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Dr Fox loses my vote
One of the better things about British politics is that it is, or was, rather different from American politics. The United States is a wonderful country in countless ways, but it is hardly inspiring in its politicking and its electioneering.
To many people here the whole thing seems very alarming, from the spendthrift, vulgar razzle-dazzle of campaigning to the astonishing clout of the commercial lobbies, from the blindness of single-issue passions to the scary power of the authoritarian religious Right. It would be good to think we don't go in for that sort of thing over here. But we do, or are beginning to; most things American turn up here in the end, and some British politicians have been determined to hasten the process.
The Labour Party has been at it for some time, drinking deeply at the well of American political intoxication, with very cheering results. I suppose it was inevitable that the Conservatives should have a go too, but it is depressing. Things took a turn for the worse with the shadow health secretary's call last week for a "huge restriction, if not the abolition, of our pro-abortion laws". It sounds so unmistakably American. It is true that Dr Liam Fox did not say that Conservatives would make this official party policy, and it is true that William Hague has always said that there should be a free vote on matters concerning abortion. All the same, it looks very much like an attempt to exploit abortion for political ends, exactly as all sides do in the United States, particularly on the religious Right.
Otherwise I cannot imagine what Dr Fox was doing, in making his pro-life call in the form of a prayer, in a book put out by the Conservative Christian Fellowship. This fellowship, which now has offices in Conservative Party headquarters here, is in close contact with the Right-wing Christian Coalition in the United States, and with the alarming Marvin Olasky, an immensely important figure on the religious Right in the Republican party, and a close adviser to President Bush. Dr Fox appears to be well up on American politics; it was he who arranged the first meetings between Mr Hague and Mr Bush. Dr Fox's prayer hit the news very soon, and very opportunely, after Mr Bush's announcement that he would withdraw state funding from pro-abortion charities overseas.
Dr Fox is absolutely entitled to his views on abortion, but if the party leader has promised a free vote, keeping this an issue of conscience as it always has been here, why is the shadow health secretary so publicly inflaming the hopes of the anti-abortion lobby? Why did he say anything at all?
It looks very much as if he calculates that if the religious, anti-abortion Right can deliver conservatives votes in America it could do so here. In the recent US election, voting was extremely closely correlated with church-going: the more church-going the more anti-abortion, and the more church-going the more a vote for Bush. Perhaps Dr Fox feels the Conservative Party has little to lose and much to gain from imitating the Republicans and repositioning itself accordingly.
Let's hope not. Conservatism here, as opposed to over there, is about less government, not more. It is about personal freedom, and personal responsibility; the less state intrusion, the better. Having a baby is one of the greatest personal responsibilities one can take on - hence the enormous importance of the freedom not to take it on. It is perhaps the most important freedom that women have. It is not as though anybody likes having an abortion. There may well be a case for restricting the period in which it is legal to abort a baby. But there can be no case for even hinting to the electorate that a Conservative government would see the anti-abortion lobby right. In the traditions of this country, that is un-Conservative.
It is not right, it is not Right and I don't think it is politic either. People in this country do not like religion in politics; we fear religious dogmatism and we don't like the Government trying to make windows into our souls. Plenty of Conservatives, Christians and those who loathe abortion will feel that it is neither Conservative nor British.
The Sunday Telegraph | Sunday, January 28, 2001
