UK General Election 2019

Safeguarding the country

This edition of Karina’s Column is based on an interview with James Arbuthnot, a long-standing Conservative politician who now sits in the House of Lords

With the UK’s momentous General Election a day away, yet another respected career politician is joining the chorus lead by former Prime Ministers Sir John Major and Tony Blair in calling for moderates to vote across parties, be it the Liberal Democrats in some cases, or a “sensible Conservative or a sensible Labour person.”

James Arbuthnot, a Conservative peer whose career encompassed the role of Chief Whip, Minister for Defence Procurement and a decade as Chairman of the influential Defence Select Committee, has a one-word answer when asked if he is still a member of the Party: “No.”

“I cancelled my subscription when Boris Johnson became leader, for two reasons,” he adds. “First, because I didn’t believe the policies the Conservative Party was following over Brexit. And the second because I didn’t have faith or belief or respect for Boris Johnson.”

Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator of The Financial Times, argues that a hung Parliament would be the best result of the December 12th election, as it would make the major parties realise the damage arising out of their extreme positions and force them to rediscover their moderate souls.