Cheap Tories care only about cost, not what’s best for Britain

The Conservative Party’s talk about ‘Buying British’, and of the opportunities Brexit provides to ‘unleash Britain’s potential’, is just that; talk.

We have learned today that — in spite of all the constant anti-China rhetoric from within Conservative Party ranks — contracts collectively worth up to £320million have been handed to Chinese state-backed companies for medical supplies since March.

This isn’t at all surprising, considering our lack of production capacity as a nation. And it would be unfair simply to blame the current administration; the ‘Conservative’ Party has been obsessed with cutting down costs — at the expense of value and work for Britons — for decades. (See my commentary on the Party’s decision to produce our new, ‘patriotic’ blue passport in Poland, under the supervision of a French company, here for a good recent example of this.)

It is, however, worth reproducing a comment from a Tory official which demonstrates the Party’s indifference to aiding production at home.

Chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, Tom Tugendhat — who demonstrated his conservative credentials when he threw the late Sir Roger Scruton under the bus following the shameful New Statesman affair — had the following to say regarding the handing of millions of pounds of taxpayer money to Chinese companies:

‘We need to reduce dependence on companies controlled by states that seek to use that leverage to influence our actions and those of our allies’.

I quite agree. How can we do that, Tom?

‘That means building up partnerships with others and reducing our reliance on China’s state-owned businesses’. (My emphasis.)

Ah yes, let’s just find someone else to produce PPE (and everything else, for that matter) for us. They might settle for a lower price, with any luck!

Of course, instead of this we could focus on renewing British industry; providing jobs for British workers, and returning once-working communities with a sense of pride. There is a long way to go, but a genuinely patriotic party would at least make the effort. Alas, such a party is in short supply within our shores.

The Conservative Party’s talk about ‘Buying British’, and of the opportunities Brexit provides to ‘unleash Britain’s potential’, is just that; talk. It does not care about Britain. After taking your vote based on a pledge of patriotism, it is more than happy to sell off our nation to the highest bidder. Abandon it.