Let me get this right. A prospective Conservative party candidate has been consorting with an extremist organisation which believes in the use of political violence, and still has not been disowned, or even disciplined by the party.

Let’s make sure we understand just what kind of organisation Greenpeace is. Greenpeace, and its clone Friends of the Earth, try to camouflage the use of violence and force by using weasel words like “direct action” to excuse it. But the simple truth is that there are two ways to influence government policy.

You can write articles, make speeches, publish books, raise money, organise rallies; you can seek to persuade by the power and logic of your arguments. This can be very frustrating if nobody listens, but this is called democracy, freedom of speech and it is backed up by the Rule of Law.

The other way is to take to the streets, disrupt the normal life of your fellow citizens, break the law, smash up things you don’t like (GM crops, Hawk fighter jets, Trident submarine equipment), and dare the authorities to take action against you. This is “direct action”, otherwise known as political violence as perfected by the Nazi party on the streets of 1930’s Germany. The ordinary people of this country rely on the courts to make sure this doesn’t happen. They have been badly let down (again) in the case of the six Greenpeace campaigners tried for criminal damage, and supported by the Conservative’s Zac Goldsmith.

Greenpeace’s arrogant and self-righteous action to try and shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station, and stop a new coal-fired power station being built, was by any rational judgement, simply criminal. And it cost more than £30,000 to put right. Greenpeace tries to justify its action by saying it is trying to save the world. It really does believe that it knows more than the rest of us about climate change and how to stop it.  And one of its advocates justifying criminal action in the court case in Maidstone was none other than Zac Goldsmith, who is the Conservative Party’s candidate for Richmond in Surrey and an environmental adviser to Conservative Party leader David Cameron. People like Goldsmith truly believe that they have the power to change the climate, and almost any action is justified because they are only trying to save us from ourselves.

The Conservative Party cannot be happy that one of its potential Parliamentarians has stood in a courtroom supporting an organisation like Greenpeace which flouts the very basis of our culture. Has the Conservative Party called in Goldsmith for a chat to find out if he intends to do this again? Will he be reminded that for the Tory Party, the Rule of Law is number one on its list of beliefs, its core values? Will he be prevailed upon to eschew any future action like this? Surely he must say, on the record, that he was wrong, will never do it again, and tell us that organisations which flout the rule of law should be made to face the full force of it. (The Conservative party hasn’t replied to my email yet).

Hopefully, the next time a jury sits in judgement on Greenpeace direct action/political violence it will not be made up of Maidstone dimwits easily swayed by the likes of Dr James Hansen, a climate “expert” who has contributed to the lies and superficiality of Al Gore’s ludicrous scare movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. In the meanwhile, let’s hope that our government tightens up the rules about so-called “direct action”, and the Conservatives have the guts to dump Goldsmith.

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Neil Winton – September 16, 2008

Conservative Central Office ignored my email, which said this - 

“Has the Tory party taken any action against Goldsmith for openly supporting an organisation that believes in using “direct action” otherwise known as “political violence” to achieve its ends?

Surely if the Tory party stands for anything, it is the rule of law?

Is David Cameron happy to continue taking advice on the environment from Goldsmith?

Is the party happy that such a person is standing as its representative at the next election?

I look forward to hearing from you.   

Regards

Neil 

I telephoned latter and talked to Tory spokesman Hayden Allan and he wouldn’t comment, only to say that Goldsmith isn’t Cameron’s adviser on the environment any more, and he was perfectly at liberty to speak in court on a personal matter.  

 Neil Winton – September 20, 2008