*TAKES deep breath* – The National Conservatism conference is over.
Taking place over three days from May 15-17, it saw a number of senior Tories sharing the stage with a host of controversial names, including a Trump-supporting US politician and a historian who claimed that left-wing activists are “jealous” of the Holocaust and want to replace it with slavery.
Okay.
The principles of this so-called ‘National Conservatism’ movement include “anti-woke policies”, ending mass migration and supporting “those who need help, not those who don’t”.
Apparently, they will also help “deliver the opportunities of Brexit” – the same week Brexit architect Nigel Farage said it had “failed”.
Now it has befallen to me to list the worst moments in a conference truly chock-ful of them. Wish me luck.
Speakers condemned for Holocaust comments
Speeches from historian David Starkey and author Douglas Murray were among those who drew swift condemnation.
I don't have enough words, nor patience, for the rest.
Starkey, an expert on Tudor history, claimed on Wednesday that left-wing activists are “jealous” of the Holocaust and want to replace it with slavery.
The leading historian said groups such as Black Lives Matter were attempting to destroy “white culture” and “do exactly what was done to German culture because of Nazism and the Holocaust”.
Daniel Sugarman, public affairs director at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, tweeted that these comments were “pathetic attempts to drive a wedge between communities” that “will not work”.
Right-wing author Douglas Murray also faced backlash the day before, when he said Germany “mucked up” twice in the 20th century.
Specifically, he said that he could “see no reason why every other country in the world should be prevented from feeling pride in itself because the Germans mucked up twice in a century”.
He was widely accused of diminishing the impact of the Holocaust.
Journalist Owen Jones tweeted: “Six million Jews systematically murdered. Millions of Roma, Slavs, Communists, socialists, trade unionists butchered.
“Over 70 million humans in total killed. The continent of Europe reduced to rubble. How does Douglas Murray describe this? ‘Mucking up’.”
Braverman takes aim at “legal migration” now
Home Secretary Suella Braverman took a break from taking aim at “illegal migration” and instead said we “must not lose sight of the importance of controlling legal migration as well”.
It comes as the Government’s approach to “stop the boats” came under fresh criticism after the Archbishop of Canterbury weighed in to label ministers’ plans “morally unacceptable and politically impractical” in a debate in the House of Lords about the Illegal Migration Bill Braverman told conference attendees on Monday: “It’s not racist for anyone, ethnic minority or otherwise, to want to control our borders.
“I reject the left’s argument that it’s hypocritical for someone from an ethnic minority, like mine, to know these facts or to speak these truths.”
She also said there wasn’t any reason that “we can’t train up enough HGV drivers, butchers or fruit pickers. Brexit enables us to build a high-skilled, high wage economy that is less dependent on low-skilled foreign labour”.
Her point of view doesn’t appear to be shared by Rishi Sunak, nor farmers who appealed to the Prime Minister a day later for more seasonal fruit pickers to be allowed into the UK.
The Prime Minister then confirmed that an extra 10,000 visas could be made available on top of the 45,000 currently allocated to the agricultural sector.
Protesters escorted out of the conference
Suella Braverman’s speech was heckled by protesters before she went into the above tirade.
Former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg was also interrupted by an Extinction Rebellion activist.
They were eventually bundled away and I only list this as one of the worst moments as they probably had a lot more of interest and import to say.
I’ll let you be the judge.
One of the protesters who managed to get through security said: “National Conservatism says it wants people to bind together over national identity to let them flourish, but we’ve heard our politicians and seen their policies.
“We know they let rich people get richer with obscene corporate dividends while our waters are filled with sewage and our NHS is underfunded.”
