The Romantic John Hayes Talks of Love

Last night I was at the annual Islington Conservative Party Dinner. The venue was the Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall mall and the guest speaker was John Hayes MP. . I gather he is referred to as Quasimodo by the young bucks ,and you do notice that half of his face is curiously immobile, the result of an accident or a stroke .. I `m not sure.
So, he is not a physically prepossessing individual; but as he spoke I found myself warning to his humour , practised style and glowing sincerity. He started with the obligatory gag about an association even more out of date than ours and moved swiftly on to a ,“ wide ranging “, discussion of “ things that matter “.
He was trying to tell us in about fifteen minutes, what a Conservative is , why it is right ,and where he placed John Hayes in the spectrum . A tall order !
I do not have the notes that I took with me ( I `m at work ), but the word that stuck in my mind was as that most schmaltzy , frightening , embarrassing but important word “ Love”. For John Hayes, and for me, as I come to think of it , being a Conservative is about “Love”. “
He began with reminding us that we joined an organisation called “ The Common Market “ ,in the expectation of a trading alliance ,to protect and grow business . If we had thought we were being mis –sold ,a super state organisation which wished to remove out right to govern our own country, we would have demurred. His complaint was not the waste, although he complained vociferously, it was not the farcical pretence at democracy, although it was farcical. He chiefly complained that there was no love for this institution, and with no love for it there can be no sacrifice or common interest.
As Norman Tebbit put it , with no Demos , there can never be a democracy . Or as Roger Scruton said , We cannot decide what to do without first there being something you can call “We”.
This sense of a country , this “ Love “ of country and its “ people “ , our people , is , not therefore a silly old fashioned affectation , it is the spring from which the river of rights and responsibilities flows .
Well to a romantic Conservative like me ,this was all fine stuff that slipped down beautifully with the fruity white I was glugging .I may even have vouchsafed a sotto voce “Hear hear”, …how embarrassing .
He described the New Labour attack on the family which, as he said , to him , meant a man , a woman and some children. I discovered that we both like marriage so much, we do it about once every ten years , but given that this was what they call a “Key note “, speech, the paradoxes of Social Liberalism ,or the lack ,of it were left conveniently to one side. At this point I began to think, “Well are you going to reform the benefits and housing system then because I `ve heard no mention of it ?”. I fact we scuttled on to what I would call the “ Prince Charles middle eight “ .
There followed a meandering complaint about the dehumanising force of evil that is Tescos , a plea for the embattled farmer ,and a desire to return to the days of wobbly carrots. It was , if one felt unkind , verging on the risible . In it he mentioned a general view on the limits of the free market. The classic leftist example of the Slave trade was dragged screaming for the crypt .I shouldn`t scoff, I have often had to tick off Croydonian severely for his unreasoning quasi Marxist attachment, to the great god “market”. We Finished off with a plea for more social order and less freedom given our “ fallen state “, which , he says , is a state Conservatism accepts. Ho hum……

I am ambivalent about such an Illiberal social agenda and it was rare meat to be sure . Anyway , back to me ...I asked the first question . It was universally hailed as the best and cheered by a clamouring throng ……..( honest)….

Newmania:
“ I like what you say about Europe and I like your approach to the country and its living tissue . I am ,on the other hand, amused at your suggestion that fifty years ago people ate better and were better finer human beings enjoying a wobbly carrot virtually at will . They were not ,they were less literate , suffered from malnutrition, lived for the most part in industrial wastes and had limited access to Taramousalata,
I am, also dubious as to the efficacy of saving farmers from the consequences of their own inefficiency ,or increasing regulation of such fine organisations as Tescos who single handedly gave us the avocado Pear. I am concerned that your wish for for social cohesion, though well intentioned ,will in practice mean even greater regulation and state interference. Isn’t the social and traditional side of your thinking essentially what a Liberal might say and are they not statists who we should oppose ?”

He answered me frankly ,and with great charm saying it was about finding the right balance between social cohesion and freedom . The crucial position was this “. People must be free to behave well “ because they want to “ ; the tradition and love for family and country were what made people into better people. That is the paradox by which the Libertarian and socially Conservative strains of the Party’s thinking are reconciled

( Obviously I am paraphrasing on an industrial scale here ).

He asked me what I though of his answer and I said I had considerable sympathy for it but it was “ Romantic “. He leapt up at that that saying” Yes yes it is, to be a Conservative is to be Romantic “ it is to be against the rational systems of Marxism and in the final resort , markets as well. The market is a tool but it is not the core of it “…he could have added that the core of it was…. “ Love”

Further drinks and discussion were joined by Chris Skidmore who works for two Brains Willets , Arthurian legend and we left in cab at about 1.30.AM

Thanks to all and feel the love people !