Tories now stand for racism, corruption and naked greed

✒ THE Conservative Party once proudly asserted that it combined “the best of the old with the best of the new”. Such a claim used to include family values: not any more, given Mr Johnson’s eight kids and three wives.

Is the “best of the new” the dominance of private money used to manipulate British politics? Under Johnson, as reported by City AM, there was a 14-strong Advisory Council of the super-rich who obtained a seat in this secret cabinet by donating at least £250,000. This council first came to light during Covid when some of the most corrupt Government contracts were set up to supply protective medical gowns. Millionaire profit with no transpar

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Is the ‘best of the new’ the dominance of private money used to manipulate British politics?

ency: new or old Tory values?

That the use of money to manipulate elections is also an essential value is shown by Mr Gove’s raising of the limit on election spending by 80%. Throwing money to attract votes seems the only way the May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak Party might yet win next time round: and, given this number of recent PMs, adolescent leadership quarrelling is clearly a “value” as is being “economical with the truth”.

Take Ms Badenoch’s “triumph” in tieing the UK into the CPTPP trade bloc (April 2023). Ms B tells us that the agreement was “worth” £12tn, a meaningless statement and one that underlines the apparent “value” of selfharm, since this deal followed our quitting of the EU where we had an agreement “worth” £14.5tn. The Government’s own figures show that over 10 years the CPTPP accord will increase our national wealth by only 0.08%: so economic responsibility and honesty fly-tipped: and let’s not forget the decision to allow the likes of Shell to grab sections of the Rosebank fossil fuel field which the Tories have presented as guaranteeing energy supplies for our citizens. No; the oil will be sold on the world market with no