Jacob Rees-Mogg speaking at the recent branch dinner in Hampstead 

• MANY thanks for providing an extensive report (New Journal March 2) of the chatter at Camden Conservatives’ “Blue Rosette” dinner, which was very illuminating.

The choice of guest speaker for the dinner tells a tale for a start. Rather than a compassionate, liberal conservative (all the rage during the Cameron years), the local Tories now want to hear words of wisdom from Jacob Rees-Mogg, icon of the hard Brexit right that now dominates the party.

In the very week that the House of Lords was urging the Tory government to guarantee the rights of EU citizens to stay in the UK after Brexit, Mr Rees-Mogg told local Tories, “we don’t go around with our hearts on our sleeves”.

They certainly don’t. Camden Tories must surely be aware that thousands of EU citizens live and work in our borough, making valuable contributions to the economy and to our diverse communities. Yet I haven’t heard a peep from them as to whether the future status of these citizens should be used as a bargaining chip in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

Nor did Camden Tories speak up recently when the government shut the door to vulnerable, unaccompanied, child refugees seeking sanctuary in the UK. Never mind hearts on sleeves, it makes you wonder if they have hearts at all.

Those Camden Tories who were toasting Mr Rees-Mogg, as he arrogantly predicted their votes may only need to be “weighed rather than counted”, should pause for thought. Complacency may be setting in regarding Labour, given Jeremy Corbyn’s unique blend of incompetence and extremism, but Camden voters are not forced to choose between hard Brexit and the hard left.

Liberal Democrats offer an alternative, fighting the damage that leaving the single market will do to our economy, and defending the rights of EU citizens. That is in line with mainstream Camden opinion and we may yet surprise the Tories, come polling day.

JAMES KING
Camden Liberal Democrats