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Britain’s Conservative Party set to elect first Jewish leader
JTA.org ^ | Nov. 6 03 | Richard Allen Greene

Posted on 11/07/2003 5:16:38 AM PST by veronica

LONDON, Nov. 6 (JTA) — A former hard-line government minister has become the first Jew ever to lead a major British political party.

Michael Howard, 62, was declared the leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party on Thursday.

No one came forward to challenge him after the party dumped its previous leader, Iain Duncan Smith, last week.

Geoffrey Alderman, a historian of British Jewry, said Howard’s candidacy carried symbolic importance for Britain’s Jews but probably would not bear tangible benefits.

Actually, Alderman said, having a Jewish prime minister could be detrimental to the Jewish community, expressing a concern not unlike those voiced by some U.S. Jews during the 2000 vice presidential run of Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

If Lieberman had become vice president, Alderman said, some Jews worried he would have had to “bend over backwards on the Middle East” to prove that his religion was not a factor in determining U.S. policy.

“Michael Howard would also be under such pressures” if he became Britain’s prime minister, Alderman said. “It is of more benefit to Anglo-Jewry to have a prime minister who represents a Jewish constituency than to have a prime minister who is a professing Jew.”

Alderman cited the example of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who represented the heavily Jewish London constituency of Finchley.

“She made friends with the Jews and she never looked back,” he said. At one time, Thatcher had five Jews in her Cabinet — “more than anyone before or since,” Alderman said.

Stuart Polak, director of the Conservative Friends of Israel lobbying group, rejected Alderman’s suggestion that Howard might be constrained by his Judaism.

“It happens to an extent, but the bottom line is that Michael Howard is someone who will never sell the issues that affect the Jewish community or Israel down the river,” he said. “We have somebody who understands the issues affecting the Jewish community better than most.”

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a widely respected former foreign secretary and a possible future Conservative Party leader who also is Jewish, said he, too, did not think Howard’s religion would impact a premiership.

“The issue doesn’t arise,” Rifkind said. “As prime minister, Michael Howard will do what is in the interest of the U.K. There are constraints, but they are national and political, not personal.”

The Conservatives — or Tories, as they are commonly known here — have had an ethnic Jewish leader before, the great 19th-century prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli. But Disraeli was baptized a Christian long before he entered politics.

In Disraeli’s day there were serious constitutional questions about whether a Jew could be prime minister, Alderman said, since the prime minister advises the monarch on the appointment of Church of England bishops.

After Disraeli, there were no Jewish Conservative lawmakers for generations.

But the anticipated selection of Howard to lead the party more than 120 years after Disraeli has raised no apparent concerns.

The British press has noted his immigrant background — his father came to Wales from Romania in 1939, and one of his grandmothers died in Auschwitz — but has had little to say about his Jewishness.

Some British Jews, however, say they detected a hint of anti-Semitism in an Oct. 30 story about Howard in the Daily Mail, a solidly Conservative newspaper that supports Howard’s candidacy for party leader.

In the story, Edward Heathcoat Amory wrote that Howard “would like to be seen as the very model of that virtually extinct animal, the proper English gentleman. His enemies would complain that he is . . . bent on passing himself off as something he isn’t.”

Jewish television personality Vanessa Feltz responded in the next day’s Daily Express — the Mail’s arch-rival — whose owner, Richard Desmond, is Jewish.

“Heathcoat Amory does not use the ‘J’ word. He does not come out and call Michael Howard a Jew,” Feltz wrote. “What he does instead is to introduce the concept of Michael Howard’s Jewishness by stealth. It is articles such as this that give unwitting succor to racists and anti-Semites.”

For his part, Howard has made little of his religion, neither hiding it nor making overt displays of it.

In September, he told the London Jewish Chronicle that he “accepted those Jewish values I was brought up with. They are still an important guide and influence on my life.”

He is a member of St. John’s Wood Liberal synagogue, one of London’s flagship Liberal synagogues.

A member of Conservative Friends of Israel, he has opposed efforts by pro-Palestinian lawmakers to demonize the Jewish state.

But the former lawyer is far better known in Britain for his skepticism of the European Union, his conservative fiscal thinking and his law-and-order stance than for his foreign policy positions.

As Home Secretary — Britain’s top law-enforcement official — under John Major from 1993 to 1997, Howard introduced private prisons and pushed for tough sentencing standards.

When Tony Blair — then campaigning to be prime minister — vowed to be “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime,” Howard famously replied, “I know what causes crime: criminals.”

That stance will not necessarily harm him among British Jewish voters, who tend to split roughly evenly between Conservative and Labor.

Howard refused to make Holocaust denial a crime when he was Home Secretary, arguing that to do so would make martyrs of Holocaust deniers.

Howard has vowed to lead the Conservative party “from the center,” but few political analysts predict that he will take it to victory in the next election, which is expected within two years.

The Tories trail the Labor government by a huge margin in Parliament, and some analysts say Howard’s role is to shore up the party and give it a fighting chance to win the election after next.

If Howard does bow out after an election defeat, the Tories could replace him with another Jew — Rifkind or the rising young star Oliver Letwin.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: conservativeparty; jewishrepublicans; michaelhoward; tory; uk
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1 posted on 11/07/2003 5:16:38 AM PST by veronica
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To: veronica
Benjamin Disraeli's ghost is smiling upon the Tories.
2 posted on 11/07/2003 5:19:13 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: dennisw; SJackson; BenF; Nachum; Brian Allen; yoe; yonif; Yehuda; Salem; JohnHuang2; MadIvan; ...
FYI.
4 posted on 11/07/2003 5:23:08 AM PST by veronica ("I just realised I have a perfect part for you in "Terminator 4"....)
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To: veronica
Why is his religion even an issue? It's completely irrelevant to his abilty to perform the task.
5 posted on 11/07/2003 5:28:48 AM PST by Dave Elias
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To: Dave Elias
I agree. America has never had a Jewish president either. People were making a big deal about Liberman when he ran the first time. Religion, race, whatever... as long as the person can run the country!
6 posted on 11/07/2003 5:59:21 AM PST by cyborg (Kyk nou, die ding wat jy soek issie hierie sienj)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: CodeMonkey
The only thing I will have to say with respect to divided loyalties is that there should be no such thing as 'dual citizenship'.
8 posted on 11/07/2003 6:12:43 AM PST by cyborg (Kyk nou, die ding wat jy soek issie hierie sienj)
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To: CodeMonkey; cyborg; SJackson
Many Americans would rightly so call into question most Jews' loyalty to America versus Israel. Of the 3 major religions from that region, only Christians have shown that they can put the interests of America above those of other nations.

Really. Only Christians. Not a very American argument you have made.

And I recall that it was a very big deal, and discussed all over the place, when America had it's first Catholic President (JFK). So what's wrong with noting a Jewish leader in a UK party, especially Conservative, considering that FR is a site concerned with Conservative issues?

And I also recall that JFK took a trip to Ireland, a country which he deemed close to his heart. Was he a loyal American? Is it disloyal to attend a St. Patrick's Day parade, too?

9 posted on 11/07/2003 6:45:51 AM PST by veronica ("I just realised I have a perfect part for you in "Terminator 4"....)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Yehuda; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; ...
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
10 posted on 11/07/2003 6:51:53 AM PST by SJackson ("An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Winston Churchill)
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To: CodeMonkey
You got it right monkey.

Jews aren't loyal citizens, neither are Catholics, loyal to the Pope.

Jews and Catholics shouldn't be allowed to hold office, probably not vote either.

You display a level of bigotry that's largely, but clearly not entirely gone, in America.

11 posted on 11/07/2003 6:54:12 AM PST by SJackson ("An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Winston Churchill)
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To: veronica
Really. Only Christians. Not a very American argument you have made. No, not all Christians. Catholics should be disqualified too. Hmm, wonder about pro-life Christians, I suspect plenty of leftists would question to place the interests of America above their opposition to abortion. Baptists out with the bath water.

This is getting interesting, just like 17th century Europe. Which of course is why our forebearers turned up here in the first place.

12 posted on 11/07/2003 6:59:00 AM PST by SJackson ("An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Winston Churchill)
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To: seamole
What does Justin Raimondo think?

Justin Raimondo thinks?

13 posted on 11/07/2003 7:05:24 AM PST by veronica ("I just realised I have a perfect part for you in "Terminator 4"....)
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: seamole
What Does Justin Raimondo think? There, that's better.
15 posted on 11/07/2003 7:44:34 AM PST by Valin (We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.)
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To: CodeMonkey
I'm a Deist and would much rather have a bunch of Christians in office than Jews

You DO realise that there is no prize for making the dumbest statement of the day?
16 posted on 11/07/2003 7:47:35 AM PST by Valin (We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.)
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To: CodeMonkey
Of the 3 major religions from that region, only Christians have shown that they can put the interests of America above those of other nations.

That is one of the most prejudiced, repulsive, un-American statements I have ever seen on Free Republic.

You should feel ashamed for even thinking it, never mind verbalizing such trash.
17 posted on 11/07/2003 7:50:16 AM PST by adam_az
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To: CodeMonkey
I decided to create a FR Dumb Post Hall of Fame on my fr home page, you should be honored to be the honorary first member!

http://www.freerepublic.com/~adamaz/
18 posted on 11/07/2003 7:59:04 AM PST by adam_az
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To: CodeMonkey
Its hard to tell from one paragraph if you are expressing personal prejudice or outright bigotry. The later I would condemn, the former I would shudder to listen to, but would hope to stear you away from through dialogue.

You must ask yourself, why are you expressing approval of an adherence to a faith you don't have the conviction to hold yourself?

Truth be told, there are probably many who have some misgivings about muslim office holders at a fearful prejudical level. However, for conservatives, the prejudice for the american political virtue of toleration counter-balances that other prejucice and the principle wins over the primeval. However, perhaps conservatism is not your cup of tea and rationalism is instead.

19 posted on 11/07/2003 8:11:21 AM PST by KC Burke
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To: KC Burke
There's a line from the book "The Killer Angels" that I like,
"He who judges by the group is a peawit."
20 posted on 11/07/2003 8:15:16 AM PST by Valin (We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.)
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