There is a continuity in history , we are the product of an accretion of our past.

We value free speech and liberal values, where does this come from? How has it been possible that virtually all the parties sitting in the Parliaments are authoritarian and collectivist and have set themselves against what are commonly held as ‘British values’

I listened to Steve Baker MP being interviewed the other day, he described himself as a Christian Libertarian, that works for me, what did not for me was him saying he was proud to be a Conservative. What is there to be proud of?

I lived through the Thatcher Revolution, it was a time of hope and clarity of policy. Much of this came from her father Alfred Roberts, who was born in that hotbed of radical thought; Northamptonshire.

Roberts was an "old-fashioned liberal", who believed strongly in individual responsibility and sound finance. He had read and admired Stuart Mill's On Liberty. He came from a family that traditionally voted Liberal, but he believed that the Liberals had embraced collectivism and that the Conservatives stood for the old liberalism. His daughter Muriel recalled that Roberts "was always a Liberal at heart".

This classical liberalism in Northamptonshire came from the inspiration of Charles Bradlaugh, three times elected by the electors after Parliament had ejected him for his radical views. He saw the dangers in collective socialism and wrote furiously on the subject.

Now here we are, with Green Socialist Governments in both Scotland and England, an avowedly socialist Labour Party, and the other ones who are just socialist-lite. Besmirching the word liberal.

The Libertarian Party is unashamedly for responsibility and sound finance and above all Liberty.

Join us.

Andrew Withers FRSA