Cameron – The Epitome of Tory Values

By Clive Wakely. A leading Sunday newspaper has published an analysis of David Cameron’s performance in terms of keeping election promises – its findings confirm exactly what many already know.

The Lisbon Treaty: In 2007 Cameron went on record as promising to: “keep pushing for that referendum (on the Lisbon Treaty), campaign for a No Vote and veto that constitution.”

Cameron went on to offer a “cast-iron” guarantee of a referendum – but reneged on the promise just six months before the last general election.

Cutting European Red Tape: Again in 2007 Cameron, supposedly concerned over the detrimental effects of EU red tape on British commerce, promised to abandon the Social Chapter. He was widely quoted at the time as promising to: “get (Britain) out of the European Social Chapter”.

The reality is that many of the regulations previously contained within the Social Chapter have now been incorporated into other EU treaties; in other words British commerce is every bit as subservient to it now as it was before.

Human Rights Act (HRA): In 2006 Cameron promised to “abolish the Human Rights Act and put a new British Bill of Rights in its place.”

As we all know to this nation’s cost the HRA remains very much in force and is abused daily by hopeful immigrants, liberal do-gooders and those in the legal profession benefiting handsomely from its existence.

As an aside it is also reported that Cameron has asked a panel of lawyers and academics to examine the proposal for a Bill of Rights – something that has been part and parcel of BNP policy for years.

Clampdown on Illegal Immigrants and foreign criminals: Only this year we were promised a clampdown on the growing problem of bogus colleges, fake marriages and “visitors” who overstay their visas.

Cameron claimed: “we are clamping down on all of them.”

Unfortunately his rhetoric is at variance with reality.

Despite the news that the Border Agency has revoked the licenses of 97 suspect “colleges” over the past eighteen months, the fact remains that government proposals to tighten up checks are still only in the planning stage.

Furthermore, over the same period of time, an as yet unknown number of new “colleges” have opened – many to satisfy the incessant and highly profitable demand for backdoor migration into Britain.

Increased Prison Capacity: Just five years ago, in 2005, the Tories played their “law and order card” by promising to overhaul and expand the prison system; “We want to build more prisons and reform the ones we’ve got.”

The Cameron regime has now been in post for one and a half years during which time, contrary to promises, it has failed to build a single prison or even to announce plans so to do.

Instead it has informed us that the “opinion of the government” is that the prison population is “unsustainably high”, a problem they intend to address through sentencing fewer people to jail terms.

It was this latter point, no doubt, that was the pivotal reason why the Honourable Members jailed for defrauding the public purse served so little of the laughably lenient jail sentences handed down to them.

National Defence: Back in 2007, following Labour’s decision to make sweeping cuts in defence spending, Cameron promised to increase the size of the Army. He said: “We will never be able to improve the welfare of our forces unless we also look at expanding our Army. I am delighted that Liam [Fox] has made his priority restoring the three battalions that should never have been abolished.”

It is a matter of record that the three battalions concerned remained abolished and that subsequent Tory cuts and proposals to cut, will reduce the size of the Army to its weakest strength since Victorian times.

Tax Breaks For Married Couples: In 2008 and again earlier this year Cameron gave a firm promise to restore tax relief for married couples. He promised to: “back marriage in the tax system.”

Once again his rhetoric appears to bear little correlation to reality.

As of yet no firm proposals have been presented to explain how this will be done or, indeed, whether any proposals will be announce – far less enacted – during the term of this Parliament.

Company Pensions: In 2007 the media made much of Cameron telling the story of an alleged constituent who paid into his company pension scheme for 40 years only to see the company and pension scheme go bust.

He subsequently promised that: “when we win the election (our first task) is to set up a lifeboat fund, and give those 125,000 people the support and the money that they deserve.”

Some eighteen months have now elapsed since Cameron formed his coalition government and not only has no such fund been introduced but, as far as we can determine, no plans exist even to introduce one.

Stamp Duty: In 2007 Cameron, hoping to appeal to younger voters, claimed he wanted to help them get on the housing ladder, he promised: “We are going to cut stamp duty to show that we’re on their side.”

True to Tory form there has been no overall reduction in stamp duty. In fact the only people to benefit from stamp duty changes have been investors in and owners of, multiple homes.

Corporation Tax: In 2008 Cameron said he recognized that business taxes were unduly complex. He promised to: ”get rid of those complex reliefs and allowances and use the savings to cut corporation tax by three pence.”

Perhaps not so strangely this is one promise that Cameron appears to have actually kept.

It will be remembered that corporation tax was cut in this year’s budget by 2p with a phased reduction plan for the next three years.

Furthermore Cameron’s Chancellor introduced the Office of Tax Simplification to advise on ways to simplify the tax system for the benefit of Big Business.

What the record appears to show is that whereas Cameron is inconsistently inconsistent when it comes to making good on promises made to the electorate, he is consistently consistent on fulfilling promises beneficial to The City and Tory Party backers.

Which, all in all, suggests that Cameron is the very epitome of Tory values.