John Redwood

Business - January 9, 2005

SLAYING THE EURO-MONSTER IS KEY TO A TORY COMEBACK

by John Blundell

What i found depressing and alarming when reading John Redwood's account of the upper reaches of government - Singing The Blues: The Once and Future Conservatives - is the degree to which British policies are now derived from Brussels. They are not even done by consultation but by command.

Successive Conservative ministers did as bidden by the European Commission. For example, the one privatisation which everyone agrees was a cock up - British Rail - was regarded as the work of John MacGregor, then transport minister. Now we understand its clumsy structure was imposed by the commission. As Redwood asks: Why do we need a European transport policy?

By far the greatest error of the John Major years was entry to the European exchange-rate mechanism (ERM). The Conservatives are still being punished for their ineptitude. Yet could they not see that any price-fixing is always futile? Rigging the price of the pound and all concomitant economic policies such as interest rates was preposterous.

Redwood hints that political leaders are cocooned in comfort and fed compliments so much that they could not hear the screams from firms collapsing and families being dispossessed. The reason is plain: Major, like prime ministers before and after him, was mesmerised by the urge to be a "good European" - to cede ever more powers to the commission and then obey its edicts.

Until reading Redwood, I had not quite appreciated that Norman Lamont, when chancellor, had been opposed to the policy he was enacting - the ERM, a fixed exchange rate as a prelude to monetary union. He carries the albatross of this failure forever. Yet Kenneth Clarke, who was an unyielding fan of all things European, shared the acclaim for the post-ERM revival of the economy.

Politics can be a rough game and also unjust. Yet what can a politician do? To remain utterly proper or truthful is to render you useless to your colleagues. The game, or art of politics is a collaborative one. You have to accept a high burden of policies that you know to be foolish in the hope you can promote those important to you. To be a loyal and diligent Conservative often includes the duty to support the leadership's sillier commitments.

Redwood cites former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith's decision to back an earnings link to state pensions and his opposition to university funding independence as daft notions his colleagues had to accept.

Redwood is both forceful and subtle in his views on the future. He does not favour withdrawal from the European Union (EU) but he does favour withdrawal of powers adopted by the commission. He quotes the Reformation as a model: Parliament simply withdrew the powers of the Papacy.

Redwood is at his most interesting in rehearsing the opinion of the Law Lords that the 1972 European Communities Act can be revoked or amended. This is high octane stuff and a measure of how unique he is now in the Conservative Party.

This is the most thoughtful recent book on the Conservative Party I have found. It has the inside knowledge of the Alan Clark diaries without the venality and indiscretions. This is a joke-free volume and almost without adjectives. Redwood has seen the Tory party evolve from the inside as he rose from Oxford county councillor through the Downing Street policy unit to become a minister and join the Cabinet. He is a man of high seriousness and accomplishment.

Reading Redwood I wonder if integrity of purpose is not a handicap in politics. Veracity and perceptiveness are prizes, but the Tories enjoy chasing what Mark Twain termed "bugaboos" (international terrorism is the current diversion). Part of this valuable essay are notes towards an autobiography - limited to the political career. The rest is a review of the monstrous errors made in government after a run of triumphs.

Redwood then turns to those ideas and principles that he thinks will secure a Conservative victory. Here, I ought to declare an interest. I try to sell, or rather give away, policy notions to everyone in public life. Convincing a politician that deregulating this or privatising that would be wise is well worth doing as the whirligig of office spins again and the man you've tutored may find himself with the levers of power. My predecessor, Ralph Harris, certainly had Margaret Thatcher's ear.

It can make a difference. Our Parliament continues to sleep-walk. It is dissolving itself. It cedes or sub-contracts powers to the petty assemblies in Wales, Scotland and Ulster while yielding substantive matters to Brussels, a body impervious to the mechanisms we pretend to honour such as elections or democracy.

Redwood is currently studying the opportunities for de-regulation. His brief ranges from footling nonsense rules to major impediments to commercial vitality. What fun it would be to see the dice of fortune fall on Redwood as chancellor. He would surely scrap all taxes on capital and I suspect reduce and simplify income tax and VAT.

As a dutiful shadow spokesman he sees only victory as the option in the coming election. His real victory will be in converting the Tory party back to its instinctive policies and arranging a courteous departure from the Euro-monster. Then Europe will benefit from free trade with the UK, not from ever more cobwebs of bureaucracy.

It is impossible not to be impressed with John Redwood's tenacity or fidelity to his free society or free market ideals. The fact he is a Fellow of All Souls suggests perhaps he does have more neurons or synapses or whatever explains brilliance. Yet high academic achievement is regarded with alarm in a Conservative Party more comfortable with atavistic instincts. His account of why he made a bid for the leadership has a pale lucidity about it, but his passion is controlled so tightly he is perplexing.

Since 1997's wipe-out the Tory party has often seemed close to oblivion - or worse, irrelevance. The party's headquarters has been chasing a mirage they call "modernisation" when real Tories know human nature is immutable and we all want prosperity and more control over options for ourselves and our families.

I had appreciated Redwood has a good paternity claim to the Citizen's Charter. This was a bold attempt to force agencies of state to treat its "customers" with the dignity they have in a market. If the electorate believed the Conservatives could offer real choice in schools and medicine their fortunes might soar again. Retrieving Parliamentary sovereignty is too abstract for most of the electorate and even for many MPs. Yet, expressed as Redwood does, it is a compelling theme.

There are many clever politicians on the British stage but I feel Redwood is in a league of his own. Others may agree with his policy prescriptions, but they are content to temporise and compromise.

John Blundell is director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Singing The Blues: The Once and Future Conservatives, John Redwood (Politico's, £18.99).