Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

The actress Joan Plowright used to say that she never knew whether her husband Laurence Olivier was acting or not – or indeed whether he knew himself.

The brilliance of Tony Blair is that he is able to take a brief, like any competent barrister, and stick to it, but he can also convince himself in the process that he does actually believe everything he is saying.

Until Blair arrived on the scene, we thought that Harold Macmillan was probably the greatest post-war actor/Prime Minister that we have had in Britain.

Yesterday, in what was almost his final curtain call announcing his resignation as leader of the Labour Party in Sedgefield, he combined all his accumulated stage talents for a farewell. However, even as the New Labour project draws to a close, some of its defining characteristics remain, such as the obsessive desire with spin and presentation. People were bussed in from South London and placards praising Tony were clearly displayed for the assembled media. The whole event was magnificently scripted and brings to mind the words leopards and spots. 

When we see the rapturous reception accorded to the Queen in the United States this week, we can all give thanks for the fact that we have a monarchy.

To have a Head of State who is above party politics has actually been hugely advantageous. The thought of some retired politician being elevated to the position is truly alarming. They would carry the baggage of office. For her, it is an incredible personal achievement never to have put a foot wrong, or been indiscreet, or indeed partisan in any way at all.

What on the face of it is an anachronism has worked brilliantly for us, and is recognised as such in the United States and elsewhere. When modern history was trumpeted to have begun in 1997, with Cool Britannia, the “young country” and all the other New Labour babble, we now can recognise that it was going to disappear like every other fad and fancy before it.

By total contrast it is good to have somebody of such enduring qualities and character, who has watched politicians, with all their pretensions, come and go. For all his communication skills, Tony Blair disappears into the sunset with a reputation of being unable to distinguish between fact and fiction.

If the Queen ever stood for office, she would win by a landslide. Happily for us, however, she never needs to have such an endorsement.

Yesterday we had a seminar with CEOs and chairmen of some very large and successful companies in the consumer goods and retail sector. This is part of the Conservative Party’s business relations initiative.

The one aspect which I personally found most shocking was the increasing level of violence and of shoplifting which is besetting the retail sector. The claim was made that this problem is of low order importance to the police. However, what really shook me is that all of this is essentially confined to Britain. The level of abuse, shoplifting and occasional violence commonplace here is virtually unknown in continental Europe. It is yet another aspect of the dysfunctionality of British society, despite an avalanche of criminal justice legislation.

I should add that assaults on staff in West Suffolk Hospital in the past year are up by 40%. It is sickening. For all the talk about being tough on crime and about social cohesion, the Government has failed to deal with this. 

At first the results that came through on Thursday evening suggested a less fulsome result for the Conservatives. 24 hours later there was a different reality as the extent of the Conservative tide became very evident.

In my constituency, we now have no Labour councillors whatsoever. Some of them, popular and long serving, simply could not grasp the fate that had befallen them. The idea that the results were a perfect springboard to a Labour general election victory is palpable nonsense. And Liberal Democrats in many instances will now realise that they are increasingly irrelevant in a two horse race. After Thursday, Conservatives will now have an even stronger sense of purpose and of ambition.

In a country which has mostly worn its religion comparatively lightly, at least for the past few hundred years, religious fanaticism seems very alien and incomprehensible. How many times have my constituents tackled me to ask me why it is that people born and brought up here so hate our way of life that they wish to kill us.

Although they overlap, it is just about possible to distinguish between two strands of terrorism. There were some in this country of Irish parentage who felt attracted to the IRA. Yet however terrible and reprehensible their actions were, at least the IRA was rooted in a territorial based quest. However difficult, it was possible to begin a negotiation and ultimately achieve a settlement. With religious or ideological and non land based terrorism, the enemy is a way of life; it is hugely more difficult.

Yesterday Jan Moir wrote an excellent piece in the Daily Telegraph, as did Michael Gove in the Times. Britain, for all its imperfections, is an extraordinarily tolerant and open society. Ultimately it is the communities themselves from which these potential killers have emerged who have to be the guardians of our liberties by helping to identify religious rabble rousers and fanatics, and those who have succumbed to their views. It is absolutely in their interest to do so and we have to assist this process as comprehensively as we can. Iraq, hedonism, Palestine or licentiousness can in no way justify the indiscriminate murder and mayhem of people in this country, irrespective of their faith or background, simply out of misplaced fury and loathing for the society we all live in.

Yesterday afternoon the Business Relations initiative of the Conservative Party hosted a seminar for the representatives of the construction and property industries, specifically trade organisations. They represented a comprehensive cross section of the whole spectrum of the industry.

It was highly instructive. We have tried to begin a process of engaging with British businesses and commerce to learn of their challenges and to be able to absorb these for policy consideration. Property and construction is a huge business, a substantial employer, and with highly valued expertise abroad. One of the key issues raised was the skills shortage.

It is also pretty clear how fed up people are with the Government, almost in every sector of our national life. It is up to us to listen and learn, and do better when we get the chance.

If it is true that all political careers end in failure, there is a strong underlying assumption that politicians never leave office at the time of their own choosing.

Had Margaret Thatcher left on her tenth anniversary, she would have gone in the most favourable circumstances. The next two years were the unhappiest possible for her. By contrast Tony Blair is going deeply mistrusted and unpopular.

I suspect that ultimately attitudes will level out, especially when Gordon Brown takes over. I would like to suggest that those Labour MPs who have been baying for his blood will begin to miss him. We will not!