For many years, it was often said that 'you couldn't put a cigarette paper' between the two main parties.
asserted
you → say → parties
Both Tories and Labour, and the Lib Dems for that matter, were devoted to the same, centre-Left prescription of managerialism, high immigration, taxes on the 'wealthy' and policies that would meet the approval of the progressive editors of BBC News.
asserted
that → meet → News
How heartened I was to hear Kemi Badenoch deliver such a bold and uncompromising speech at the Conservative Party conference on Wednesday: a full-throated defence of traditional Tory values.
asserted
Badenoch → hear → values
Coming as it did so soon after Andy Burnham's equally forthright speech at his own party conference, where he moved Labour sharply to the Left, it means that at last the British people can see clear blue water between two parties that once threatened to become so closely aligned in a cosy consensus that many on the Right have felt politically homeless.
asserted
many → come → Right
Attack
Now the battle lines have been drawn - and both sides are ready to fight the good fight.
asserted
sides → draw → fight
And they are flirting with increasingly extreme political positions that no decent, self-respecting Tory could ever tolerate.
uncertain
Tory → flirt → that
Sir Jacob said Mr Carlson 'obviously viewed me as a sabre-rattler when it came to countries such as Putin's Russia'
Kemi Badenoch delivering her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference.
asserted
Badenoch → say → conference
As Kemi herself said, the idea that black members of the English football team cannot be considered proper Englishmen is nonsense, and dangerous nonsense at that
Meanwhile, across the pond, proponents of the Maga doctrine of 'America First' - led in some respects by the former Fox News host and influential commentator Tucker Carlson, but with sympathetic ears inside the current White House - are promoting an ugly isolationism inflected with bizarre Putinophilia.
Let's take each movement in turn.
asserted
's → say → turn
Sound money has been a Conservative principle since the 19th century: the essential notion that governments, like households, should spend no more than they bring in.
asserted
they → spend → more
Charles Dickens's Mr Micawber had it right when he said: 'Annual income £20, annual expenditure £19 and six: result happiness.
asserted
he → have → income
Britain's fiscal position today would have Micawber turning in his grave.
asserted
Micawber → have → grave
As Kemi pointed out in her rousing speech, £4 in every £5 borrowed by the Government last year was spent just on repaying the interest on our national debt.
asserted
4 → point → debt
That is why she has committed a future Conservative government to spending half of any budget savings on reducing the deficit rather than reallocating them or giving them away in tax cuts.
asserted
she → commit → cuts
To this end, Reform has flirted with scrapping the two-child limit on benefit payments (for families where both parents are British and in full-time work).
asserted
parents → flirt → work
They would like to see the winter fuel allowance reinstated in full.
asserted
allowance → like → ?
Most costly of all, they propose a big hike in the 'personal allowance' - the earnings threshold at which income tax kicks in.
asserted
tax → propose → which
Last year Reform proposed raising this threshold from its current £12,570 to £20,000 a year, a marvellous but unaffordable idea which would cost up to £80 billion, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
uncertain
which → propose → Studies
Bear in mind: that's more than the £70 billion or so we currently spend on defence.
asserted
we → bear → defence
Sir Jacob said: some leading figures in Reform increasingly appear to be promoting a pernicious "ethnonationalism"'
asserted
figures → say → ethnonationalism
Reform's assurance that this would be paid for via fantasy cuts elsewhere shows just how young and inexperienced they are as a political party.
asserted
they → pay → party
Nigel Farage has since diluted this promise and now suggests raising it to just £15,000.
uncertain
Farage → dilute → 15,000
Meanwhile, Reform's self-styled 'Shadow Chancellor' Robert Jenrick opposes Kemi's plan to scrap inheritance tax on primary residences, saying that his priority is to provide 'tax cuts for working people, not for the super rich'.
asserted
priority → style → rich
I like lower taxes as much as anyone.
asserted
I → like → anyone
But Conservatives understand that the individual is the creator of the State, not the other way round.
asserted
individual → understand → State
No government, either from the Left or one purporting to be from the Right, is entitled to use the tax system as a way of evening out wealth between different groups.
asserted
government → purport → groups
Government should take only what it must in order to maintain essential services.
asserted
it → take → services
The Tory party also sets itself apart from Reform in another - in some respects, even more important - way.
asserted
party → set → way
We understand that every individual is created in the image of God, and equal under the law.
asserted
individual → understand → law
But some leading figures in Reform increasingly appear to be promoting a pernicious 'ethnonationalism', which holds that non-white citizens cannot be considered English (or Scottish, Irish or Welsh for that matter), but only British in perhaps a civic sense.
asserted
citizens → lead → sense
Dangerous
Suella Braverman is the most explicit proponent of this view in recent weeks, even if Farage himself has previously distanced himself from it.
asserted
Farage → distance → it
Either way, as Kemi herself said, the idea that black members of the English football team - or as I would prefer to say, our national cricket team - cannot be considered proper Englishmen is nonsense, and dangerous nonsense at that.
asserted
I → say → that
Sir Jacob said that Suella 'the most explicit proponent' of promoting a pernicious 'ethnonationalism' while Farage has previously distanced himself
Reform's self-styled 'Shadow Chancellor' Robert Jenrick opposes Kemi's plan to scrap inheritance tax on primary residences, saying that his priority is to provide 'tax cuts for working people, not for the super rich'
Historically, we have been one of the best countries in the world when it comes to handling immigration.
asserted
it → say → immigration
Children who are members of ethnic minorities often outperform their white counterparts in our education system.
asserted
who → outperform → system
Compared to France, where ghettoisation regularly leads to race riots, we have largely been a nation at ease with itself; though of course more needs to be done to assimilate the large numbers of people who have come here recently.
asserted
who → compare → people
In just the same way, equally objectionable and sinister views are also taking hold on the Right in the United States.
asserted
views → take → States
As readers may know, I was recently interviewed at my London house by Tucker Carlson, who enjoys a vast audience for his podcast and YouTube channel.
uncertain
who → know → podcast
Our hour-long conversation has since 'gone viral' - with many millions of people around the world watching at least some of it.
asserted
millions → go → it
He obviously viewed me as a sabre-rattler when it came to countries such as Putin's Russia - and Carlson has himself conducted a rather fawning interview with the Kremlin dictator.
asserted
Carlson → view → dictator
But he worryingly failed to grasp the most ancient principle of statecraft: that if you want peace, you must prepare for war.
asserted
you → fail → war
The problem with the growing isolationism touted by Carlson and his ideological bedfellows is that it makes war more likely, not less.
asserted
war → grow → Carlson
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
