The words of the first Bishop of Liverpool, JC Ryle, commenting in the 19th century on Pontius Pilate’s role at Easter, seem strangely prophetic today:

“Men like Pontius Pilate, who are always trimming and compromising, led by popular opinion instead of leading popular opinion, afraid of doing right if it gives offence, ready to do wrong if it makes them personally popular, such men,” he wrote, “are the worst governors that a country can have.” And he said: “Let us pray that our own country may never be without men in high places who have grace to think right, and courage to act up to their knowledge, without truckling to the opinion of men. Those who fear God more than man, and care for pleasing God more than man, are the best rulers of a nation, and in the long run of years are always most respected.”

The major problem, one of the major problems, for there are several, with governing people is that of who you get to do it. Or, rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well known and much lamented fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made president should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.’ - Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hickers Guide to the Galaxy

As William F. Buckley once rightly stated: “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston telephone directory than by the 2,000 members of the Harvard faculty.” Quite so. Egghead intellectuals and arrogant elites think they know so much better than we do. But it seems whenever they start to get into power, they thrive while the rest of us suffer.’

Wanted by Britain – one statesman!

Australia has just seen the light and voted for a Liberal (or Conservative in our eyes) Prime Minister. Not perfection by any means, but a step in the right direction. Oh if only we had a dose of this over here but we can only dream, but dream we can, because anything is possible once you put your mind to it. The last election was possibly the last time I will vote Conservative, certainly for the traditional UK party. I guess I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but alas, my instinct about David Cameron was right all along. He is no Conservative. Maybe I was hoping that he would be too influenced by the proper Conservatives in his party, but no, it seems the modernisers have dominated his judgement, even his wife who we are told has quite an influence on him. Mark Steyn some years ago, on the rise of Cameron as leader of the Conservative party, called the new leader a ‘disaster.’ He discerned straightaway that he was a prisoner of the spirit of the age which exalts political correctness above any other quality. I would not deem to be so churlish with the pen, but I can see where he was coming from. I remember listening to a fellow Conservative singing Mr Cameron’s praises when the leadership election was going on. I had just heard David Davies speak in his bid for the leadership, and he was the man for me. My colleague, a man considerably older than myself, told me how David Cameron knew how to work a room, in other words if he spoke to you in a busy gathering, you felt he was listening to you and you alone. That is an admirable quality, because there is nothing worse than talking to someone who feigns interest but continually looks up at the ceiling or past your gaze to see if someone more interesting has entered the room. However, the ability to concentrate on the person you are speaking to is hardly the main quality needed for leadership of a nation. What we need now is a leader, someone who has a core of titanium steel running through them and as the lady said, does not do U-turns. For the challenges facing Britain now need a face like flint, and someone who will not be swayed by focus groups or any type of elite, but will act from the heart and soul with conviction and integrity. Unfortunately you may argue that Britain does not make men like this any more, rugged bloody minded warriors who care not who they offend if they are doing the right thing, but let us dream. You may even argue that it just will not happen, the system will not allow such a person to rise.

A nation only needs one man (or woman!) at a time of need. Incredible really, the power of one to change the landscape of a nation for the better or worse. We have seen it in history as mighty leaders and warriors have risen up to defend their nation or to stand for freedom, or evil tyrants have brought catastrophe to a nation. We saw it when Hitler in Germany managed to bring a controlling spirit into a whole continent. Thankfully we had Churchill who for all his faults recognised the evil and faced it down head on.

What would a statesman do at this time if he led this nation? Well first of all he would make immediate arrangements for EU withdrawal, having the prescience to see that all the benefits of being in the EU are the benefits that accrue when you belong virtually to one single country, and that if you leave, the pluses are worth much more than the minuses of losing the special privileges that citizens enjoy of being a member of that country, such as a common tariff and access of course to a common market. He would know that this move would be the least he could do to restore our nation to its proud independence again, able to make its own decisions in its own interests, and put its own people first, yes, shock horror, discriminate in favour of its own people! In the meantime he would not even contemplate allowing X number of Rumanians and Bulgarians into the UK this January. Special provisions would be made to stop this from happening on the grounds of national interest, and the EU would just have to accept the situation. The thought of allowing possibly large numbers to come in from a quite different culture to our own after New Labour’s highly irresponsible policy of allowing in huge numbers with no control would be anathema to him.

Next, he would do everything he could to strengthen the family in the UK i.e. mother, father and the children as the best model we have for incubating and protecting the next generation. So he would see that children are our most precious asset, not accessories or mere lifestyle choices, but the future of our nation. That we have a responsibility to pass on what has been handed down to us to the next generation. He would have no understanding of why a Conservative led Coalition would want to give childcare vouchers to couples who both want to go out to work, but not give sufficient support to stay at home mums. He would recognise the vital importance of the parents being with their children for those early years.

He would unashamedly stand up for traditional British values and culture without being a fuddy -duddy and opposing change in all its forms, recognising the good things that have been passed down to us which are actually for the common good, even if some feel uncomfortable with those things. So he would have no time for remaking the nation on a new framework but would recognise that the old framework is still perfectly able to handle modernity, innovation and forward thinking. So he would support the ancient constituents of our parliamentary democracy, the Commons, Lords, monarchy and Anglican church, recognising that it is not perfect, but it is England, and it has served us well for a very long time, that if you keep fiddling with it for ideological purposes, you end up with a dogs dinner.

He would stand up for Christianity, the historic faith of this country, and would not constantly denigrate and undermine it through needless legislation to pander to human rights, antidiscrimination and equality ideology. He might not be committed to the faith himself, but would recognise that Christianity is woven into the warp and woof of our society, and has shaped the character of the people, it is indeed in the genes, in the earth of this country. So he would recognise that other religions have made their home here, but it is Christianity that must provide the umbrella under which other faiths are allowed their freedoms.

He would clamp down on mass immigration having discerned that behind this mass global move is a truly dark spirit committed to destroying the foundations of the nation state and the strongest and oldest cultures in the world. Recognising primarily that huge numbers of people from other cultures allowed in over too short a space of time bring another spirit, another atmosphere into the nation, he would consider a moratorium on immigration so that extreme pressures on infrastructure but also tensions between communities can be eased and that a sensible debate can be had on the way forward. Meanwhile everyone that is here illegally can be deported.

He would stand unreservedly for freedom of speech, recognising that if you do not have this freedom, you have no freedom at all. Therefore he would recognise the dastardly and unrelenting assault that has been launched by both New Labour and the Coalition on peoples’ freedom to say what they think in the name of ‘community cohesion,’ ‘multiculturalism’ or that old bugbear, ‘tolerance.’ Therefore he would tear up any hate speech legislation as being no longer fit for purpose, he would persuade us that we can say anything we want as long as it does not incite murder or lie about or slander deliberately other people. He would have no time for government charters on the press, believing that the existing criminal law should be enough to deal with journalistic crime. Then we are leaving a healthy legacy for our children and grandchildren.

He would continue to wield the axe against the excesses of the welfare state, his maxim being, ‘those that do not work should not eat,’ knowing that the human spirit has immeasurable ability to adapt to new circumstances and to survive even when the government does not owe you a living. He would recognise that it is far better for people to spend their own money rather than take it from them and redistribute it according to socialist and Marxist principles.

He would have no truck with militant Islam, realising its treacherous nature, and would ensure that it was not able to bully the British authorities through threats of violence and intimidation

He would once and for all seek to bury the concept of multiculturalism which has done so much damage to our country, nailing through the heart the idea that all cultures are equal and that I owe no more obligation or relationship to my next door neighbour than I do to a Kalahari tribesman.