Looking For A Leader

Britain has always been blessed. Whenever there is a national emergency the country has found a leader to forge a path through the crisis. What a panoply of giants has graced us with their presence over the last millennia. The names read like a roll call of great heroes, Winston Churchill, The Duke of Wellington, Nelson, Queen Elizabeth the First, Walter Raleigh, the list is laced with infinite splendor.

In my own lifetime, my family and I left for America when the country no longer seemed governable. This was in the late 70’s, and we were suffering from innumerable strikes, industrial work limited to three-day weeks because of a lack of electric power, runaway inflation, a sinking pound, enormous unemployment numbers and a gigantic balance of payment deficit.

We left but Margaret Thatcher arrived. When we returned to this country from America it was a country in the midst of a transformation, which it has benefited from ever since. I am not saying that I loved the woman, because, if I was to tell the truth, I didn’t even like her. I found her cold, aloof, patronizing and unkind, but she saved my country from itself. From her genesis the UK was re-branded and re-launched. From a no hope country slipping to ignominy the country re-discovered its balls and over the last twenty years has become one of the world’s powerhouses.

Lest we forget it was Thatcher that changed the world’s mindset about de-nationalization and how the economy could work. It was Thatcher who destroyed the unseemly agglomeration of power that the unions had accumulated which was making the country ungovernable. Without this fundamental shift back to common sense there could have been no other fundamental changes.

Last night the government forced legislation through the House of Commons the new forty-two day detention rule. This means that, should the police believe there is a reason to arrest a terrorist suspect, this person could be held by them for up to six weeks before he is even charged. This is a shameful act, and is yet another breach of habeas corpus enshrined in this country’s original guarantee of democracy, the Magna Carta, signed in 1215. It states a prisoner is entitled to be bought before a court of law so that the legality of his detention can be verified. I quote Article 39, “No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or outlawed or exiled or in any way harmed. Nor will we proceed against him, or send others to do so, except according to the lawful sentence of his peers and the Common Law.” This is a disgraceful act of infamy by our lawgivers. It is a victory for the expedient, short-term tacticians who run our affairs, and clearly demonstrates their total lack of respect for the rights of its citizens.

Now, once again the country is on the slide. We need another leader, and it isn’t our present Prime Minister or David Cameron, the leader of the opposition, the man most likely to succeed him when we have our next election. Cameron is simply a watered down carbon copy of Tony Blair. Britain doesn’t need re-packaging, it needs a conviction politician ready to lead from the front, and Cameron doesn’t offer this. Let us all hope that somewhere, lurking in the wings, is such a person. Our country is looking for a leader, the need is becoming urgent!