You may be surprised (pleasantly I hope) by this letter. I have not written since I ceased to be your MEP after serving the South East for 20 years and the Conservative Party for 52 years. During this time, I served and worked with 8 Leaders of our great Party.
I write now because I see the peril, we are putting ourselves once again into, a mistake that we committed in the past that we could repeat with even worse consequences, if we are not careful.
In November 1990, we in a fit of utter madness removed Margaret Thatcher who had won elections in 1979, with landslides in 1983 and 1987. Then, three years later, in fear that she would lose the next, we removed her summarily and ruthlessly.
We forgot all the great things she had done to turn Britain from a 1970s basket case into being the leading nation in Europe and respected throughout the world.
Forcing her to resign destroyed the Conservative Party for 18 years, the first 7 years with tumultuous self-loathing under John Major in whose government I served and the next 11 years with three leaders who failed to heal the wounds until David Cameron came along in 2010.
So please let’s not do that again and be in the wilderness.
Lest we forget; Boris Johnson in December 2019 led the Party to a tremendous victory with 43.6% of the vote and the largest seat share since Margaret Thatcher’s resounding 1987 victory. In a short span of 26 months, he has done the following as Prime Minister:
• He delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe.
• He protected millions of jobs.
• He produced the strongest economic recovery in the world in the face of the pandemic.
• He got Brexit done –
• He brought in a point-based immigration system.
• He struck £760 billion in trade deals with over 70 countries.
• He restored British influence in the USA, faced off Putin and Xi Jinping.
• He created a global Britain promoting human rights and democracy.
• He gave a huge funding boost to the NHS – with record numbers of doctors and nurses.
• He gave funds to bust the backlogs, with 40 new hospitals on the way.
• He ended the cruel lottery of social care costs with £36 billion Health and Social Care plan.
• He left no child behind – boosting school funding by £1,500 per pupil by 2025.
• He cracked down on crime – closing over 1.500 county lines, recruiting 11,000 more police officers.
• He got passed the landmark Domestic Abuse Act.
• He announced the biggest government investment in rail in British history.
• He created 56,000 green jobs through the Green Industrial Revolution.
And, oh by the way, during this same time he got married, had two children, caught Covid and nearly died, lost weight and had a haircut or two.
Come on friends, give the Prime Minister a break and tell the media to stop its circus.
Please ring or write to your local MP and demand that he or she continues to show loyalty and support; so that Boris Johnson can get the rest of the job done which the British people elected him in huge numbers to do – and so not imperil the Nation’s future by repeating the mistakes of the 1990s.
Warmest regards and a safe contented 2022.
Nirj Deva
