Pinochet and the Debate in Britain: Conservative Conference

     James Whelan, a leading authority on Chile, has just returned from the Conservative Conference in Blackpool, England. From Saltillo, Mexico, he sends this report, which will delight some WAISers, dismay others. Variety is the pepper of discussions. In Blackpool, James Whelan shared the platform with Lady Thatcher, about whom he comments:


     I will quote from coverage of the Tory conference in The Daily Telegraph, Britain's largest-selling quality newspaper (and my favorite). Their views -- on this subject, at least -- were, however, echoed by every paper I saw, including the stridently-leftwing Observer: "Turning point for the born-again Tories," by political editor George Jones. The Daily Telegraph says: "The most-overworked man at the Tory conference this week has been the officially-accredited Labour spin doctor. Several times a day he has toured the press room in the Blackpool Winter Gardens with statements...But for the first time since their devastating election defeat two and a half years ago, the Conservatives have not been afraid to take pride in being Right-wing and Euro-sceptic. At Blackpool this week, they have been rediscovering their identity. The nightmare of the Major years, when the party tore itself apart in public, is being erased. Instead they have gone back to their Thatcherite roots -- a time when the party was self-confident and knew what it stood for..."
     Then, this "leader:" "Tory identity crisis over." "...The Tories are finding their way towards 21st-century Thatcherism: flinty policies (like those of Premier Mike Harris in Ontario, whose example Mr. Hague is watching closely) presented in an undoctrinaire, optimistic way and with an inclusive tone. Lady Thatcher, whose objections to Senator Pinochet's judicial kidnap have drawn bile and spite from the Left, is still a potent force, and Mr. Hague's common sense revolution is her grandchild..."


     James Whelan then quotes the opening passage of his address at Blackpool:
     "Having recovered from his own socialist deliriums,and having witnessed the carnage of civil war in Spain, George Orwell wrote: 'At an early age, I learned that newspapers report no event correctly. But in Spain, I read for the first time articles which bore no relation to the truth, not even that implicit in an ordinary lie.' Ladies and gentleman, not since Spain had another country in this world suffered such a doleful fate -- until Chile, before, during and after the military government, down to the present day..." I say that because I mean it, and because I can (and have) documented the assertion. This, then, was in fact the thread woven through the remarks of all five speakers: Lady Thatcher, Lord Lamont, two Chilean senators and your obedient servant...


     Having returned to Saltillo, James Whelan wrote this report:
     I was invited to Britain by Lord Lamont of Lerwick, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Thatcher and Major governments. I arrived in London on Sunday, Oct. 2, and on Tuesday, the 5th, a group of around 20 of us, including the General's youngest son Marco Antonio, two Chilean senators and several deputies, boarded a bus for the six-hour journey up to Blackpool. I not only had never been there, but was not aware until now that Blackpool is the largest beach resort city in all of Europe. The reason for that is that the Industrial Revolution got started in northern England, in the twilight of the 18th century, and when the railroad network fanned out in the mid-1800's, it made Blackpool accessible to all of the new generation of magnates, professionals, managers, suppliers, etc., involved with the newly-sprouting factories. Blackpool was a convenient place for them to take their families for seashore holidays. Later, early in this century, the workers themselves could afford such holidays, and Blackpool mushroomed (as did Brighton, in the south of England).
     In the thirties -- and, of course, the war years, and for sometime after -- the city went into sharp decline. But then, in the Seventies, a new breed of imaginative and vigorous community leaders decided to re-package the city as a convention and meeting center, without discarding the image as a family beach resort, either. Among other things, they raised up a huge Eiffel Tower-look-a-like, refurbished the waterfront, adding three new piers and a monorail running the length of the seven miles of beach, and then a festival of lights in September and October to extend the season. Brits with any money -- and these days, there are tons of them -- prefer to jump on a jet bound for Miami, or the south of France, Greek Islands, Morocco, the Spanish Costa del Sol, etc. -- but for middle-class families, Blackpool (and Brighton) still spell summer. (By the way, the waters of the Irish Sea are just this side of frozen, definitely not for me -- but, then, so, too are the waters of the Channel, washing ashore at Brighton).
     As for the event: Wednesday evening, the 6th, in the largest theater in Blackpool (though not nearly so large as the convention center). Lines had already formed when we arrived, and the theater was jammed to its 850-seat capacity. Security was heavy -- IRA thugs had bombed a Tory conference in Brighton, some years ago, very nearly killing Mrs. Thatcher (then the PM) -- and succeeding in killing seven or eight of her senior people. Added to that, a new splinter group calling themselves The Real IRA has been issuing ugly threats. Five of us took our places at the speaker's table on the stage: Lady Thatcher, Lord Lamont, two Chilean senators and I. Lord Lamont emceed, and I was the lead speaker -- the only one given the same time as was allotted for Lady Thatcher. (The others made the equivalent of "cameo" performances). Sixteen TV crews -- including CNN, the BBC and a number of European networks -- covered the event, as well as 200 print reporters. The Paddington train wreck knocked us out of lead position -- which surely we would otherwise have occupied -- but we did get huge play in all of the British papers (and very substantial exposure around the world). Following the event, we were escorted to a private lounge for a cocktail session -- limited to the five of us for the first 20 minutes or so, expanded later to include around 15-20 top British and Chilean political leaders. I was, of course, the only American there. Never bashful, I engaged Lady Thatcher in extended conversation, and have a batch of photographs as mementos of that.
     The greatest ovation was reserved for Lady Thatcher, and the papers were full of stories that this year's meeting -- around 20,000 persons attended -- marked the re-birth of a vigorous, self-confident and fighting Conservative Party, once again fully embracing Thatcherite principles. Leftists the world over, furious about her pro-Pinochet message, have striven mightily to "kill" the messenger: Have us believe that she no longer matters, is passe, etc. Well, tough luck, fellows!
     I have been non-stop busy since I returned to Saltillo: Two articles for The Houston Chronicle (the largest paper in Texas), which will appear in this Sunday's big paper (752,000 circulation), right at the peak of this year's Inter American Press Association meeting (900 editors and publishers of newspapers and magazines from Alaska to Patagonia) -- offering a radically-different vision of Baltasar Garzon, than the fatuous one the media has promoted. The IAPA invited Garzon to address them, and since this pompous fellow is now accustomed to being received like a conquering hero as he travels the world, my article will be something of a comeuppance such as he likely has never had before. Having finished that article (and a lengthy sidebar), I then set about doing two for Human Events, the leading conservative publication in the U.S., edited in Washington but circulated nationally. The principal piece ran today, as their cover story, the other inside. The theme: First anniversary of Pinochet's kidnapping.
     Human Events has asked me to do a piece for next week's issue on the loss of the Panama Canal. And, if that weren't enogh, I found when I got back here an invitation to spend the last two weeks of November in Chile, lecturing young officers on the last 50 years of history of their country.


     Thus spake James Whelan.

Ronald Hilton - 10/16/99