To the Carlton Club, where Mr S found himself on Thursday evening at the seventh Margaret Thatcher Centre lecture. A smorgasbord of stars turned out in black tie to honour the late Prime Minister, with Lord Frost delivering the keynote address to the enthusiastic applause of the dozens of assembled Tories including Priti Patel. But it was the opening remarks by Conor Burns – a close friend of Lady Thatcher – which impressed many in attendance.
The Bournemouth West MP recounted the tale of his recent suspension from the parliamentary party, after being accused of misconduct at the annual Tory conference in October. Burns lost the Tory whip and was sacked by Liz Truss as a Trade minister; a subsequent party investigation has since cleared him, having concluded there was ‘no basis on which to investigate further.’ With tears in his eyes, Burns rose to tell the assembled crowd on Thursday night that:
I would not wish what has happened to me on my worst enemy… Our system in this country is incredibly precious and it’s hard-fought. And as I stood on Remembrance Sunday, waiting to lay a wreath, I thought people died for the values that we uphold. Ancient principles: innocence until proven guilty, due process. As Margaret Thatcher said in that famous ‘Death on the Rock’ programme: ‘If ever you get trial by television or guilty by accusation, that day, freedom dies.’ And I never thought to see a situation that we now have in modern politics where those ancient principles are easily, so casually, so politically, set aside. My friends, it doesn’t matter where those who do that sit on the political spectrum. Those who do that are enemies of freedom.
Strong stuff. There was some levity too though, with Burns summarising the events of the last year as ‘sub-optimal’. He added that ‘we have dispatched the most electorally successful Conservative leader since Margaret Thatcher’ and that:
The period that followed was supposed to be a tribute to Margaret Thatcher – the next phase of the Thatcherite revolution. Sadly, it turned into a tribute act for Mr Bean. We must, in the words of Kipling that Mrs Thatcher often quoted: ‘Let us admit it frankly, as a business people should, We have had no end of a lesson: it will do us no end of good.’
Time will tell if such lessons have really been learned. Bean or Thatcher? The choice is Rishi’s in 2023…
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