Standing in for Mark Littlewood, Andrew Allison, Head of Campaigns of Popular Conservatism quotes the late Tony Benn: "I think that we do need a few more Signposts and few fewer Weathercocks." 

The late Tony Benn once said:

"In the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person - Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates - ask them five questions: “What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?” If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system."

I would like to ask those questions to judges in the European Court of Human Rights and listen to their answers. They have enormous power over the lives of hundreds of millions of people across Europe. They are appointed - not elected, I am not sure in whose interest they exercise their power (other than their own), and they appear to be accountable to no-one. And we can't get rid of them. 

Keir Starmer talks a lot about the rule of international law. What he really means is the rule of international lawyers: people like him who know better than the plebs; people who think they should make the rules and bypass democracy when voters make the "wrong choices".

Palestine Action, a violent, now proscribed, campaign group has been told by one of our judges that they can appeal against the proscription. The reason? Article 10 and Article 11 of the ECHR referring to freedom of expression and assembly. 

Parliament has decided that the group ought to be proscribed, but if judges disagree, Parliament can be shunted out of the way. We do not live in a democratic system. 

Which leads me to another one of Tony Benn's famous quotes:

"I have divided politicians into two categories: the Signposts and the Weathercocks. The Signpost says: 'This is the way we should go.' And you don't have to follow them but if you come back in ten years time the Signpost is still there. The Weathercock hasn’t got an opinion until they've looked at the polls, talked to the focus groups, discussed it with the spin doctors. And I've no time for Weathercocks, I'm a Signpost man. And in fairness, although I disagreed with everything she did, Mrs Thatcher was a Signpost. She said what she meant. Meant what she said. Did what she said she’d do if you voted for her. So everybody who voted for her shared responsibility for what happened. And I think that we do need a few more Signposts and few fewer Weathercocks.”

Starmer is a weathercock. He highlighted this during his craven announcement that unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas in September, the UK will recognise Palestine as a state. The only reason he made this announcement was to appease his backbenchers - many of whom are more interested in what's going on in Gaza than they are in their own constituencies. Yesterday he dodged questions about whether or not he would go ahead and recognise Palestine as a state even if Hamas refuses to release the remaining Israeli hostages. 

Jewish groups have reacted with anger. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has said that the announcement will "only disincentivise Hamas from agreeing to a ceasefire”. Emily Damari, a British-Israeli former Hamas hostage who survived 471 days in captivity, said that Starmer is "not standing on the right side of history" and accused him of "moral failure." Kemi Badenoch has said that it will "reward the terrorists". 

They are all correct, but in a delicious irony, Starmer may be about to breach international law.  

40 members of the House of Lords, including 12 KC's, have written to the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, urging him to stop the plan. They cite the Montevideo Convention of 1933 which states that before a territory can be recognised as a state it must possess a permanent population, a defined territory, a functioning government, and the ability to enter into diplomatic relations. They argue that Palestine fails on multiple counts pointing to the lack of defined borders, the absence of a unified government, and the presence of Hamas, a proscribed terror group in the UK, in Gaza. They also warned that recognising Palestine could complicate Britain’s longstanding designation of Palestinians as refugees, since such recognition would imply they are no longer stateless.

We voted to leave the European Union over nine years ago to take back control from Brussels' bureaucrats. But as the cases I have highlighted prove, power is still centred in unelected judges, not to mention civil servants, quangos, and committees. To change this we need a Prime Minister with conviction and principles - a democrat who believes in Britain. We desperately need a Signpost. 

Keep fighting for freedom!