The former Conservative Party minister this week told an audience hosted by the Bow Group, Britain and the world’s oldest Conservative think tank, that if elected Prime Minister she would spend her first day on Downing Street in Downing Street. would stand and announce “from now on a British citizen can say whatever they want”. Instead, she noted that the five (then six) remaining candidates to become the next Tory leader and Prime Minister are mainly targeting taxes.
Miss Widdecombe agreed that tax should be discussed, but pointed out the “much more important” [topics of the] dominance of ‘wake up’ and death of free speech”.
The Express columnist emphasized a free society’s reliance on this freedom, emphasizing that during World War II, British fascists were allowed to speak and even run for elected office, despite the atrocities of the Nazis, and that communists were given the right to the Morning Start on the streets during the Cold War because freedom of speech was once considered “of paramount importance” – “an essential part of the free world”.
She said the situation was very different today, and worse, citing, among other illustrators of a recent restriction on free speech, a man who was told by his local police to “check his thinking” after he posted a limerick online that was filed as “hate speech”.
The importance of free speech, Miss Widdecombe emphasized, should be number one for those who want to lead the Conservative Party (and, indeed, the country), but it isn’t.
Bow Group chairman Ben Harris-Quinney agreed that not enough was being done to protect fundamental rights.
He told Express.co.uk that the party is not only not doing enough to stand up for free speech now, but has actually helped to weaken its position in British society.
Mr Harris-Quinney said: “Freedom of speech is the right from which all other rights arise. If we as humans cannot speak and discuss our true beliefs and desires, we cannot carry them out.
“It has been under attack in Britain in recent decades like never before, and mostly under a Conservative government.
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She emphasized: “Every candidate should be able to define a woman.
“I don’t need anyone from the awake brigade to tell me what’s up.”
In recent weeks, many politicians, including from the Conservative Party, have struggled to find their words when faced with the question “what is a woman?”
Mr Harris-Quinney added: “The last three Conservative Prime Ministers failed because they lost touch with their base – the people who put them in power and ruled for people who will never vote for them.
“We will almost certainly see a repeat of that now, the new Prime Minister will not be a Conservative, they will not do what the grassroots demand, and so they will be overthrown in two to three years as a catastrophic failure.
“It will keep happening until the conservatives learn the basic lesson – people vote for them because they want conservatism, and our patience is running out.”
Responding to accusations that she is too ‘awake’ to be the next Tory leader, Ms Mordaunt wrote: “Some want to damage my reputation for whatever reason. They want to portray me as ‘awake’.
“I was chosen by the down-to-earth, down-to-earth people of Portsmouth North. It was a Labor seat. I have increased my vote share in every election.
“I refer you to their judgment.”