Author Archives: Blaise Baquiche

A longer read for the lockdown: Why I left the Tories and became a Lib Dem


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It wasn’t Brexit that made me leave, but a stark realisation that there was something deeply wrong with the Tory party.

I owe my life in Britain to a Tory MP. In 1957, newly elected Keith Joseph was instrumental in persuading the government to grant sanctuary to Jews fleeing Egypt following the Suez crisis, which included my father aged 8.

My grandfather, a 32-year-old dentist at the time, was asked by Egyptian authorities why he was leaving the country. Predicting a surge in hostility towards non-Arabs inspired by President Nasser’s populist speeches, he responded “because you’re allowing me to”.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 35 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • nigel hunter
    We cannot fund the needs of the people and country if we are a low tax party....
  • Jonathan Calder
    Do we want to be a low-tax party? It seems the leadership wants to fight the next election on that basis, but I detect no great enthusiasm for the idea among th...
  • Nick Baird
    @Alex @Rees - I was referring to the quoted surveys by VPZ and E-Cigarette Direct, who have a vested interest in selling vapes and are effectively claiming that...
  • Rees Southern
    Hi Nick, as Alex points out, ASH is not a vested interest. Nor are the other organisations mentioned in my article, including the Royal College of Physicians, C...
  • Matt (Bristol)
    I dont think lib dems should be a low tax or high tax party. I would like them (Or someone else) to be a subsidiarist, consensualist party, whereby levels of ta...