Intelligent people are rarely simple mouthpieces for every daft idea put forward by their own side and whenever someone is beginning to question their beliefs or to investigate new ones that is usually when it is most interesting to listen to them.
That is why I think it is important to monitor what Michael Gove is thinking and saying at the moment rather than just dismiss everything he says about the environment as being a piece of cynical greenwashing. It is also why I find the contradictions in the thinking of loyal Conservatives like Anna Soubry and Nicki Morgan are making some of the most fascinating listening just at the moment. It is a strange view of life that can’t admire someone with deeply held Conservative views when they act positively on any issue. It is also a strange view of life that admires rebels from the other side of the political spectrum but is uncomfortable with anyone from their own ‘side’ who is similarly prepared to question standard views and think a bit differently.
Just at the moment a small number of highly talented Conservative MPs are doing an awful lot of very hard thinking about what they have the stomach to support and what they don’t. No one – probably themselves included – really knows where their actions are going to lead. Some of them will no doubt rebel a couple of times and then return to being loyal supporters of their own party right or wrong. The possibility exists that some will not.
A lot of very unpleasant intimidation is coming their way from newspapers like the Mail and the Express who are accusing them of being traitors and from online bigots who are quite happy to issue casual death threats towards anyone not owning a blind faith in Brexit as a cure all for every problem. It is possible that this intimidation will work and they will be isolated and forced into line. It is also possible that it will make them very angry indeed and that some of their colleagues will hold them in high respect and ask themselves whether they really entered Parliament so that they could ruin the British economy.
The majority of the Conservative MPs believe in their heart of hearts that it will seriously damage the British economy if we leave the EU single market. Even the new Chief Whip, Julian Smith, stood next to me on the streets campaigning to remain. He is now leading a team that threatens anyone in the party who repeats arguments he once made himself. But not everyone finds it easy to convince themselves to change their mind on important issues when the potential for high office is offered. It only needs a small growth in the numbers who are prepared to stick with their genuine conviction that the UK needs to stay in the EU single market and politics is going to get very interesting indeed.
In these circumstances anyone who simply writes off Conservative rebels because they belong to the wrong tribe is doing immense damage. So is anyone who refuses to question received wisdom from their own side when it is flawed.
Narrow minded bigotry is always dangerous - whatever side of the political spectrum it comes from. I don’t want to stop listening to opponents and learning from them. I don’t want to shout down those who disagree with me and deny them a platform. I want to beat their arguments and only in very rare circumstances - such as when they are directly provoking hate crimes - do I wish to take to the streets and fight them off. As I have done on more than one occasion and will continue to do. Fascists do need to be fought. But most of the time simply shouting down people results in unpleasant views gaining support whilst those who deny them a platform lose it.
If we want to beat ideas we disagree with then we need to understand them and beat them by better arguments. If the left relies on power to shut down discussion of topics it doesn’t like then it is taking a very big risk. Particularly if it is state power that it relies on. The poor and the oppressed are, almost by definition, very rarely the ones holding power. We need the maximum scope for a free exchange of ideas if we are going to get a hearing for ideas that challenge the interests of the rich and powerful.
I also believe that we should be prepared to co-operate and collaborate across political boundaries whenever there are areas of agreement. I don’t care if someone who bans neonicitinoids and stops them polluting our soil is a far right Conservative, a Liberal, Labour or Green. I just care that the job is done because the issue is so important. I don’t care which side of the political spectrum someone comes from who passes laws that encourage electric vehicles, reduce plastic waste or clean up air pollution.
I am very sure that we need to keep pointing out how inadequate the actions of the Conservative government have been on environmental issues in the face of the urgency and the scale of the challenge. I am also very determined to criticise every measure they take that actively harms the environment such as fracking.
Nevertheless, we should be open minded enough to work easily with people who normally disagree with us whenever they are prepared to help achieve a few small positive things. We need to get things done and to win support for more radical action not get a reputation for being purists who can safely be ignored.
Just at the moment the group of people who most need the support of a wide section of the public are the Conservative rebels. If they start getting a taste for doing the right thing then who can say where that might lead. Those of us who admire their spirit of rebellion and their willingness to do the right thing regardless of the party line would do well to copy it in our own thoughts and actions. Open minds are always more effective than closed ones.