THE 'CLAUSE FOUR' OF THE TORY PARTY MUST BE THE LEGALISATION OF CANNABIS

Liberalism On Drugs Chimes With Conservative Values

Tony Blair understood it. So does Michael Portillo. An unpopular party
not only has to ditch its leader. It also needs a symbolic break from
the past. This shows voters that the party understands how the world
has changed. The Conservatives, in short, need their own Clause Four.

It will have to be a tenet that the more right-wing members relinquish
only with reluctance. Otherwise the reform is not radical enough. The
new Tory leader needs to be seen to be taking on the reactionaries in
his party, just as Blair did. It should also be an issue that appeals
to younger activists, even if it dismays the older ones.

Could it be marriage? Before the election, some politicians were
suggesting this was the Tory totem that had to go. But marriage is so
self-evidently a social good; and it would be odd to stop supporting
the institution only a few years after new Labour - or the Prime
Minister and Home Secretary, at least - have come round to it.

No, the answer is clear. The Conservatives' "clause four" must be the
legalisation of cannabis. If this were to become Tory policy, boy,
would it show that the party had changed. Remember Ann Widdecombe's
lunatic "zero tolerance" speech at Bournemouth last year? If anyone
had any doubt that the Tories were out of touch, here was the
evidence. Her policy would instantly have criminalised not only the
vandals on the sink estates, but well-educated professionals and their
children - even, as it turned out, half the Shadow Cabinet.

You might have thought her hardline stance would have appealed at
least to the Tory faithful. There were many in the conference hall who
cheered. But the reaction outside showed just how much middle England
had changed. Even the party's house organ, the Daily Telegraph,
described Widdecombe as displaying "zero common sense".

Indeed, the Telegraph ran a courageous editorial supporting the Police
Foundation's line on decriminalisation of cannabis. For liberalism on
drugs - particularly soft drugs - actually chimes with many
Conservative values.

There is the issue of personal freedom against an oppressive and
intrusive State. Conservatives ought to believe in people being able
to get on with their life in peace as long as they don't harm others.

Tories believe too in reducing crime. It's not just that legalising
cannabis would, by definition, cut crime; it would also take millions
of pounds out of the pockets of organised criminals, and redistribute
the money between legitimate private enterprise and, through excise
duties, the State.

Then there is respect for the law. This is a statute that has
otherwise law-abiding people dodging the police, forced to seek out
shady dealers, fearing for their reputation. It turns respectable
people against the forces of criminal justice.

But, more to the point, think what this change would do for the
Conservative Party. It would allow a new leader to outflank Tony
Blair, who has been uncommonly pusillanimous on the question of drugs.
And it would make the Tories instantly seem more up-ti-date, more in
touch with modern Britain, than Labour.

Best of all, it would allow the Conservatives once again to appeal to
the young. No party comes back to power until it is seen as the
coming thing. Under William Hague, the Tories seemed to pride
themselves on their reactionary, 1950s-era values, which were fine for
attracting a dwindling band of over-65s, but not much use for the
generations below. Cannabis legalisation, at a stroke, could make the
Tories seem exciting again.

Few young people these days want to be associated with Labour. Go
round the universities and you find students joining the Greens, the
Socialist Alliance or the Liberal Democrats. Blair and his lot
represent the Establishment, to be despised, not supported. A dynamic,
libertarian new Conservative Party might regain the edge that it
possessed, in a different way, during the 1980s.

Who knows? It might even become cool to vote Tory again. Now that
would be a start.