JUST OVER five weeks ago we reproduced the second article – Head & Heart – from issue 1 of New Horizon, the online ideological magazine of the National Liberal Party. That article examined how, historically, Liberals adopted nationalism as part of their creed and became known as National Liberals.

We now move onto National Liberalism In Action! which takes a look at (the then) NLP ‘recruitment campaign that focused on Five key policy areas; Civil Liberties, Democracy, Environment, and the NHS.’

The first of these – Civil Liberties – is of great importance to National Liberals. We believe that ‘the defence of personal liberty is at the heart of our mission.’ Indeed, it could be argued that defending everyone’s Civil Liberties is the key to ensuring personal self-determination and freedom.

As always, we encourage thorough debate of our ideas. Therefore, we’d encourage readers to share their when this article is reproduced on either of our two Facebook sites – National Liberals https://www.facebook.com/groups/52739504313/ – and National Liberal Party – https://www.facebook.com/NationalLiberalParty/

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National Liberalism In Action!

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The defence of personal liberty is at the heart of National Liberalism. Indeed, it could be argued that defending everyone’s Civil Liberties is the key to ensuring personal self-determination and freedom. Readers interested in Civil Liberties should check our the Facebook group Free Speech: How do we protect it? which supports the idea of Free Thought, Free Speech & Free Assembly For All. It also campaigns for a formal constitution and bill of rights, based on the concept of civil and religious liberties for all. It also feel that a civil rights watchdog should be established to protect the people’s ability to make use of these rights.

WHILST New Horizon is dedicated to promoting, dissecting and discussing the ideology of National Liberalism, we cannot forget those National Liberals who are attempting to put this into practice. We know that there are individuals (groups?) who ascribe to the movement’s ideals throughout the Europe, from Turkey to Scandinavia and beyond, even globally. Here in the UK some are involved in pressure groups such as English Green (a non-socialist green movement), whilst others are in the political party – the National Liberal Party.

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We shall dedicate a section each issue to those operating in the ‘real’ rather than our ‘cyber’ world. In this first issue we host articles supporting and expanding on the NLP’s latest recruitment campaign that focused on Five key policy areas; Civil Liberties, Democracy, Environment, and the NHS.

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CIVIL LIBERTIES – A PRECIOUS COMMODITY ‘HARD TO OBTAIN EASY TO LOSE’

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IN December, nearly 400 years ago, the English Parliament passed an act entitled the ‘Bill of Rights’. It put down limits on the powers of the Sovereign (Monarch) and set out the rights of Parliament and the rules for freedom of speech therein, the requirement to regular elections to Parliament and the right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution. This built upon various other ‘events’ such as the much earlier Magna Carta of 1215 This is the first recorded document where a King, previously ruling under a ‘Divine Right’, accepted that his ‘subjects’ had rights, including the right not to be gaoled without trial. In time, similar various pieces of legislation came to cover the whole of the United Kingdom and make up Britain’s ‘Unwritten Constitution’, in particular the concept of individual rights and liberties. It took many years, much struggle, blood, sweat and tears to achieve.

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TAKING LIBERTIES …

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Today however, we see an increasing encroachment upon our civil liberties and individual freedoms. The phrase an ‘Englishman’s home is his castle’ is more than just a quaint phrase. It reflects an historical view that a Government’s writ largely remained outside our ‘ramparts’ and did not extend to personal affairs. In reality this has broken down ever since the end of the first World War with increasing attempts to interfere in our ‘private lives’ or ‘private views’ (should they not conform to the PC – left or right – of the day). It wasn’t always that way*

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Technology, whilst a ‘liberating’ force for many individuals is also being used to enslave us too. CCTV, continual push for biometric ID cards, communication eavesdropping and monitoring, to name just a few developments that will make it increasingly easier for any future Government to turn 1984 into a reality.

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History shows that once liberties are surrendered they are very difficult to restore.

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For National Liberals however the defence of personal liberty is at the heart of our mission. Governments struggle, at best, to resist the lure of power and often seek to centralise authority into their hands. This will inevitably impact upon individual freedoms. In times of heightened threats to national or personal security, Authority will seek to restrict their citizens movements and expression. What are and are not acceptable restrictions are of supreme importance to many. Outside of Authority, National Liberals must be part of societies ‘civic conscience’. Inside of Authority, they must ensure the ‘correct balance’ is struck between personal freedom and collective security and responsibility.

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To assist in maintaining this balance, we call for the Government appointment of a specific Civil Liberty Watchdog, with some executive blocking powers, to ensure our civil liberties are maintained in the face of private or public threats.

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The National Liberal Party will continue to expose, and campaign against, the steady encroachment of our individual freedoms and civil liberties. Whilst the main political topics of the day; the economy, immigration, Europe and education presently hold the attention of sections of the public, political parties and the media we believe that concern over loss of civil liberties will one day hold everyone’s attention.

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* As the famous historian A.J.P Taylor stated in his book English History: 1914-45 ‘Until August 1914 a sensible law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card.’

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• ALSO Check out:

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Build New Horizon! http://nationalliberal.org/build-new-horizon

New Horizon – Head & Heart http://nationalliberal.org/new-horizon-head-heart

Boris Johnson and the Tories have a majority of 80 seats after they hammered Labour at the recent general election. Johnson can now do what he wants in Parliament. We feel that he will – with an eye on the history books – get Brexit done.

ON 10th DECEMBER our supporters at Essex Voice – the voice of National Liberal Party In Essex – hosted their first debate by asking Will Labour Get Hammered At The General Election? (1) Two days later the UK went to the polls. As we all know, Labour did get hammered and the Tories romped home with a majority of 80 seats.

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It was hardly a State secret that Brexit would have loomed large in the election – a blind man on a flying horse would have seen that coming. In fact, many people had dubbed it the ‘Brexit election’ and the Tories cleverly targeted Labour Leave areas and campaigned under the clear and unequivocal slogan Get Brexit Done!

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This was a shrewd move as pro-Brexit sentiment had already been the driving force in three previous elections. To ignore this fact was the equivalent of political suicide. The facts spoke for themselves – something that the NLP had previously noted two months ago in our article Brexit: The Long Road To Freedom (2). Examining the results of the European Elections of 23rd May 2019 (which returned 29 Brexit Party MEPs – elected with more votes than the Tory and Labour Parties combined) we said:

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‘this was the third time that the pro-Brexit vote for self-determination had triumphed. The first time occurred in the 2014 EU elections, where the UK Independence Party – UKIP – became the largest UK grouping with 24 seats – around 27% of the popular vote. (In contrast, Labour won 20 seats with 24% of the vote, the Tories collected 19 seats with 23% of the vote whilst the Lib Dems only managed 1 seat with a poor 7% of the vote.) The second time was, of course, the original People’s Vote – the EU Referendum in 2016. And the third time was the May 2019 EU election.’

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In addition to Brexit, Boris Johnson’s backroom staff had clearly done their research and knew what ther subjects to focus on. Therefore, the Tories put a lot of empthasis on social & economic affairs (3). Visits to hospitals, in particular, featured heavily in their campaign.

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Whilst the Tory election campaign was sharp and focussed the Labour campaign appeared to be all at sea.

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Whilst Jeremy Corbyn attracted large crowds wherever he went, his message appeared to be garbled and contradictory. This was especially so of Brexit. Nobody seemed to know where he and the Labour Party stood.

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Prior to the EU Referendum (of 23rd June 2016) Corbyn had always appeared to be opposed to the UKs membership of the European Union. Indeed, he was the latest in a long line of prominent Labour MPs who took this position. However, since the rise of Momentum (the grassroots movement which supported Corbyn’s Labour leadership campaign) he seemed to have watered down his opposition to the EU.

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All of this led to a dramatic general election result (4). The Tories romped home in traditionally safe Labour seats – where Labour votes would have been weighed as opposed to being counted – and toppled the famous Labour ‘red wall’ (5).

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In the week or so since the election many people have offered analysis on the outcome – basically why did the Tories & why did Labour bomb so spectacularly? Our feeling is that the Tories managed to correctly guage the feeling of the whole electorate whilst Labour became prisoners of the middle class Metropolitan elite who now make up the ranks of their policy, strategy & decision makers.

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As we noted earlier, Brexit was obviously a case in point. Also as our Essex Voice article had noted, Labour do have disastrous previous form in ignoring voters – and ‘that when politicians and political activists ignore the wishes of the electorate they’re setting themselves up for a fall.’ EV pointed to a previous local case in point whereby the ‘tin-eared’ and ‘patronising’ Labour Party ‘in Barking & Dagenham unwittingly acted as midwives for the British National Party.’ And maybe with this in mind EV said of the general election that: ‘Our feeling is that – and if Essex Voice has read the runestones correctly – this Thursday will prove to be ‘pay back’ time for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.’

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Whilst we’re not particularly ‘into’ class – we regard it as a very narrow and limiting definition – we do acknowledge that it had a bearing on the election. This is because Labour has, for a long time now, totally neglected the working class communities that created and sustained it.

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To be blunt, Labour have seemed to have spent more time prattling on about trans-rights and ‘free movement.’ Whilst they may be important subjects to some Labour voters, we believe that the mass of ordinary workers who might once have stood beside them now merely shrug their shoulders with indifference.

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And who can blame them? Many voters believe that Labour have long since appeared to have ditched ‘bread & butter’ politics – and the very ideas that appeal to traditional ‘culturally conservative’ working-class supporters. They’ve been replaced with appeals to several niche forms of identity politics. Is someone who’s living in a sink estate – that’s rife with anti-social behaviour – and struggling to get by on Universal Credit, PIP or a zero-hours contract likely to take much interest in trans-rights?

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We may return to Labour’s failings in a future article. In the meantime, it’ll be interesting to see what the election fallout will be. Corbyn will go – but who’ll take over and in what direction will they lead Labour? Let’s now turn our attention to the man who won the general election by a country mile – Boris Johnson.

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It’s clear that many people – and especially those on the ‘Left’ – don’t really understand Boris and the new form of hybrid Tory-Populism he’s created. Many regard him as a ‘fascist’ but that’s infantile and too simplistic.

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For starters, ‘fascist’ is probably one of the most over-used words in British politics. It’s been chucked around so much that it’s virtually lost all meaning. (We could add that about ‘racist’, ‘Islamophobic’, ‘anti-Semitic’. ‘Transphobic’ is also rapidly going the same way.)

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Secondly, to accuse Boris of being a ‘fascist’ is to do a great disservice to all of those who have fought what they perceive to be fascism over the years. Most recently this would have included those who’ve volunteered to fight with Kurdish forces against, what some would describe as a feudal form of fascism, in the guise of Islamic State.

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Given his massive majority, we feel that Johnson will create a different type of Tory government. We don’t think that he’s in the least bit ideological in the way that Margaret Thatcher was. Indeed, he’s miles away from the Thatcherite ‘small state, leave it to the market’ brand of Conservatism. He’ll also be different from Cameron and May.

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To be honest, we think that the only real interest Boris has is in himself and how he would go down in history. With this in mind we think that he’d like to be known as the man who got Brexit done. It’ll now be his number one vanity project.

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He also made a lot of promises to former Labour voters – particularly in Northern England & Wales. The Tories will want to hold onto these votes for any future elections. Therefore, Boris Johnson’s style of Tory-Populism may – to some degree – even reverse previous austerity measures. With an eye on his place in the history books, we feel that he may go on some sort of ‘spending spree’ on infrastructure projects to create a temporary & illusionary jobs boost. It may even turn out to be a project whereby state intervention and public spending is used on a scale never seen by previous Tory governments.

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As an ‘economic interventionalist’ he’ll borrow heavily from the banks. However, the bankers will want their pound of flesh so the national debt will be seriously racked up. And after the boom will come the bust.

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Ordinary working families will once again be hit in the pocket. A few years ago the public had to bail out the banks – and had to pay for it through austerity. The same public will be expected to pay back the government borrowing required in order to fufil Johnson’s place in the history books.

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We stated earlier that he’d like to be ‘known as the man who got Brexit done. It’ll now be his number one vanity project.’ Thus we feel that Boris will definitely ensure that Britain leaves the EU at the end of January. But the capitalist system will eventually adjust to any form of Tory Brexit. And borrowing heavily from the banks – and making the public pay it back – will only strengthen its hold on the government.

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Don’t be fooled by the clownish bluster & buffoonery of Johnson. Four months ago we stated that we felt that Boris was a mere figurehead, a State actor and ‘that powerful corporate big business and the banking elites hold real power.’ (6) In fact, it could probably be argued that – with the rise of Globalism – conglomerates and corporations hold more sway than governments. And alongside this, politics is a mere shadow play performed by puppets.

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But back to Boris:Despite his many gaffs, he’ll be allowed to do what he wants as long as it doesn’t really challenge the capitalist system. And let’s face it, he’s not going to do that. As far as we’re concerned, our earlier assessment still stands – that he’s a State actor. There’s a very old saying which also still stands: Never trust a Tory. You have been warned!

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1. http://nationalliberal.org/essex-voice-debate-1-–-will-labour-get-hammered-at-the-general-election
2. http://nationalliberal.org/brexit-the-long-walk-to-freedom-part-1
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50303512
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50770798
5. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50771014
6. http://nationalliberal.org/boris-johnston-donald-trump-heroes-anti-heroes-or-harmless-clowns