𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

History never repeats itself exactly but it certain themes creep back up. In the 1970s we had incompetent leadership across the political spectrum. The failure of then-prime minister Edward Heath to create the backdrop to economic health, to get a grip of trade union power and to manage migration led to the politics of despair and joining the Common Market, the precursor to the ever-closer union of the EU’s technocratic empire.

Despair continued under Labour. The union barons weren’t only having “beer and sandwiches” at no 10, they were eating everyone else’s lunch by demanding rights beyond the law and operating the politics of envy. Then-Chancellor Denis Healey introduced exorbitant higher rates of income tax, there was a brain-drain and The Blob ruled the country.

Labour clung to the emerging EU as the economy went down the drain and the Winter of Discontent saw rubbish piling up in the streets. Nothing worked. In fact it was worse than it is now, the only saving grace being that we still had effective and substantial armed forces. Another stark contrast to modern Britain was that the police enforced the law and dealt with real issues rather than fantasy.

Obvious parallels between recent days and the 1970s include a tired Conservative government of liberal, left-leaning MPs thrown out in favour of the politics of incompetence and desperation. The politics of envy and trade union power through the employment rights legislation is once again at the top of the agenda.

High taxes and a flight of talent and wealth from the country yet again. Just like those dark days, nothing works and the economy is tanking. Again we have a PM, to steal the words of Samuel Johnson, who is a scoundrel wrapping himself in the flag.

Not the Union Flag, you understand – but the flag of the EU! Sir Keir Starmer is the antithesis of patriotism. He represents the politics of desperation.

At the end of the 1970s, Britain was saved and great prosperity returned following the election of Margaret Thatcher, not a typical conservative but a true believer in the merits of capitalism, free trade and free markets. The question is: who stands for these principles now?

Even more concerning is that generations of young people have been fed propaganda through the education system which puts them in danger of having to learn the facts of communism the hard way and having no knowledge of what it means to earn a place in the world.

Seventeen years ago I debated the merits of capitalism at both the Oxford Union and the Cambridge Union. Perhaps surprisingly the case in favour won at Cambridge but narrowly lost at Oxford. I put it down to the nay-sayers door being closest to the bar, but I wonder what the outcome would be today!

While being non-aligned politically, the Independent Business Network (IBN) of family businesses, which I chair, is committed to capitalism, free markets and trade and is the only business network to publicly support Brexit.

Family businesses, including sole traders and entrepreneurs are 85% of British business and have the true interests of the country at heart.

Had Britain not had a mini revolution at the end of the 1970s, embracing more of the beliefs of the IBN we would not have enjoyed decades of prosperity and a temporary reversal of the managed decline so favoured by The Blob. The same applies today.

But Starmer and his cronies have no idea how to create strong economic growth, seeing everything through the lens of the public sector. They are crushing industry by adopting mad, virtue-signalling, energy policies.

Tax and regulation are depressing enterprise and investment. Worse still, they are trying to lock us into managed decline and technocratic socialism, rejoining the EU by stealth, leading to the protectionism of the Customs Union, the stultifying regulation of the Single Market and eventually a single currency determining our interest rates, coupled with free movement and open borders.

If Britain is to survive, it is imperative that this most unpopular government is removed at the next election and the principles of capital, freedom and independence are adopted.

At present only the parties on the Right of politics seem committed to delivering this. However there is grave danger since, unlike 1979, the Right is split.

While the electorate itself may allocate votes through “tactical voting” it is essential that a sensible alliance of right-thinking parties emerge for the sake of the nation. Britain must be the priority over party tribalism.

We are again approaching the point of 1979. If we go the wrong way this time, Britain may well be doomed to the dustbin of history.

John Longworth is Chairman of the Independent Business Network, an entrepreneur, businessman and former MEP