Finding the true north

The previous ‘Rising of the North’ took place on the battlefield, the current one via the ballot box. Philip Howard wonders if we are facing profound change – or another false dawn

SO, Barrow, Blyth Valley and Bishop Auckland have all gone Conservative blue. “We are witnessing a seismic political shift,” various commentators commented. And during the morning of 14 December, as Boris’s Britain dawned, it was apparent that there had been a second ‘Rising of The North’. Let us hope that it does not follow the same trajectory as the original 1569 rising took, ending in a crushing defeat with a further 25 years of abject poverty and misery.

In 1569, the revolt against London was led by disgruntled nobles Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, and my powerful ancestor with a grievance, Leonard Dacre (or, as Queen Elizabeth described him, “that subtle, cancerous, crookback traitor Leonard Dacre”). He was in the process of losing all his family lands to another ancestor, Thomas

Howard, Duke of Norfolk, following the deaths of his elder brother and young nephew. Howard had cunningly married the widow, affianced his three sons to the three Dacre heiresses and scooped the pools. The Northern Earls were rising against radical change to defend their old religion, Catholicism. They yearned for the status quo; ironically, a European establishment led by an Italian Pope.

This time it is the northerners who seek radical change. It is the blinkered and deaf

European Union, together with the increasingly illiberal, liberal metropolitan London political elite, who have sought to maintain themselves as The Establishment. And for the moment having appeared to the public haughty, venal and self-righteous have lost. As the Prime Minister pointed out, those votes are just temporarily on loan. Loaned by northerners whose eyes have increasingly seen their Labour Party become disconnected under the leadership of an unpatriotic Marxist from Islington apparently more concerned with CND, Venezuela and Gaza than Barrow, Blyth and Bishop Auckland. And the north, which is fiercely proud, loyal and has always provided a disproportionate number of the armed forces, did not like that.

At my increasingly un-tender age, I have seen a few false dawns and wonder if this will just be another. I read recently about an ambitious new plan for a new northern capital with its specified aim, “To improve government control and economic prosperity to benefit all of northern England.” The words were spoken by King Edward IV in 1472 when he created The Council of the North, firstly at Sheriff Hutton and then York. They are not dissimilar to those of George Osborne in 2010 at the inception of his concept to establish a Northern Powerhouse to “bring together great cities, towns and rural communities. To drive economic growth by creating high value local jobs, modern transport links and increased investment.”

I suppose it was better than William the Conqueror’s plan. He got fed up with the north after 20 years rule so decided in 1086 to ‘harry it’. He ordered people, buildings, villages, crops, animals and all food to be burnt to ashes. More than 100,000 people perished from starvation with stories of cannibalism rife. The Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote, “The King stopped at nothing to hunt his enemies. He cut down many people and destroyed homes and land. Nowhere else has he shown such cruelty. I can say nothing good about this brutal slaughter. God will punish him.” Possibly only Margaret Thatcher has inspired such visceral hatred in the north. Certainly the north paid a heavy price for its dependence on the old heavy industries associated with the Industrial Revolution. And yet, despite that, northern people voted Conservative.

I have hated the inertia of the past few years and am full of excitement and hope for the future. The expectations are, of course, undeliverable but we must start and try. We have a real opportunity to implement profound change. Brexit has been a brutal and polarising piece of navel gazing. We need to create village mentalities in our cities, to listen to and respect one another and agree to differ. We need to meld the pride, loyalty and friendliness of the north with the industry, creativity and multiculturalism of the south. Sounds quite simple to me, Mr Cummings.

We need to create village mentalities in our cities, to listen to and respect one another