When I stood to be a member of Parliament - the first time - in 2022 in Birmingham, Erdington, I stood on a libertarian platform - despite only being 23. Richard Tice was leader at the time and he was hesitant at first; the grassroots of Reform UK did not share this hesitation. With the passing of time and harsh lessons learned, the leadership has started to embrace libertarian economics. But we must not waiver. Give us liberty or give us death!
I had the chance to appear on Times Radio recently and I advocated that we must get rid of the central bank and "taxation is theft"; and as I said back in 2022 regarding the cost of living... "First, tackle inflation and bad government by bringing back the gold standard: money printing, fiat currency and fractional reserve banking must go! Withdraw your money!" (ITV News)
Then I watched a recent segment by Prof Matt Goodwin on GB News and he was discussing Reform UK's rise in the polls; the left and right dynamic basically being outdated and the duopoly of the Labour and Tory parties potentially being destroyed. All of this got me thinking, and then I remembered my campaign launch speech from early 2022 - see below.
'Thank you for putting your trust in me and for selecting me as the candidate for Reform in the constituency of Erdington. It is an honour, and one that I take very seriously.
As some of you know, this is where my family are from, I grew up in the neighbouring constituency, and it is where, early every morning I worked delivering the mail to the streets of Erdington – my last day as postman was yesterday.
I can see every day what needs to be done to make this part of Birmingham happier, healthier and wealthier.
I will not get everything right during this campaign, of that I am sure, but with the help and support of my team I will try to keep the mistakes to the minimum. But there will be mistakes and their consequences will be mine alone.
Essential to our democracy is the principle of free speech. To have free speech, to think and live within the foundation of true liberty – the non-aggression principle!
Essentially… live and let live. The tribalism of left and right is gone: these divisions are old and deliberate. You either believe that the state can solve all your problems, or you believe that it is up to us – ourselves – to solve our problems. To that end I am a libertarian. I believe in each persons' freedom to make decisions for themselves and to take the consequences for those decisions, good or bad.
However, we can only be our best selves if we apply these ideas. We believe in freedom and in liberty.
The people of Erdington need liberty and jobs: the chance to aspire to be what they can become, and the chance to fend for themselves.
Erdington has a proud history: Erdington built spitfires and Erdington is still building cars. Some people have forgotten all of heroes that fought in the Battle of Britain – including the heroes that fled oppression and continued the fight. Today there are those who come as they did but there are others who come purely to take advantage of the systems we have built to support those most needing of help in our society.
This country was and is built upon hard workers – grafters. No matter where you are from… if you work hard, bring the best of your culture and take part in ours – there are reasons for leaving places – then Britain is your home and you have me as your brother, your ally.
My school – John Willmott's – motto was a lie. "Turning potential into reality." A more accurate reflection of our country. No. The world. "By 2030 you will own nothing, but you will be happy."
The road to Hell is laid with good intentions and we must choose a different road. Not the elite's road to serfdom, our road to freedom. Why are prices going up? Bad money has been killing us since civilization began.
These past 2 years have opened our eyes to what governments can become: elective dictatorships. We must evaluate where the lines have been crossed. Either the laws and rules apply equally, and to everyone… or there are no laws and no rules.
We do not submit to hypocrisy. We must reconsider the social contract and government as a whole. It cannot and will not survive in its current form.
We know best how to spend our money – not the government. You know what causes are right and just – not the government. You know how to help people – not the government.
The Consocialists. What are they conserving? Our history? The integrity of our institutions? Family? No. No. And No.
Then there's Blue Labour. Providing no opposition and using the culture war through our academic institutions to spread their ideology throughout all levels of society.
Doing the same thing over, and over again, whilst expecting a different result… is the definition of madness. Voting for the same people and expecting them to change… is madness.
I desire to live in a United Kingdom – in the words of Martin Luther King – "where we will not be judged by the colour of our skin, but by the content of our character." When did we forget these words? When did we forget this dream? When did we allow wokeism and totalitarianism to lie to us… camouflaged as "progressivism". Myself and this party look at people and see whether we are the best for the job based on ones' ability.
Common sense is alive. Liberty is alive. We are alive.
We are going to create jobs. Let business be business. Let people be people.
We must put our house in order before we can criticise the world. And what better house to start than the House of Commons? I am just one man. But it only takes one moment to change history. That moment is now. We must start winning in order to free ourselves of this Orwellian nightmare we are in. Thank you for coming here today and for taking the first step of this journey with me. Let's go… make history.'
In this speech I reference many things but I want to highlight, in particular: liberty, merit and peace. If the Reform UK continues on these paths then it will win the next local elections and general elections; a glorious restoration. However, it must not let the rot from the traitorous "Tory" Party infect it - like the communists infected our institutions. Keep the establishment out of our party. Remain bottom-up; not top-down. Reward those that have built this party from nothing and stood strong when others were cowardly and silent.
The choices are clear: libertarianism or authoritarianism; merit or 'who you know'; freedom or slavery; gold or fiat; capitalism or usury; voluntary or compulsory.
In Liberty,
JB
https://www.itv.com/news/central/2022-02-28/who-are-the-12-candidates-running-in-the-erdington-by-election