I have come to realize that I must look more closely at the present situation and reappraise my view of the current local conservative party membership.
On entering the 81st year of my life I have had a received view, or rather, a stereotypical profile of the average member. A touch racist, xenophobic, upper middle to old aged, comfortably situated economically having had a reasonable and decent employment, with a few savings and large equity in property. A firm believer in the market economy. Well-mannered and therefore, when speaking to those not like them, polite, seemingly tolerant, attempting to hide their prejudice. In effect a perfect embodiment of strategic condescension,
These were some of the people I first encountered when arriving in the UK. It was an example of good breeding. There were the lower classes, the lower middle class, the middle class and the upper middle class, and the upper classes. It was very apparent that this was a very class conscious society. They reflected my perceived and received view of Noel Coward’s happy breed.
Just as most of Europe (indeed the world) had been subjected to the American way of life by Hollywood, so had I been influenced by the Ealing comedies such as Hue and Cry (1947) Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Whisky Galore! (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955). There was also The Third Man (1949), I’m All Right Jack (1959) and Room at the Top (1959). In addition, in there were war films, Odette, The Wooden Horse, The Desert Fox, Angels One Five, Gift Horse, Malta Story, The Cruel Sea, Desert Rats, The Dam Busters, Colditz Story, Bridge on the River Kwai. Just before arriving in the UK, I watched the new 60s down to earth cinema of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Billy Liar, A Kind of Loving, This Sporting Life, as well as The League of Gentlemen, School for Scoundrels, Make Mine Mink, The Trials of Oscar Wilde, Tunes of Glory, Tom Jones and of course Lawrence of Arabia. There are many more films of note reflecting what one accepted as British society.
As you can see I was steeped in Britishness including, a period as a youngster in France during the 1950s listening to the BBC Home Service and The Goon Show, Hancock’s Half Hour, Journey into Space, Dick Barton, Life with the Lyons etc.
So when I arrived in London in 1965, having turned 23, I had formed a kind of cinematic and radio view of what I referred to as ‘England’, until corrected by a Scotsman to use the term ‘Britain’ or ‘British’, although I was once asked by a prospective landlady “You’re not English, are you?”. The various identities of the local citizens were clearly of some importance.
I was at the time, politically leaning to the left. I was a long haired hippy. I went to the UFO club in Tottenham Court Road, saw Pink Floyd, Procol Harum and the Soft Machine, and when UFO moved to the Round House, Arthur Brown. I wore a wardrobe from I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet, Take Six and Way In at Harrods. I still have a velvet jacket from Way In which only Celia can wear, although it has at times been loaned out to the nephews to make them look a bit tidier.
I mention these facts as I was not the only one prowling round Swinging London in the latter half of the sixties, ’65 –’70.
A lot of political activity was taking place and most of the people I encountered were leaning to the left. The anti-war demonstrations were many, and this in turn led to a number of radical movements which took actions into the early 70’s, such the Black Power movement of Michael de Freitas, known as Michael X, who was self-appointed leader of a Black Power commune on Holloway Road, North London, called the "Black House". John Lennon and Yoko Ono donated a bag of their hair to be auctioned for the benefit of the Black House. There was also the Angry Brigade whose trial in the 1972, from 30th May to 6th December, was one of the longest criminal trials in English History.
At the time, from my perspective, there was a very large group of people who seemed to be leaning to the left. I was of the firm belief at the time, that most young people felt as I did. We were sticking it to the man. It was also at that time that my perceived view of supporters of the conservative party was entrenched. What I now have to bear in mind is that those local conservative party members I envisioned in the 60s and 70’s have now gone to meet their maker. The current lot of local conservative party members are of the same age as myself, if not younger. So how the hell did the young people that I mixed with, and thought I knew, evolve into clones from the past. My perception is clearly very askew and off course.
Liz Truss could be my daughter. Indeed her father is five years younger than I am. He was, in the 60s and 70s, part of the very group of young people that I would have encountered and mixed with. How is it that his daughter has turned into this leaning to the far right worrying conservative politician? How is it that there are so many who appear to agree with her and support her? How is it that I think of them as the same conservative types I observed in the 60s and 70s?
Since 1924 (when Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour Prime Minister) there have been only six labour prime ministers, MacDonald, Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, Blair and Brown. They were in office for a total of 34 years and 333 days, out of the last 98 years. There have been 13 Conservative Prime Ministers in power for 63 years and 32 days, give or take a few days. The Conservatives have ruled the United Kingdom for approximately two thirds of the last century.
In the last 57 years, since I have been in the UK, the Labour Party has been in power for 20 years 288 days, and the Conservative Party for 36 years and 77 days, included the last 12 years.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the majority of the citizens of this country have favoured the conservative party, which is why I am doubly surprised by the membership numbers. The Conservative Party has some 172,437 members, the Liberal Democrats some 73,544, Plaid Cymru claims some 10,000 members, the Scottish Nationals 103,884 and the Labour Party some 415,000 members. It is by far the Party with the largest membership. So why cannot a party with such a membership be more successful and enduring?
I suppose one could say Blair and Brown had their shot at it for 13 years and now the Tories have had their 12. On the whole, however, it seems historically, in the last century, the British public have favoured the Conservative programme. Given the present agenda, it seems equally clear that the current administration is on the way out. At least according to various polls. That may not be for another two years, by which time untold damage will be caused to the country.
It seems that after 57 years I am no better at understanding the British character that I was after soaking up all that cinematic and radio culture ladled into me between 1945 and 1965. Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness, Michael Redgrave, Alastair Sim. Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Albert Finney, Rachel Roberts, Billie Whitelaw, Dora Bryan, Joan Greenwood, Edith Evans, Margaret Rutherford, Dorothy Tutin, Richard Wattis, Miles Malleson, Dennis Price, Cecil Parker, Vida Hope, Howard Marion-Crawford, Colin Gordon, Jill Adams, Hattie Jacques, Hugh Griffiths, Peter Bull, Wilfred Hyde-White, Richard Harris and many others who gave shape, sight and sound to a Great Britain I was to eventually inhabit for probably the rest of my life. My nostalgia takes me back to a period of time when I didn’t live in the UK except in fantasy. My first encounter would have been the magic of Celia Johnson’s voice over in Brief Encounter, agonising over Trevor Howard, with Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey in the background, overlayed with Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto, one of the first films I ever saw at the Parkway Theatre in Mount Vernon New York, is difficult to forget. I was very young at the time, but my aunt was a sucker for romantic drama.
The drama however, that is being played out at the moment is very far from romantic. There is a tragedy of great moment being enacted over the citizens of the United Kingdom. The choices being made in favour of isolationism, repression and economic misfortune are more than somewhat unfortunate. To not understand the harm they are doing, and to try to use words like ‘labour’, ‘lefty lawyer’, ‘liberal’, ‘Corbyn’ as signs to promote fear and derision signifies a lack of vision or real attempt to bring the entire country together. Their sole mantra is to bring the conservative party to unity, never mind the rest of the population. They are a minority party, with a small membership, relying on a public too apathetic and blind to see through the conservative party’s sole aim, to remain in power regardless, supportive of and supported by the wealthier 1%. That is their unity. Too bad about the rest of us. The sad thing is that there is that underlying conservatism lurking within the British public that holds it back and allows it to regress rather than move forward. The present government is a government looking backward towards that fantasy world I grew up with. Why is that, given the history of continually fighting for human rights, promoting the rule of law and the health and safety of each and every citizen? Why has that ambition disappeared?
Nothing of what the Conservative party is at present promoting is what this country is really about. Theirs is a patchwork agenda trying to cover up the cracks. There is no resolution in mind. It’s just stop the leaks before we drown. There is continual talk of economic growth with no real solution as to what is necessary to make that happen other than an illusion of trickle down money. There is no plan or real progress for dealing with the problems of the NHS, general education or actual employment. There is nothing there. It is an empty shell sounding like the sea. Whoosh. The opposition party membership is well over half a million strong. Surely their voices can be heard louder that the 172,000. Demand a general election now. We cannot wait another two years. A proper government with a plan is what is required.
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