Are our freedoms under threat?

David Campbell Banermann | 22nd March 2022 | Comment, Uncategorised

Tearing down statues is just one manifestation of a direct attack on our values, institutions and shared history

Our attentions are rightly focused on the brutal, unjustified and relentless assault on the freedoms of the Ukrainian people, however, this is just one manifestation of a wider picture of assault on our mutual liberties that would have bemused and appalled the great Edmund Burke.

It was Burke who is credited with defining the ‘Totalitarian State’, saying that “when individuality is left out of their scheme of government. The State is all in all… It is military in its principle, in its maxims, in its spirit, and in all its movements. The State has dominion and conquest for its sole objects – dominion over minds by proselytism, over bodies by arms”. He could have been describing Putin’s Russia.

As Chairman of the UK’s Freedom Association, with its long heritage back to pre Thatcher times, and a fine range of Lords, MPs and distinguished members, I have set out 10 freedoms for our times, and look forward to speaking to these under the important session ‘The Future of the Nation State in Europe‘, organised in Brussels on 23rd and 24th March, by the Edmund Burke Foundation.

Having spent around 40 years in active politics, I am more concerned now than ever at the major threats to our freedoms today and to our precious institutions. Tearing down statues is just one manifestation of what I regard as being a direct and organised attack on our precious institutions, our values and our …

Subscribe to The Mace

Join the member community shaping British politics and stay ahead of what's really happening in the world of politics and public affairs, with expert analysis, breaking news, and insider insights from Westminster and Brussels. The Mace is the leading news source and resource for the government affairs industry, offering required reading and lobby intelligence for professionals.

To see what you are missing out on by not subscribing to The Mace, click here to download our full membership info-pack. This includes having no paywall on op-ed content or profiles/interviews, allowing professional profiles to be read with maximum impact and visibility by government, special advisers, MPs, peers, civil servants, and policy and political decision-makers.