I had never heard of a former Tory MP called Paul Williams until I read his OBITUARY in today's Telegraph. He was MP for Sunderland from 1953 to 1964. Reading the obituary, it brings home how much the country and politics in general have changed in the last 44 years. It makes you wonder how the world will look in 2052.
22 comments:
Nicholas Winterton?
Fascinating on two levels Iain - firstly how far Tory politics have changed, and secondly how far the North-East has changed. Can anyone imagine a seat like Sunderland electing a right-wing Tory now?
Paul Williams was not entirely alone however in the Tory Party of the 1960s in resisting Macmillan's "wind of change" and generally trying to re-establish the British Empire in Africa. There were other MPs (eg Julian Amery) who held very similar views.
Sure there are a few Tories still around like him!
So what was the headline over the Telegraph's obituary?
White supremacists join in paying tribute to...
Re: how much has change - for one thing, having a Conservative MP in Sunderland !
Thanks for this, Iain.
While Paul Williams clearly had some views that would be considered "extreme" by some, the obituary highlights the decline of the Parliamentary system.
I'm sure we'd all be delighted if MPs, of all parties, could actually give their own arguments rather than having to subscribe to the "hivemind" forced upon them by their party's leadership.
Without MPs such as Williams in the House today, it seems a far smaller place.
What's different about Conservative politics now?
Oh yes, now they can't win a seat in the industrial North East?
Hard to like him and I usually think of myself as pretty right wing.
The Conservatives could do with a few more like him these days.
Paul Williams was my local MP and a fine old-time conservative. Sunderland at that time was a staunch working-class community which read the Daily Express and voted Tory because they trusted them based on record and saw no benefit in voting Labour which at that time was doctrinaire and anti-american. I remember him well and thought today's obit in the Telegraph caught him admirably.
An entire generation of Sunderland youth left the north east in the 60s never to return, their parents followed them as soon as the grandchildren started arriving. Property developers and politicians turned it from a town bursting with pride in its history, railway, shipbuilding, glassmaking, engineering into a badly designed hellhole fit for nothing but unemployed football supporters.
Doesn't sound like a man inclined to spin, except in his grave.
Glad I don't have to worry about 2052. More crowded than Blade Runner I should imagine.
What a top bloke he sounds.
Re: how much has change - for one thing, having a Conservative MP in Sunderland !
1.He was the MP for Sunderland South, not Sunderland. Sunderland North has always been Labour.
2. The newly created Sunderland Central could got Tory in a landslide. They have more councillors than labour there.
Anon 1.29pm
I should be careful in stating that as a fact - strange things are happening in British politics.
Labour lost Crewe & Nantwich; Glasgow East and are predicted to lose Glenrothes - whilst the N.East would appear on all calculations to be unassailable by the Conservatives as things stand at present I would suggest no Labour seat can be viewed as "safe" whatever the majority or historical background and that is what Brown's legacy to the Labour Party is - uncertainty
Yes indeed Conquistador! Lee Martin, the Tory leader on Sunderland Council and is the candidate for that seat. It's a real long shot but it's achieveable especially as all 3 existing Sunderland MP's Bill Etherington, Chris Mullin and Fraser Kemp are standing down so Labour won't have their sizeable personal votes to draw on. Sunderland Central is tipped to be the first seat to declare on election night, can you imagine the impact it will have if Martin is the winner? Even if he gets within 5% of Labour it will show that Labour are about to be annihilated! It's a real shame that Paul Williams won't be around to see that.
R.I.P.
Junior whip calls for a leadership election.
Are you out of the country Iain?
Quite apart from his right-wing views, how odd it seems these days to read of an MP from any party who had a proper job (in fact more than one)!
I live in that constituency and although am too young to remember anyone but Labour the Tories are coming on strong on the council. All three councillors in my ward are conservative.
......But yes, he seems very right-wing!
A true conservative and patriot!
By the way, Newmania, I was always taught that if you could say nothing good about the dead, say nothing. Your remarks are a disgrace.
Last time I checked Electoral Calculus, the Tories were predicted to gain the new Sunderland Central seat at the next election. As has been stated, five of the nine wards in the seat are now returning Conservative councillors, four of those on a very consistent basis.
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