They drank real tea (and imbibed some stronger drink as well). But their concerns mirrored their American cousins’ cause from across the pond.
Surprisingly, there have been calls in the UK press for just such a tea party organization. Simon Jenkins made a strong case for such a movement to help bring Conservative leader David Cameron to sanity on the issues.
Why is there no British Tea Party? Where are the crowds of revenue slaves flocking to London to demand redress for the squandering of their money? Marginal tax is rising to 50%, VAT to 17.5% and state spending towards half the national product. The Treasury has lost control of public finance. So why no furious blue-rinses, bail-out haters, bonus-bleaters and embittered VAT victims storming parliament? Has a corrupt political class reduced the British people to quiescent gerbils?
Janet Daley in the Telegraph echoes this sentiment and calls for a return to passion in politics:
The two sides hurl knowledgeable quotes from the founding fathers and the Constitution at one another. Where is the major British party that will engage in an argument of such force and scope? Who will question the received wisdom of the middle-ground consensus?
The Freedom Association, which sponsored the tea party event, had several good reports on the goings-on. Alan M said this about it all:
[More]