I fear for the Tories

That’s to say I fear for Britain, for a Labour victory on 12 December will spell an instant and unmitigated disaster for our country.

Yet the campaign strategy followed by Boris Johnson and his advisors seems to make such a development more, rather than less, likely.

I may be wrong of course, and nothing would make me happier should the upcoming election prove so. If the Tory government is returned with a large majority, I’ll ecstatically eat my words and even ask for seconds.

Admittedly, I only proceed on general principle, whereas the Johnson campaign doubtless bases its strategy on numerous focus groups and private polling. Still, someone who trusts such research implicitly may not be familiar with its long history of failure.

My problem with the campaign is that the Tories have effectively turned it into a second Brexit referendum. Johnson answers practically every question with “Let’s get Brexit done”, repeating that mantra ad nauseam to the already jaded electorate.

That effectively allows the Labour agenda to dictate the terms of debate.

First, the majority for Leave was solid, but hardly spectacular. A couple of percentage points here or there, and next time the result may well swing the other way. That’s why Corbyn wisely (and I never thought these two words could appear side by side) chooses to sit on the fence, refusing to be tarred with either the Remainer or Leaver brush, ready to swing either way.

On everything else, the Labour campaign is clearly and unwaveringly targeting the young, dumb, gullible, ethnic and anyone else for whom the sentiment in the first paragraph above isn’t self-evident.

The Tories, on the other hand, meekly accept the truth behind Labour principles, only ever engaging the opposition quantitatively, not qualitatively.

End ‘austerity’? Definitely – but not as thoroughly as Labour wants. Deficit expenditure? Of course – but less than Labour proposes. Reaffirming the godliness of the NHS? Goes without saying – but a bit easier on the tithes. Using prisons mainly for rehabilitation? Absolutely –  but not quite to the extent Labour proposes. Early release? For sure – but perhaps less early and wide than Labour wants. Reduce armed forces? Yes – but not quite down to nothing.

Such shilly-shallying won’t make the slightest dent in the socialist cravings of those who have them, which I dare say is most voters and practically all the young ones. Wiser heads, those who would vote Tory no matter what, wouldn’t be impressed either.

After years of socialist propaganda, people must be given a persuasive reason to vote Tory. They don’t need one to vote Labour or some such.

I’m afraid Johnson et al. are preaching to the choir of core believers who shudder at the thought of a Corbyn government. I’m not convinced there are enough of them to carry the day.

Boris Johnson may have the brains, but evidently not the character to tell the people that the difference between the Tories and Labour is that of principle, not just of detail – and then to announce in a loud and confident voice exactly what those principles are.

Leaving to Labour the promises of free broadband, along with canonised ‘free’ education and healthcare (something that can’t exist by definition), the Tories should use that adjective differently: free conscience, free speech, free assembly, free markets, free enterprise, free trade – all those freedoms guaranteed by the constitution of the realm. All those things that put Great into Britain.

They should then make clear that even attempting to enact Labour’s policies will be tantamount to eliminating all those freedoms, some of them instantly, some within months. For no Marxist programme has ever been realised anywhere without producing political oppression and widespread destitution.

And yes, by all means let’s get Brexit done. But the need to do so hasn’t come about parthenogenetically. It’s strictly derivative, begotten by our constitution and what used to be called the rights of Englishmen.

Having said all that, the line of demarcation between the two parties does exist, mainly because of the sheer monstrosity of Corbyn’s Labour. My point is that this message doesn’t seem to be coming across plainly and forcefully enough.

Is Johnson going to repeat May’s error and expect to win the election by default? I hope not, for such weak-kneed complacency may well set up the stage for a tragedy.

P.S. Speaking of tragedies, the father of the young man murdered by a Muslim terrorist on early release expressed the hope that his son’s death wouldn’t lead to “draconian sentences” being imposed.

Grief works in all sorts of ways, and in this case it might have numbed the poor man’s brain. More likely though is that he’s a Social Justice Warrior, meaning a share-care-be-aware Leftie.

These chaps have nothing against draconian sentences in general. It’s just that they see the group meriting such punishment in their own bizarre ways.

We used to believe that long prison sentences should be reserved for traitors, terrorists, murderers, thieves, burglars and other transgressors against person and property.

This lot would rather punish sex crimes (understood broadly, to include pinching an unconsenting bottom on public transport), racism (such as telling ethnic jokes), homophobia (stating that marriage can only occur between a man and a woman) and tax evasion (also to include tax avoidance). Tempora mutantur… and all that, but these people should check their moral compass, for it’s going haywire.

And of course Jeremy Corbyn, displaying the sensitivity for which Marxists are so justly famous, said that early release is fine for terrorists, provided they are rehabilitated and, contextually, Muslim. Just like Usman Khan, in other words.

Jeremy, repeat after me. The only thing that can rehabilitate those evil men is a bullet. They can then forget their feral hatred and stroll serenely through luxuriant, fragrant gardens, enjoying one of those 72 virgins behind the bushes.

P.P.S. Today’s news illustrates my yesterday’s article. Turns out the long document, which Corbyn waved in the air to show that the Tories are planning to flog the NHS, is a Russian fake. No, seriously? Who could have thought. This also shows whom Putin considers his choice.