The New Party (UK)

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This article is about the New Party founded by Robert Durward in 2003. For the 1930's party founded by Oswald Mosley see New Party (UK).
The New Party
Leader Robert Durward (party chairman)
Founded 2003
Headquarters 1 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BW
Political Ideology Classical Liberal
Political Position centre-right
International Affiliation none
European Affiliation none
European Parliament Group none
Colours Red, White and Blue
Website [1]
See also Politics of the UK

Political parties
Elections


The New Party is a neoliberal political party in the United Kingdom. The party describes itself as "a party of economic liberalism, political reform and internationalism". It supports a smaller role for the state, a significant reduction in bureaucracy, renegotiation with the European Union and a strengthening of the special relationship with the United States. The party is a significant critic of environmentalism and man made global warming. The former chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), the late Sir John Harvey-Jones, is claimed as a supporter.[1] The New Party did not stand in the 2005 general election. The party did stand candidates under the name of the Scottish Peoples Alliance at the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary Elections.

Contents

[edit] History

The New Party has its origins in the initiative A New Party for Britain launched in late 2002, at a time when speculation about the possibility of a split in the UK Conservative Party was rife, during the leadership of Iain Duncan-Smith. No official launch occurred, however, until 14 March 2003, when the party was founded under the name Peoples Alliance (sic).

The initial policy program of the party had two main planks: direct democracy with all legislation subject to popular referendum; and Universal Benefit, a direct payment from the state to every citizen as of right, as a replacement for the current benefits system. The party decided immediately to contest the Scottish Parliamentary Election in May 2003, fielding 15 candidates. However, the party received a very small proportion of the vote (only 7,718 votes, 0.4% of the total), and won no seats, notwithstanding the fact that two of the Peoples Alliance candidates, Lyndsay McIntosh and Keith Harding, were outgoing Conservative Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Disappointed with its electoral performance, the party engaged in a period of introspection before relaunching in October 2003 with a revamped manifesto (direct democracy and Universal Benefit were dropped) and a revised statement of philosophy and principles, under the name The New Party.

The party made little impact throughout 2004, and took no part in the 2004 European Parliament Elections. However, some unexpected publicity was received at the end of 2004 following a reported approach from United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Robert Kilroy-Silk with a view to becoming leader of the party. Several senior members of the New Party subsequently departed to join Kilroy-Silk's Veritas party at its launch in February 2005, including Richard Vass, the first Party Chairman of Veritas, and Patrick Eston, Kilroy-Silk's successor as leader.

The New Party did not contest the 2005 General Elections.

In 2007 a member and two times local election candidate for the New Party, Stewart Dimmock, with backing from Viscount Monckton, the author of the party's first manifesto[2], launched a court case to seek to prevent the showing of the film An Inconvenient Truth in UK schools on the grounds that the film is political rather than scientific in nature. This attracted some publicity for the party, with critics pointing to the role of the party's founder and chief financial backer, Robert Durward, a Scottish businessman and founder of the British Aggregates Association (BAA), who has been described as "an avowed enemy of environmentalists".[3]

[edit] Policy

The New Party describes its philosophy on its website as follows:

The New Party is a party of economic liberalism, political reform and internationalism. We stand for individual freedom and personal responsibility in preference to state control. We believe that only by empowering individuals and their families to take more control of their lives can we promote a spirit of mutual responsibility and respect in society as a whole.

The New Party favours small government with a flat-tax regime and measures to increase individual freedom and self-reliance, as well as deregulation of business and industry. The party recommends wholesale reform of the welfare state with measures to reduce welfare dependency[4], and reduction of state control of public services, including reform of the National Health Service.[5]

The New Party has proposed various reforms of parliament, including a change to the Alternative Vote system of election for the House of Commons, an appointed and non-political House of Lords, and measures to strengthen the independence of the Civil Service.

The party regards itself as internationalist in outlook, which it interprets as support for democratic governments and human rights worldwide. The party is rather more cautious with regard to international organisations such as the European Union and the United Nations. After espousing a robust eurosceptic position, the party has latterly reverted to a more equivocal stance towards the European Union.[6] It has also been critical of the United Nations as an undemocratic body without moral authority.[7]

In foreign policy the party has adopted a liberal interventionist[8] or neo-conservative approach and has been strongly supportive of the War on Terror, and British and American military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.[9]

The most recent published policy statement of the New Party is the Manifesto for a World Class Nation, published in 2005.

[edit] Organisation

The Party Chairman, founder and chief financial backer of the New Party is Scottish multi-millionaire businessman Robert Durward. The Party is governed by a National Policy Committee for the UK as a whole, and by a Scottish Policy Committee in Scotland.

The New Party is well-funded, thanks to the financial support of its chairman, and the party has had a small full-time staff from the outset. The party has therefore been able to support an administrative office in Livingston, Scotland, as well as an address in Central London. Significant effort has been put into policy development, and the party has been able to call upon knowledgeable individuals across a broad spectrum in order to pull together a comprehensive and coherent set of policies across the board.

However, creating an active membership base has proved more difficult for the party. The party is able to offer free membership, and can therefore claim to have a membership of several thousand. However, the depth of commitment of the membership has been questioned by critics, pointing out the prolonged absence of a local and regional branch network, and raising doubts as to the long-term viability of the party as a force in British politics. These criticisms have lately been mitigated somewhat by the presence of New Party candidates in local elections in Scotland and England in 2006, the defection of some independent councillors to the New Party, and the formation of local branches in some parts of the country.

[edit] Electoral performance

On 30 March 2006 Donald McDiarmid contested a by-election in the Borestone ward in Stirling, polling 18 votes (1.9%). At the local government elections in England on 4 May 2006, five New Party candidates stood in five separate local government areas in Hertfordshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire, averaging 204 votes (8.7%). In a by-election for Dover Town Council in October 2006 Stewart Dimmock, the New Party candidate, polled 139 votes (27.0%).[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Message of good luck from Sir John Harvey-Jones
  2. ^ Please, sir - Gore's got warming wrong, Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor, Sunday Times, October 14, 2007
  3. ^ The rich recluse masterminding Britain's new party, Gethin Chamberlain, The Scotsman, January 22, 2003
  4. ^ The corrosive effect of the welfare state
  5. ^ The sacred cow
  6. ^ Open Europe: New Party statement on Europe
  7. ^ The United Nations: What moral authority?
  8. ^ Liberal interventionism
  9. ^ Failure is not an option
  10. ^ Dover Town Council by-election result

[edit] External links