Revolutionary Conservatives?

By Liam Murphy on Jan 7, 10 12:08 PM

I KNOW Margaret Thatcher was seen as "revolutionary" in many respects - first female Prime Minister, radical shift in monetary policy and commitment to controlling inflation rather than employment, privatisation and sale of council houses to name but a few - but I have generally seen the Conservative Party being what it says on the tin - conservative.

This is not a bad thing, and it doesn't mean they don't have new ideas, radical policy initiatives, and so forth, just that they are often seen to represent a desire for the status quo, traditional values, among other things.

So it was with some surprise that I read Denis Knowles' "Seacombe Matters" blog in which he compared revolutionaries Che Guevara and Fidel and Raul Castro to some of his local Conservative colleagues - or maybe the other way around.

Below a photo of Che, Fidel and Raul has a photo of of Cllr Knowles' Conservatives colleagues, including deputy leader of the local party Cllr Lesley Rennie and Cllr Leah Fraser who is challenging Wallasey MP Angela Eagle, making an interesting juxtaposition, to say the least.

Cllr Knowles wrote: "Like Fidel and Co. we hope for a change of government on our island this year and like the Cuban government we wish to aspire not for a capitalist ideal but for a system of social justice, representative democracy and a return to the idea of localism with family, community and country as the most important features of our society."

However, Cllr Knowles does seem to think the Tories are lagging behind the revolutionaries of Fidel Castro in their ability "gain the trust" of local people, writing: "It took the revolutionary army in Cuba a couple of years to gain the trust of the people, it has taken nearly 13 years for Conservatives to achieve the same here."

He then expresses hope that 2010 will be a year of change, out with the old and in with the new, etc.

I know it can seem pretty sad but I can't help but be fascinated by local politics. And one thing which has always been clear when I have reported on politics across the north west and Wales is that political convictions aside (and they often are) most political scenes, whether local or national, are driven by the personalities involved.

Wirral has plenty of personalities in its political maelstrom. One of the most bitter rivalries has been in Seacombe where former Labour councillor Denis Knowles swapped his loyalties to the Conservatives group. Prior to this, I think most people had seen the Seacombe trio (which includes Adrian Jones and John Salter - still both Labour) as a fairly tight knit group in a Labour stronghold.

It is going to be fascinating watching this, and other key wards, over the coming months, and which way this revolution goes.

I have copied the entire blog post below, but you can see it for yourself here.

Old and new friends united
UTC06000000Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:27:46 +00004606pm10 by Denis Knowles

Above we have a photo, circa 1959 of Fidel, Che and Raul in Havana, Cuba celebrating the successful outcome of a change of government on the island.

At the time Fidel was quoted as saying that "This revolution is not based on Communism or Marxism, but on representative democracy and social justice in a well-planned economy."

in the photo below we have a group of Conservatives circa 2010 in Wallasey, Wirral, which includes Cllrs. Leah Fraser Parliamentary Candidate for Wallasey, Leslie Rennie Deputy Leader of Wirral Conservative Group and Chairman of Wallasey Conservative Association and Cllr. Denis Knowles Conservative Councillor for Seacombe Ward.

Like Fidel and Co. we hope for a change of government on our island this year and like the Cuban government we wish to aspire not for a capitalist ideal but for a system of social justice, representative democracy and a return to the idea of localism with family, community and country as the most important features of our society.

It took the revolutionary army in Cuba a couple of years to gain the trust of the people, it has taken nearly 13 years for Conservatives to achieve the same here.

2010 will hopefully, be the year when all the hard work comes to fruition and we see a Conservative Government back in control of this great nation. God willing. It's time for a change!