WATCH: Peter Hitchens Says Tories Should ‘Call Themselves The Socialist Workers Party’

peter hitchens
Youtube

Conservative commentator Peter Hitchens has called for the Tory party to rename itself the Socialist Workers Party as it would be a more honest description of its ideology.

In an interview with left-winger Owen Jones, Hitchens a former Trotskyite, said senior party officials now say things he would have said when he was on the far-left – the only difference being they don’t know they’re saying left wing things.

Hitchens also said that the party’s recent election victory was based on a “fantastically clever” campaign and did not represent a moral victory.

Here are some selected quotes:

On Labour leadership front runner Jeremy Corbyn:

“[He is winning] because of the observable fact that the Blairite project – originated in the kitchens and pantries of Euro-Communism – has now been taken over by the Conservative Party, and therefore the Labour Party has been freed of its need to be Blairite anymore.”

“It’s a spasm of ‘all right then, we’re free at last'”.

“It’s a very good demonstration that we still have a strong national sense of humour.”

On his former Trotskyism:

“I thought Marxism and Leninism had pretty much the answer to the problems of the world.”

“It was a reasonable mistake to have made. Unlike people who have been vaccinated against a disease, I’ve actually had the disease so I’m totally immune from it in a way that mere vaccination couldn’t possibly provide.”

On the Conservative Party:

“If it called itself the Socialist Workers Party I wouldn’t have anything against it.”

“It is a left wing party: it’s egalitarian, it’s got much more in common with the SWP than it has with conservatism.

“In fact I often hear David Cameron and George Osborne coming out with things which I used to say when I was a trot. The difference is that I knew when I said them that they were Trotskyist things to say. They have no idea. They are left wing but they don’t know they’re left wing – which is even more alarming in some ways. At least Jeremy Corbyn knows he’s left wing.”

On the party’s General Election victory:

“I hoped that [The Conservative Party] would break up, but I simply underestimated the enormous power of lies and money which enabled the Conservative Party to obtain a victory in the elections.

“There was no national trend, but there was a fantastically clever, well-targeted, very costly campaign by the Conservatives in targeted constituencies which won them a technical victory on points.”

On David Cameron:

“I don’t think he stands for anything.”

“He’s quite likeable, I can’t feel any passion against him, it would be like feeling passion against a blancmange.”

“He has absolutely no interest in changing anything, he has a great deal of interest in maintaining things as they are and in being in office while they are maintained.”

Follow Nick Hallett on Twitter: or e-mail to: nhallett@breitbart.com

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.