Some of my best friends are Conservatives. Even now, when the party has moved so far from the “one-nation” values they share, they cannot bring themselves to leave the tribe. Instead, they cling on in the vain hope that the elders will come to their senses and the old order will be restored.
So it was that, in May last year, I was at a dinner party discussing the results of that month’s European elections. Not one of the 10 people present had voted Tory. Neither had anyone done what nearly a third of the country did and voted for the Brexit Party, which was then giving refuge to many Conservatives who wanted to let off steam under Theresa May. None of this would have been surprising, given that we were gathered in affluent, left-leaning Hampstead, but for the fact that our number included three Conservative peers, one Conservative Member of Parliament and one former Conservative MP. We might have been members of the party but we couldn’t possibly vote for it.
A year ago, I extricated myself from that uncomfortable position, resigning the whip and leaving the Tory benches I had inhabited since 2011 to squeeze into the territory of the “non-affiliated” members of the House of Lords.
While my dinner party colleagues today continue to speak against the government and often vote against it, few of them have formally severed any link. But I have no regrets about my choice. When I accepted David Cameron’s invitation to become a working peer, it was when I still believed he was intent on the mission that he first articulated as leader of the opposition in 2007: “fixing our broken society.” Even though the financial crash had intervened and austerity temporarily curtailed broader societal ambitions, I believed that Cameron could be a long-term force for good. I gave up the day job editing the European edition of the Wall Street Journal, and joined the backbenches of the Upper House.
Navigating the arcane procedures of the Lords was easier than giving up the independence that most journalists treasure. The party whip may not be physical but it is supposed to be taken seriously and obeyed. In the Commons, it comes with the carrot of potential promotion and the ultimate sanction of deselection, a death sentence in an election. In the Lords, the incentive to obey is, for some, ministerial ambition but for many it is simply a matter of tribal loyalty.
But I’m not a particularly tribal person. I don’t subscribe to a particular religion; I’ve never supported a particular football club and, in elections, I occasionally voted for non-Conservative candidates. Obediently supporting the government line on any and every issue became increasingly difficult. It was the issue of Europe which pushed me into permanent rebellion.
[su_pullquote]“Last year, I was at a dinner party with three Tory peers and a Tory MP—not one of them had voted Conservative”[/su_pullquote]
There were other Conservative peers who shared my belief that leaving the EU would inflict lasting damage on the UK. We conspired with members of other parties to try to avert the worst outcome, the no-deal Brexit towards which we now seem to be hurtling. Persistent offenders found that they were banished from any Lords’ select committee. These cross-party groups do much of the solid policy work in the House, but the whips control a share of seats. One long-time parliamentarian was told of his sacking by text message. Even after that insult, he has felt unable to throw off his Conservative identity.
Yet, as Cameron gave way to May and then to Johnson, any allegiance I might have felt to the party that made me a peer evaporated. As the 2019 general election loomed, I resigned and campaigned for the Liberal Democrats, in the hope that tactical voting by pro-Europeans might stave off a Tory majority.
The threat of Jeremy Corbyn thwarted that possibility and gave the UK a government that is far removed from Cameron’s vision: today’s Tory party is closer to Ukip than “compassionate conservatism.” The only principle seems to be to remain in power and if that means appeasing the populist tendency at every turn, so be it.
The European Research Group, that collection of rabid Brexiteers, calls the shots. The former chairman, Suella Braverman, is now Attorney General, in which role she concludes that it is fine for the UK to breach international treaties, having taken advice from a one-year qualified barrister and two Brexiteer academics. Not for her, apparently, the traditional route of consulting Treasury Counsel.
Now Johnson has the extra pressure of trying to keep his new “red wall” MPs onside. They are as right wing as the ERG but with an extra dose of antipathy towards perceived southern elites.
The fact that Priti Patel is Home Secretary is an eloquent summation of the situation. She was forced to resign from May’s government after conducting secret meetings with the Israeli government, once supported the death penalty and now toys with the idea of sending unwanted immigrants to Ascension Island, a UK territory that is 4,000 miles away. That makes her deeply unpalatable to me and my middle-of-the-road Conservative friends, but a hero to the current party members. If Johnson were to stand aside as Tory leader, which some believe could happen early next year, Patel would be among the membership’s choices to succeed him.
Today’s Conservative Party has evolved into a nasty party, which has given us a government of inexperienced and incompetent ministers at a time when the coronavirus pandemic increases the necessity for strong and able leadership. It certainly isn’t healing the broken society. It is not my party.
Patience Wheatcroft has been a non-affiliated peer since November 2019. She was editor of the Wall Street Journal (Europe) and of the Sunday Telegraph
