statements made on his Facebook profile, specifically those regarding the hatred of women were in fact satirical and taken from a television show, whilst other quotes in the same vein were friend’s quotes, listed in a tongue-in-cheek manner. This blog has, since the original story broke- maintained confidence in Mr. O’Doherty.