“They’re not progressive at all, they’re completely conservative”: The Heydon Prowse interview

UPDATE: Further to the comments below and on Tory Bear, we would like to point out that the reference to the Chair and Vice Chair of Conservative Future in the interview is an error. Heydon meant to refer to the Chair and Deputy Chair of London Conservative Future, as seen in the original “New Young Conservatives” video on Don’t Panic here. Many apologies to all concerned for the error. We would also like to clarify that Haydon is happy for this interview to appear on LabourList. Alex Smith.

Heydon Prowse is the internet filmmaker and editor of Don’t Panic magazine. His exposé of Alan Duncan led to the former Tory frontbencher being dropped from the shadow cabinet. Heydon met James Mills in a coffee shop in North London last month.

Your films remind me of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product, which I watched religiously as a kid. Do you see this as an online version of his TV political activism?
Yeah, I am a big Mark Thomas fan too, but I wouldn’t say I was like him as I think he is funny and I’m not. He’s a great stand up as well.

There is a lot of chatter online that you are linked to the Lib Dems, is this true?
No, that’s not true I’m not linked to any political party at all. Although I would say I’m on the left, I always make sure Don’t Panic is apolitical; we have gone after Labour as well as Conservative politicians.

The greens?
I think they come across as the most genuine party at the moment.

What would you say your political views are?
I think it’s quite hard for people because there are such shoddy Liberal and Labour movements and that is why there is such a big shift towards parties like the BNP. And I think Labour selling out its roots so heavily has also been a major factor in that.

In what way would you say Labour has sold out its roots?
Well, in the way that it’s different from what Labour used to be, what Labour used to stand for…

Who would you align yourself with from Labour’s past?
Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn, people like that. If anything I have always been on the left, but I do like Guido and he is clearly on the right. I think the current economic situation has re-aligned many people from different areas of the political scene.

I heard that you first passed the Alan Duncan recording on to Paul Staines to use on Guido Fawkes…
Yeah, and he wasn’t surprised that Alan Duncan or any Tory politician might say those kinds of things.

But people like Guido do have their own political agenda, too. He is clearly a man of the right and doesn’t go after the Tories as strongly as he does Labour…
I guess, but I like that he’s not afraid to pull any punches, because he will attack the Tories, unlike Iain Dale.

Yeah, I don’t think Iain’s the biggest fan of yours…
He asked if my parents would be proud of me for betraying Alan Duncan’s trust. I wish I’d said back to him at the time (on Newsnight): would Alan’s parents have been more proud of him for allegations of war profiteering by selling oil to Pakistan during the Gulf War or allegations of making millions out of trading with apartheid South Africa?

Your film on Conservative Future, which they had removed from Youtube, showed their young activists to be full of climate change deniers, yet their slogan is “vote blue, go green”. What did you make of them?
I spoke to the chair and vice chair of the Conservatives’ youth movement, Conservative Future. They all read the Guardian and agree with a lot of stuff you and I would, but when you get down to it, they don’t actually want to change anything except the government.

Since meeting with Conservative Future and some Tory PPCs, would you say the new look Conservatives are progressive?
They’re not progressive at all, they’re completely conservative. They have a slogan “Time For Change”, but they don’t really want change at all in any meaningful sense. All the people we met were too young to remember Thatcher or the Tories who use to walk around wearing “Hang Mandela” T-shirts, they just didn’t know about any of that stuff at all. They just see opposition, and opposition to them is change. That’s fair enough in a way, I suppose. But Alan Duncan is a perfect example of what is still wrong with the modern Conservative Party. He is all about this image as very modern, hip and with it. That’s all great, but he is business and he represents business – not people – in Parliament. He complained that Parliament had been nationalised; surely if anything should be nationalised it should be our Parliament?

What do you think Labour could do to better counter the Conservatives?
Unfortunately, I think the Conservatives will get in…

What policies, though, would you like to see in a Labour manifesto?
A massive rethink of the pay and funding of senior civil servants, quangos, CEOs and those at the top of our society. I think that would get a lot of appeal right now, even with some Conservative voters.

Do you support the idea of open primaries?
Yeah, I thought the Totnes thing was a great idea. You don’t need money; you can do it all online. I read somewhere that in 10 years’ time everyone will be online anyway. Already in the developing world they have more mobile phones than landlines, so why not? Then, politics will be open to even more people.

Are you against second jobs for MPs?
Yeah, but I would back a pay rise because a) they shouldn’t have time for another job and b) there should be no question of corruption.

I read somewhere that you have had offers from media companies to bring your films to the big screen?
I am still debating about doing it, but with online media I can make a video in a week and then, bang, move onto the next one. With that other stuff you can be tied down for up to a year on just one.

To find out more about Haydon’s work, visit Don’t Panic Online.