For Cameron Unity Is Key

For Cameron Unity Is Key

This has been a tough week for Conservative party unity, after the funeral of Maggie Thatcher the party seemed so united.  Then came the local election and the party returned to the usual battle on Europe, there is a strong consensus within the party that we should have a referendum.  However some want it before the general election to stave off the UKIP threat while others don’t believe it is necessary until after the next election.  Then we had gay marriage in which the party was split and both sides were passionate about the issue, which makes the split even more damaging however I believe this rift will heal.  The most damaging thing to happen this weak was the Swivel eyed loons comment, but this highlights a greater communication problem between the grassroots of the party and the leadership.

Whatever your view on gay marriage you will probably agree it was not a shrewd political move by David Cameron to try to pass a law legalising it.  His thinking was that the bill would detoxify the party image and in theory, it would have however in practice backbench MP’s don’t always dance to the tune of the leadership.  Gay marriage was an issue which stirred passions amongst many Tory MP’s and has left the party looking intolerant, although the main opposition argument was not one of tolerance it was more about the definition of  marriage but the truth does not matter perception is what matters.  The most damaging thing to come out of the gay marriage debate for the Conservatives was it once again showed the divisions in the party between socially liberal modernisers and socially Conservatives.  This is only one rift in the party there are the Europhiles and Euro sceptics, there are One nation conservatives and Thatcherites.  It seems at the moment on any issue us Conservatives could scrap amongst ourselves, we fought over gay marriage, we are still fighting over Europe, we fight over how to deal with UKIP, we fought over what Osborne should have done with his last budget and we fight over David Cameron’s capability to lead the party.  Labour also has its infighting largely to do with their current policy vacuum but these have not been publicised of late.

To conclude the Conservative party is a broad coalition, it is a big tent party and that is why it can be such a political force.  However when the party is not properly managed it can wage war upon its self, Europe is the major flashpoint issue but as the gay marriage bill illustrated there are other serious dividing lines within the party.  If David Cameron intends to remain in number 10 after the 2015 election he has to steer the party away from these flashpoint issues, the party needs to be united come 2015.  There are issues which he can stick to, although there are differences of opinion on how to manage the economy there is a broad consensus within the party we need to tackle the deficit.  He can also continue with other big projects like education reform, but if he intends to win in 2015 he needs to avoid infighting by choosing policy wisely.  He also needs to make sure no member of his inner circle mutters a bad word about the party members, and he would be wise to start looking at reforming the party structure to attract more members and so the leadership has clearer communications with the grass roots.   

True tolerance embraces all

True tolerance embraces all

This week three things have coincided which have made me write about the subject of tolerance, the first being gay marriage, the second being a repeat of an episode of the daily show and the third being a Simon Jenkins article in the guardian.  These three apparently unrelated things are tied together by a central issue of tolerance.  Gay marriage is clearly about tolerance and as the bill was passed last night it was another step forward for homosexual equality and it also showed how tolerant the UK is of all types of different people.  The episode of the daily show was set at the Democrat party conference and it showed members describing how open, welcoming and inclusive the Democrats are. However at the same times delegates were making fun of how stupid and racist Republicans were which showed arrogance and an inability to listen from Democrats.  Finally the guardian article was mainly about gay marriage but it also mentioned how liberals are not truly tolerant until they embrace those who disagree with them.

I have been keeping an eye on the gay marriage debate as it has developed and I have noticed one thing about many of the bill’s supporters.  They have a tendency to be extremely derogatory to those who disagree with them, opponents of the bill have been termed bigots, backward and religious nut jobs. This is simply not the words of a tolerant person in fact it is completely intolerant of those who oppose gay marriage and it is rather arrogant to portray opponents of gay marriage in such a light.  Many of those who I have seen speaking in opposition to gay marriage have had perfectly valid points such as marriage is a religious ceremony between a man and a woman, and that gays should be allowed to have an equal institution which is not called marriage. Many opponents of the bill had nothing against gays but just had a core belief that marriage is between a man and a woman, this does not make them a bigot or a bad person.  In my own view I think that legalising gay marriage is a real triumph for equality but I totally understand the opposition and have great respect for some of the arguments against gay marriage.

Intolerance from liberals is not new thing it is actually rather common, if you look at most of the recent parliamentary debates liberals are quite happy to call anyone who does not agree with them out of touch or just plain nasty. It is interesting that those parties and people who describe themselves as liberal are happy to launch such personal attacks on people when they are supposed to be tolerant. The gay marriage debate has really showed the lack of real liberals in the UK, it is fine to support minorities but it is unacceptable to think that all those who don’t agree with you are bigots or small minded.  Before I finish I am going to illustrate my point using Vice President Joe Biden who is a true liberal and shows tolerance of all views which is why he is such a good Vice President. Anyway in the US Senate there is a belief that opposition politicians may be wrong but they are rarely bad, this was show when Biden was in his early Senate days he believed Republican Jesse Helms to be heartless for not supporting disabled rights.  Now unknown to Senator Biden Jesse Helms had adopted a disabled orphan, so was no more against the disabled than Senator Biden himself.  An older Democrat explained this to Biden as you can question people’s judgement but you should never question their motives.  So taking this in context of gay marriage yes in mine and many other people’s views the opposition to gay marriage may be wrong and we may not agree with their arguments.  However many of these people are vicars, grandparents and upstanding members of the community who are motivated to oppose gay marriage through a belief that it is a union between a man and a woman.  This is similar to the situation with Senator Biden, yes it is fine to criticise the judgement of the opponents of gay marriage but it is not ok to label them bigots. After all your either tolerant of all including your opposition or you are intolerant.