17 August 1999

Dear Mr Gabb

I am writing to you because your subscription to the Conservative Party is now due for renewal.¹

The Party has achieved a large amount in the last twelve months: week on week, William Hague has demonstrated his Parliamentary skills at Question Time; in May we won back hundreds of Council seats and control of dozens of local authorities; and in June, our clear message 'In Europe, not run by Europe' led us to victory in the European Elections.² However, we must not become complacent. There are still many hurdles to climb³ before we can return the next Conservative government. Now is the time to crank up the gears⁴ and take our message to the British people: our enduring belief in freedom and personal responsibility⁵; in enterprise and prosperity⁶; in the family and marriage⁷; and in democracy and national identity.⁸

This is only possible through the kind support of people like you - Conservatives who care about our Country and its future. I very much hope that you will continue your support by renewing your subscription. The minimum subscription is £15 for Standard membership.⁹

I would be grateful if you felt able to complete the enclosed form and return it to us. You may like to consider completing the Direct Debit mandate so that you do not have to worry about renewing your subscription each year. Alternatively, if you have a credit or debit card, you can renew your subscription by telephoning 08705 293031 (Monday - Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm) quoting your membership number A50191. If you have any questions you can also call this number.

The coming year will be very important for the Conservative Party as the time before the next general election continues to fall.¹⁰ We will continue to fight this Labour government where it is doing harm and we will continue to stand up for those people who feel let down by it.¹¹

I very much hope that you will continue to support us.¹²

Yours sincerely

The Rt Hon Michael Ancram QC MP
Chairman of the Party

PS Look out for the first copy of Heartland, our Members magazine, which will be sent to you in late September.

Commentary by Sean Gabb

1. If Mr Ancram - or whoever is in charge of these matters - would take the trouble to check, he would notice that I never did join the Party. Instead, I wrote a most unflattering letter to William Hague, and received back the usual drivelling answer from the autoresponder known as Ian Philps and a membership card. I was then sent ballot papers in defiance of the Party rules. The whole story can be found in issue 23 of Free Life Commentary, 25th October 1998 - available at http://www.btinternet.com/~old.whig/flcomm/fl023.htm

2. Some victory - achieved on eight per cent of the total vote, and with the beginnings of a haemorrhage of support to the UK Independence Party.

3. "Many hurdles to climb...". That is how the Editor of Free Life might deal with hurdles in a race. One expects better of the lean, fit organisation in the existence of which Mr Ancram is asking us to believe, and to which he is asking us to contribute both time and money. I am reminded of a famous passage in George Orwell's Politics and the English Language (1946):

The sole aim of a metaphor is to call up a visual image. When these images clash - as in 'The Fascist octopus has sung its swan song', 'the jackboot is thrown into the melting pot' - it can be taken as certain that the writer is not seeing a mental image of the objects he is naming; in other words he is not really thinking.

4. See note above. To call up one meaningless image in a paragraph may show carelessness. To call up two shows an almost bestial stupidity. Who wrote this letter?

5. This from a Party that when in government did - among much else - the following: imposed the first pre-publication censorship in 300 years, entirely removed the right to keep and bear arms for defence, virtually abolished trial by jury, abolished the right to silence, established a financial police state by abolishing the unquestioned use of cash in large amounts and giving the authorities unlimited rights to snoop on our bank accounts, legalised warrantless bugging and burgling raids by the police. These people put the Constitution through a legislative shredding machine. By the time they had finished with it, our ancient Constitution was reduced to a few names and ceremonies. And they still dare speak of "freedom and personal responsibility"!

6. So who was it that increased the burden of taxes on average people between 1979 and 1997? Who passed the Financial Services Act 1986, which brought the City of London under a supervision evaded only by massive bribery of the regulators and politicians? Who made it illegal for household decorators to take away their own rubbish from a job? Who shut down the British beef and fishing industries?

7. So who nationalised all the children in this country, and let a few hundred demented social workers tyrannise over millions of parents with their talk of "satanic child abuse"? Who consistently eroded the value of family tax relief? Whose tax and education policies made it virtually impossible for middle class people to have children without facing a massive drop in living standards?

8. Democracy and national identity were really enhanced by the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty! The Conservatives were in power for the better part of a generation. They actively helped in the transformation of the European Union from a free trade area into a federal state. They lied every step of the way to Maastricht about the federal purpose of the EU. When that became undeniable, they lied about their own willingness and ability to resist this purpose. Even now, not one leading member of that Party will stand up and talk about withdrawal - because they do not believe in withdrawal. This is because the Conservative Party is part of the Quisling Right. It does not exist to press for an agenda of liberty and national independence, but to prevent anyone else from doing so. Its leaders are experts in doing just enough to gather in the votes and money and then selling out their supporters. This country has had Conservative Governments during 35 of the 54 years since the end of the Second World War. During this time - and usually fastest during periods of Conservative rule - our institutions have been transformed out of all recognition, and generally for the worse. In both literacy and intellectual sophistication, Mr Ancram is far below the level set by Robert Boothby in the 1960s. Even so, he is up to the same treasonable game.

9. Better send the money to Gerry Adams. He is at least an honest enemy of this country.

10. More illiteracy.

11. Note the clumsy image of "standing up" for those who "feel let down". I would accuse the writer of this of bad taste in liking such imagery. But considering the previous two metaphors, I doubt he thought about the meaning of this one.

As for fighting Labour, I notice that the Conservative Party has quietly accepted the minimum wage and the ban on tobacco advertising. I am not sure if there is anything done by the Blair Government in the past two years that a Hague Government would lift a finger to undo. Certainly, the Conservatives have persistently failed to hit Labour where they might have some effect. They could have brought the Government down by opposing Mr Blair's war of aggression in the Balkans. In the event, they made fools of themselves by supporting the principle of the war but only criticising its execution.

They could also have raised the matter of Robert Henderson - see Free Life Commentary issue 28, 20th February 1999 - available at http://www.btinternet.com/~old.whig/flcomm/fl028.htm.

This is perhaps the biggest political scandal since Andrew Newton shot Rinka. Mr Blair tried to use the Crown Prosecution Service against a man who had done no more than write to him, and when this failed procured libellous articles about him in two national newspapers, and has been using the security services ever since as instruments of harassment. These accusations have been proved with overwhelming evidence, and the Conservatives have refused to lift a finger. I have seen letters from Teresa Gorman and John Redwood among others, all refusing to get involved in a matter that might cause them personal inconvenience.

12. Not any more, Mr Ancram. UKIP gets my vote from now on.