Politics
Wednesday September 5, 2007
Prominent UK Tory Politician Says Support for Civil Unions "Insults Intelligence" of British
Critical of Tory leader Cameron's attempt to shift party to left and re-brand it as "heirs to Blair"
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LONDON, September 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One of the most senior MP's in the UK's Tory party, Michael Ancram, Member of Parliament for Devizes, has criticized the government's policy of treating homosexual partnerings as the equivalent to marriage. In a pamphlet published by the Daily Telegraph, Ancram calls on the party to remember its "conservative soul."
With the possibility of a snap general election still being discussed, the Conservatives have been putting forth policy statements. Cameron has laid out Tory plans to curb uncontrolled immigration and overcome Britain's rising rate of violent crime among "feral" youths. He has said that the problem of youth crime stems from the erosion of the family.
In his 36-page pamphlet, "Still a Conservative", Ancram said, "For instance it does not wash for politicians to say at one moment that they are for marriage and the family and will financially support them, and then with the next breath pledge the same support to civil unions. It insults the intelligence of the British people."
Citing the public perception that the Conservatives are "lacking an overall sense of vision and direction", Ancram said, "Change for change's sake is a vacuous process, swiftly seen through by the electorate." The document amounts to an alternative policy manifesto and could serve as a rallying point for Tory traditionalists who have been strongly critical of what is seen as Cameron's attempt to shift the party to the left and re-brand it as the "heirs to Blair".
Ancram calls for a return to "values-based politics", insisting that no matter what policies Cameron adopts for the party, they must be presented within "the solid and unalterable foundations of Conservatism which have historically been the key to our electoral success."
Ancram, a Catholic who is the 13th Marquess of Lothian and has served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, said it is a mistake for the party to abandon the deep principles of conservatism that won the party the government under Margaret Thatcher.
When David Cameron won the leadership of the Tory party in 2005, Ancram stepped down from his position as Shadow Cabinet Secretary of Defence in order to allow himself greater freedom to express his own views and to give "advice without strings" to his party leadership. He has been a sitting MP since 1970.
Read "Still a Conservative" by Michael Ancram
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/09/04/pam.pdf ;
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