Before the Fall

by Theodore Dalrymple

A councillor in Northamptonshire has been suspended from the Conservative Party for expressing a conservative sentiment in public. King Lawal tweeted that “Pride is not a virtue but a Sin.” He did so after he saw pictures of some Pride Parades.

Lawal was not only suspended, pending “investigation,” by the Conservative Party; he was also sacked from his job working for a nursing and care company, removed as a governor of a local school, no longer allowed to be trustee of a group dedicated to providing access for children to green spaces, and prohibited by his local library from meeting constituents, as he had previously done. Lawal is obviously a dangerous man—even if he had merely pointed out that, according to his Christian viewpoint, pride is a sin that affects all people.

The Conservative leader of the Northamptonshire council, as if to prove irrefutably the prevailing moral cowardice and intellectual nullity of the modern British Conservative Party, said: “[Our] Conservative Group are an inclusive group. We continue to be committed to reducing inequality within our communities and creating a fair and inclusive environment for everyone.”

This is like a conservationist claiming to preserve the fauna except for mammals and birds.

By unhappy coincidence, Lawal is the only black councillor in Northamptonshire.

First published in City Journal.