Does the UK need a united right-wing party?

A few days ago, I watched a 20-minute video titled: “The UK Needs a United Right-Wing Party” and it impressed me so much that I decided to write this blog, giving my own thoughts.

I had thought first to write an article giving an account of my own political journey from childhood to dotage, aimed at the few that would like to know where I am coming from, to help them understand why my unusual views that includes going from left to right and back again to somewhere in the middle and not being the supporter of any political party yet believing politics matters with the idea of getting things done to benefit others, ranging from anything to do with helping one’s local community to what benefits the world at large. I still intend to do so with the premise that what the world needs most of all is the Salvation of God and people to follow Him, wherever that may lead, and that may include being politically involved. But that is for another time and in the meantime I will begin to address the question that is raised in the title.

When I was at school, I was impressed by a teacher who told us that he was a “floating voter”. For a long time now, that is what I have been, although I have always voted and it has usually been for the candidate who I reckon would do the most good for his / her constituents, ranging from Green to UKIP and, at a local level, Independent. As for “left” and “right”, I find these terms, speaking personally, somewhat irrelevant. When it comes to issues, I am more “right” when it comes to free enterprise and the rule of law, and more “left” when it comes to social justice and helping the poor.

In 2009, there was a movement in the USA involving Christians of different persuasions, with it culminating in their producing the “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience” (see here for more info) that begins: “Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering”. It listed three key issues: “Life”, “Marriage” and “Religious Liberty” and these were high in my list when deciding who to vote for. I have since added a fourth that has come to the fore in recent years: who will stand up against powerful, evil tyrants who wish to impose on the populace their globalist agenda that includes control, depopulation and enslavement. Simplistic I know, but I would expect the politicians of the right to be more in tune with these priorities. However, methinks the Conservative Party of Great Britain has let us down.

While never much of a fan of Maggie Thatcher, I think in many aspects she was on the right lines but sadly it has been downhill ever since and right now we are landed with globalist puppet: Rishi Sunak. The best thing in his favour is he is better than Labour’s (I prefer the World Economic Forum to the Westminister Parliament) Keir Starmer and whoever it is that is leading the neither here nor there LibDems, who appear to be at the forefront of spreading wokeism into British life. As for the Greens, well-meaning as many are, the Climate Emergency hoax is opposite to how I would focus my policies. Which brings me to the question: if not Conservative, with which a neutral onlooker might want to place me given my views, then who? What I won’t do is what a friend of mine who shares many of my concerns did in the local elections just gone and spoiled her ballot paper with the words “Trump WWG1WGA”.  But what to do – that is my dilemma, which brings me back to the video.

The interview was with Dave Kurten, leader of the Heritage Party, where the question was robustly put given many of the “right wing” alternatives to the Conservative Party had similar ideas and were cancelling out each other’s voices, allowing Labour, LibDems and Greens better chances to be elected and reducing the chances of the Conservatives. While I found the exchange very interesting, I don’t recall a satisfactory conclusion. It also occurs to me the losers in the rise of the Alternative Right are likely to be the Conservative Party for conservative leaning voters will look elsewhere, split the vote of those with conservative views and as a result Labour, LibDem or Green will win seats they would not have expected to win.

For the record I have earlier posted: “What about the Heritage Party?”, “Why I can’t support Reform UK” and “What happens when a British MP speaks out against vaccines”, which give my views on the subject of alternatives. As for anti-vaxer, Andrew Brigden, he has since joined the Reclaim Party (see here), whose strap line “Your freedom, Your future, Your politics” – Reclaim it” is at least somewhat attractive.  There are other parties of the “right” not covered, as they compete for the votes of those disaffected with the main parties. Also, a year ago I posted “Thoughts on Today’s Labour Party“ as a wannabe that cannabe Labour supporter. Four months ago I posted “James Duddridge MP; Party or Person?“ that explains while I voted for his predecessor, Sir Teddy Taylor, as things stand I won’t vote for the current Conservative MP to represent my constituency.

I posted a link to the afore-mentioned video on my Facebook page. I added the introduction: “A powerful case for those on the right who feel the Conservatives no longer represent their values to unite to prevent Labour, Lib Dem and Green squeezing in because of all these parties”. One friend commented: “An electoral system using a Transferable Vote would sort the problem. The Conservatives aren’t entitled to complain about the Left playing the system, while they are not prepared to give us fair voting”. It got me thinking about my “floating voter” teacher, who also taught me civics, when we evaluated the different voting systems and concluded that a major weakness of alternatives to the UK first past the post system is it would lead to weak government. These days I am less sure, especially given we are now faced with poor alternatives, good people excluded and voices not heard, but I may be in a minority:

This brings me to why that is. According to Wikipedia “The United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, also known as the UK-wide referendum on the Parliamentary voting system was held on Thursday 5 May 2011 (the same date as local elections in many areas) in the United Kingdom (UK) to choose the method of electing MPs at subsequent general elections. It occurred as a provision of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement drawn up in 2010 (after a general election that had resulted in the first hung parliament since February 1974) and also indirectly in the aftermath of the 2009 expenses scandal. It operated under the provisions of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and was the first national referendum to be held under provisions laid out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The referendum concerned whether or not to replace the present “first-past-the-post” system with the “alternative vote” (AV) method, and was the first national referendum to be held across the whole of the United Kingdom in the twenty-first century. The proposal to introduce AV was rejected by 67.9% of voters on a national turnout of 42%.”

My conclusion is I have no conclusion other than to repeat what I have said before from my soap box to the few who care to listen. As things stand, I cannot support any of the “right wing” parties wholeheartedly and doubt full unity is possible. While disappointed with mainstream parties, I have seen good operatives in all of them so won’t give up hope. Thankfully, my hope is NOT in political parties, even one I like but have not mentioned up to now because it is local only – the Confelicity Party (see here), but rather in God. Even so, I will continue to support those into politics for the right reasons, of which there are many, and this irrespective of parties and because all man-made ideologies are flawed. Some may even read the above. I wish them well in their attempts to make a difference, especially if wanting to serve rather than be served.