Actors Of Parliament

Squall 11, Autumn 1995, pg. 17.

Another member of the Criminal Justice Act Standing Committee was Dr Liam Fox (Con MP Woodspring). At the time, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to none other than Michael Howard.

As readers of last issue’s SQUALL articles on travellers will remember, Fox has also testified against travellers on public inquiries into site permission in the Avon area. SQUALL has recently received a letter written by him in 1992.

As an exposure of Government intent we have reprinted it below, particularly in the light of the fact that ‘Field Marshal’ David McLean (Home Office Minister and loyal Howard sidekick) said the Government has nothing against the “gentlemen of the road my wife reads about in the Sunday Post”:

“I am increasingly concerned at the blatant disregard and hostility Avon County Council is showing towards the Green Belt sites in our area. They have shown that they put the interest of minorities before the interests of the tax paying majority.

In the run up to their abolition, the County Council [due to become a unity authority] seemed determined to create as much havoc as possible in Conservative-controlled areas. I have come to expect no less.

I have pressed and will continue to press the Department of the Environment to minimise the effect Avon’s policies will have.

Ultimately, however, the problems stem from the 1968 Caravans Act. This piece of Socialist legislation must be completely abolished.

In order to test Parliamentary opinion, I sponsored a Ten Minute Rule Bill earlier this month, which proposes scrapping the duty to designate sites and privatise those now in operation. Those who want what they call an ‘alternative lifestyle’ must be made to pay for it. It is time we stopped subsidising those who want all the benefit of our society without contribution to our society.

I look forward to the scrapping of the 1968 Act, and Avon, soon. You can count on me being in the front line of the attack.”

The job of both parliamentary private secretary and government whip is a job where you don’t speak. You just whisper, eavesdrop, grass and manipulate. Whilst it is obvious the Government don’t want someone who gives away such racist intent as a spokesperson, they are obviously more than happy to have him in the engine room.

In SQUALL issue 6, we commented on the fact that 9 out of the 16 Tories on the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act Standing Committee were elected in the 1992 general election.

SQUALL observers sitting on their tongues in the public gallery, noted how these rabid go-getters, with their whole career ladders stretching before them, were out to impress. No surprise then to find that seven of them are now in Government.

James Clappison (Con MP Hertsmere): now Parliamentary Under Secretary - Department of Environment. Cheryl Gillan (Con MP Chesham and Amersham): now Parliamentary Under Secretary - Department for Education and Employment. Roger Evans (Con MP Monmouth) and Oliver Heald (Con MP Hertfordshire North): now Parliamentary Under Secretary - Department of Social Security. Jonathan Evans (Con MP Brecon and Radnor): now Parliamentary Under Secretary - Department of Trade and Industry. Derek Conway (Con MP Shrewsbury and Atcham): now Lord Commissioner - Whips Department.

The prize for political rabies, apparently, is promotion.