Ian Taylor, MP for Esher and Walton, spoke to the Politics Society at Sussex last night (1 November), and drew a good turnout (40+). On the Europhile Christian Democratic left of his party, he voted against the war in Iraq and is clearly not someone that Margaret Thatcher would ever have regarded as 'one of us'. He ranged widely over the variety of challenges facing contemporary Britain, including the re-emergence of a newly self-confident and energy-rich Russia, the increasingly global economic power of China and India, the continuing economic, political and cultural significance of the USA for the world, the growing difficulty for a country like Britain of meeting its citizens' aspirations for ever-growing prosperity, the futility of Little Englanders in trying to turn their back on the EU, and the extraordinary recent volatility in British party politics that means we may already have passed the 'high tide of the Brown premiership'. He wasn't predicting a Tory landslide at the next election - far from it - but clearly saw it as likely to be a genuine contest, unlike recent British general elections.
The questioning was lively and I sensed that we could have continued had time not run out. So here's a chance to reflect at your leisure on Ian Taylor's themes. If you have a question or comment that you couldn't get to put to him last night, feel free to post it here now; if you did put him a question, but would like the chance to make a further retort, then fire away. Be my guest.
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I missed the do, but spoke to some who attended at the Politics social after (priorities!). I found it interesting how many of the Labour & Lib Dem natural constituency Ian had wooed, until someone mentioned that on a gay rights issue question, his response was, that he had concerns... ... This is going to remain a policy nightmare for the Tories for a long time to come unless they can reposition their first principles somehow. If I was sitting with Cable, Clegg and Hune, I'd be barking up that tree with everything they've got... ... ...
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