Thoughts about Cromwell, Politicians, and the EU elections in June

I love Oliver Cromwell on so many levels. Here is his speech from 1651 when he dissolved the rump parliament left over from the English Civil War. It seems as if the political profession has not changed much in the last 358 years.

Given the recent furor over expenses in the Westminster Parliament, and the continuing un-democratic trough feeding at the EU parliament, I think that these words are as applicable today as they were back then. I freely admit to stealing the following text from the http://www.eureferendum.blogspot.com/ site, but I have seen them echoed in various places over the last few days.

Here are the words :-

“...It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter'd your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defil'd this sacred place, and turn'd the Lord's temple into a den of thieves by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress'd; your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse the Augean Stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings, and which by God's help and the strength He has given me, I now come to do.

I command ye, therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. You have sat here too long for the good you do. In the name of God, go!”

Scary isn’t it? So many similarities in sentiment to what a lot of us are feeling. I for one am fed up with our politicians, and to some extent our political system. The mob in Westminster is failing the majority of the people in this country, they have lead us to a loss of sovereignty to Brussels and to some military embaressments that have harmed our global prestige.

The ridiculous outcry over expenses, which were all made according to the rules of a system in place since 1972 and are really there so that MPs can claim extra income to supplement their relatively poor basic salary (poor when compared to professionals in industry, law and finance of equal or lesser authority). I am fine with that. Would it make more sense to just raise their salaries by 15-20% and drastically reduce allowances?

Of course it would be. It should be done, but come on – are a few inflated expenses claims within the boundaries of the systems and legality really all that important? Are the sums involved really worth the expenditure that is going to be made to “investigate” all the claims? Do the sums even begin to compete with the endemic wastage inherent in the Labour government above and beyond the arcane and archaic financial corridors of Westminster expense claims? Do they even begin to approach the level of financial siphoning and swindling taking place in Brussels? Do they anywhere close to the wastage of money on dubious military weapons development programmes and procurements? Of course they don’t – the whole thing is just a media frenzy designed to sell newspapers and make MPs look stupid (itself not always a bad thing of course…)

Its not the expenses "scandal" that annoys me - its the fact that all of the "big three" mainstream parties are now so similar in so many ways, and that none of them address the concerns that I have about the country and its future. While I do not begrudge them a fair, even generous wage, I do begrudge them being given that wage when they either ignore the issues I see as important, or indeed act in diametric oppossition to them. I have been saying this for years, but its no less true for the repition - UK politics is not about voting for a party in which you believe in, its about voting for a party which you dislike the least.

But what is the option? There are elections coming up in June. Where I live, there are local and council elections as well as the EU ones. Everthing from MPs to parish and town councils nearby are almost all Conservative, with the big exception of Aylesbury Town Council (LibDem). I will, of course, vote Conservative in all local polls that I am presented with. I may disagree with their silence on the EU and some other “right wing” issues that I, and millions of others, consider important, but they are worth the vote even if they are only marginally better than the gang of muppets currently in power.

Its when I come to the EU elections that I am slightly more confused. I loathe the EU, and its parliament doesn’t really do anything except cost money since all the decision making bodies in the EU are non-elected committees of bureaucrats. So, I am going to cast a protest vote of some description. I want the mainstream parties to wake up and realize that there is a hitherto silent majority out there do not subscribe to their lovely dovey liberal nonsense, a silent majority that worries about Islamic extremism, unfettered migration of the unskilled to our country, the failure of multiculturalism and a number of other things.

So, I have two choices really to cast my protest vote, neither one of which I actually like very much. There is UKIP, who I voted for last time. They have accomplished nothing since those elections, have been embroiled in their own expenses scandals, and have avoided total collapse due to infighting by only the slimmest of margins. They have a broadly centre-right collection of policies that has a lot of overlap with the Conservative party. But they are a paper tiger and, possibly, a spent force, despite recent polls showing that they are potentially picking up a lot of centre and centre right protest votes.

The other option is a bit more troubling, not least of which because I am actually leaning towards casting my vote their way. The BNP have ludicrous and impractical policies, their efforts at entering the mainstream are embarrassing and amateurish. Their economic policies are too left wing for me, and the odour of anti-Semitism bothers me badly, despite them publicizing their Jewish members and council candidates. I also have some problems with their genetic and colour emphasis – my xenophobia is purely culturalist and not racially based – I don’t care what people’s ethnic origins are as long as they assimilate to become British.

However, their anti-EU stance, their refusal to be politically correct, and their wariness of Islam and its effects on our country are all very attractive to me. They also seem to be very attractive to lots of other people – polls show that the BNP could very well get at least one (and possibly as many as seven or eight) MEP in the upcoming elections, legitimizing them to some degree (although nowhere near to the degree that they seem to think it will).

UKIP is the safe option, one that I have taken before. A vote for them is a “disillusioned centre-right Conservative showing his angst” vote. Nothing more. It has no other baggage, and really requires no other thought or soul searching on my part.

The real question is this - is voting for the BNP, and risking that this generally noisome bunch gets some real power, funding and legitimacy, a risk worth taking to send a rocket up the arses of the Westminster mob? I have no doubt that they would be a disaster in any real position of power and influence, but there is a good chance that, if the BNP do well, the mainstream parties will realize that there is a huge portion of the electorate that they are ignoring and marginalizing, a silent portion who want their own voices heard above the screams of racial and ethnic minorities, who they outnumber.

I have no idea who I will vote for next month. I doubt I will make my mind up completely until I get to the voting booth. I wonder how many other people of similar views to myself are wrestling with the same questions, and who might, on the day, cast a vote of protest that could very well have lasting consequences for our country politically and socially.

Not that it matters when looking at the EU itself – as stated, MEPs don’t actually do, and certainly can’t change, much. The real change will be May 2010 when we have a General Election. Hopefully the results of the EU elections and the “protest” votes will stimulate the Conservatives, who are almost certainly going to win the General Election, to look at the questions regarding the EU, immigration, and multiculturalism sensibly and realistically.