Mike Newton is a markets consultant. He previously worked for the Bank of England and in the financial markets.
Last week, The Old Bulldog, a pub I own up here in the Midlands, became viral global news after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) tried to pressure us into a name change.
We received a letter accusing the pub of having a name that glamourised a supposedly unhealthy breed and thus encouraging their ownership. It suggested an alternative name of ‘The Old Mutt’, to which it would pay a token amount toward signage. There was also a technical condemnation of brachypelic breeds, which many would say fell into the category of ‘alternative facts’.
Any communication that includes the phrase ‘I hope you will agree’ has usually come from the Professional Left – and this did not disappoint. The tone was a masterful cocktail of cringey, teenage faux-empathy, fundamentalism that would make a Tehran cleric blush, and implied threat. It was no doubt professionally copywritten from the safety of a laptop in some North London kitchen.
Ordinarily, it would have been thrown straight in the bin. But as I digested it, I felt rapidly uneasy, not just about its wrongheaded technical content on dogs and creepily intrusive tone, but about the real subtext of the letter: banning a national symbol popular with working people.
The letter was not really about animal welfare, but saying to a huge tranche of the electorate that ‘we know better than you’ – as well as being an ugly example of bullying. This was Big Charity versus the Little Guy; nosiness and intrusion of the highest order into a business that has created many good jobs and invested heavily in local suppliers.
As a Bulldog-owning patriot, small businessman and a Conservative parliamentary candidate, to do nothing felt unacceptable, despite the near-certainty of cancellation and the retribution it might bring (I have tightened my personal security significantly).
I decided it was time to stand up to this wokeist overreach and push back – hard. There was absolutely no way that the name was changing and, once the media had picked it up, the story began to rip. The combination of woke, dogs and the sheer arrogance of PETA has caught the public’s mood.
Before we move on, some background. The Old Bulldog is in Stoke-on-Trent, sandwiched between Longton town centre and the big estates of Sandford Hill and Meir Hay. Our customers, steadfast in their love of country, are hard-working people filled with common sense.
My professional career has been in the international financial markets and I wanted to do something for my hometown when I bought it in 2020, just before COVID struck. Although business has been tough, we have thrived and are about to expand into the accommodation business.
It is a community hub – with pool, darts and football teams and a great track record of raising money for local causes. Many women footballers patronise us through our historical links with the Stoke City Women’s team. During the local elections we hosted Craig Tracey, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party for Local Government, and local MPs Jack Brereton and Jonathan Gullis.
The name was changed from The Sea Lion as part of a rebrand in 2022. I chose it as I love bulldogs and our great management team of Courtney, Jess and Angela own one too. We thought it was a terrific name, and one that reflected both pride in our country and the robustness of the Potteries people.
PETA is wrong on bulldogs. My wife Lori and I have Atticus, who was rescued from dogfighting in Los Angeles and now lives happily with us in Staffordshire. He is a healthy, loving, active dog that loves to walk and play football: a meatball on legs – a great companion to whom we will be forever indebted for his loyal doggy good humour.
Bulldogs are great pets. Their health depends on how you breed and treat them. There are good breeders and owners, and bad, just as there are for Black Labradors or Cocker Spaniels.
And if flat-faced breeds were banned, it would not stop there. Toy dogs, greyhounds and short-lived large breeds would be the next targets.
So why is this a Conservative issue? Firstly, the public support has been overwhelming. The local newspaper, The Sentinel, had hundreds of messages, and the story has been featured in all the nationals and BBC and ITV.
We have been bombarded with support from all over the UK and abroad. The British people want leadership when their common sense values are under attack from extreme woke. They know the difference between professional agitation and genuine discrimination, which they instinctively abhor.
We must prove that we both speak their language and speak for them. Put simply, the voters will turn out for us if we turn out for them.
At a time when the party has a problem with voter enthusiasm, any example of woke overreach that the public views as unacceptable is fertile Conservative soil, particularly in ‘small c’ parts of the Red Wall and the shires. There, many voters feel we have lost our will to combat woke extremism, and have stayed at home accordingly.
Second, the bad-mannered interference into my business is not Conservative. While small business does have less autonomy than it used to, as regulation has increased, it cannot be right that a responsible, community-centric enterprise is subject to nosey meddling.
The Conservatives should promote proper balance between the right-to-manage and other responsibilities. Entrepreneurship is the backbone of the aspirational society we all seek.
Finally, the technical basis of PETA’s complaint feels wrong and an example of how half-truths and specious facts can quickly be hard-wired into the public debate if not cauterized early. How many times have we allowed ourselves as Tories to be defined on this basis without pushback?
This episode has convinced me of the great good sense of the British people. I love my bulldog and I love my business. But I am also doing this for those who, for whatever reason, cannot stand up against nonsense like this. I think that is the truest Conservative value to come out of this sorry mess.
Mike Newton is a markets consultant. He previously worked for the Bank of England and in the financial markets.
Last week, The Old Bulldog, a pub I own up here in the Midlands, became viral global news after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) tried to pressure us into a name change.
We received a letter accusing the pub of having a name that glamourised a supposedly unhealthy breed and thus encouraging their ownership. It suggested an alternative name of ‘The Old Mutt’, to which it would pay a token amount toward signage. There was also a technical condemnation of brachypelic breeds, which many would say fell into the category of ‘alternative facts’.
Any communication that includes the phrase ‘I hope you will agree’ has usually come from the Professional Left – and this did not disappoint. The tone was a masterful cocktail of cringey, teenage faux-empathy, fundamentalism that would make a Tehran cleric blush, and implied threat. It was no doubt professionally copywritten from the safety of a laptop in some North London kitchen.
Ordinarily, it would have been thrown straight in the bin. But as I digested it, I felt rapidly uneasy, not just about its wrongheaded technical content on dogs and creepily intrusive tone, but about the real subtext of the letter: banning a national symbol popular with working people.
The letter was not really about animal welfare, but saying to a huge tranche of the electorate that ‘we know better than you’ – as well as being an ugly example of bullying. This was Big Charity versus the Little Guy; nosiness and intrusion of the highest order into a business that has created many good jobs and invested heavily in local suppliers.
As a Bulldog-owning patriot, small businessman and a Conservative parliamentary candidate, to do nothing felt unacceptable, despite the near-certainty of cancellation and the retribution it might bring (I have tightened my personal security significantly).
I decided it was time to stand up to this wokeist overreach and push back – hard. There was absolutely no way that the name was changing and, once the media had picked it up, the story began to rip. The combination of woke, dogs and the sheer arrogance of PETA has caught the public’s mood.
Before we move on, some background. The Old Bulldog is in Stoke-on-Trent, sandwiched between Longton town centre and the big estates of Sandford Hill and Meir Hay. Our customers, steadfast in their love of country, are hard-working people filled with common sense.
My professional career has been in the international financial markets and I wanted to do something for my hometown when I bought it in 2020, just before COVID struck. Although business has been tough, we have thrived and are about to expand into the accommodation business.
It is a community hub – with pool, darts and football teams and a great track record of raising money for local causes. Many women footballers patronise us through our historical links with the Stoke City Women’s team. During the local elections we hosted Craig Tracey, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party for Local Government, and local MPs Jack Brereton and Jonathan Gullis.
The name was changed from The Sea Lion as part of a rebrand in 2022. I chose it as I love bulldogs and our great management team of Courtney, Jess and Angela own one too. We thought it was a terrific name, and one that reflected both pride in our country and the robustness of the Potteries people.
PETA is wrong on bulldogs. My wife Lori and I have Atticus, who was rescued from dogfighting in Los Angeles and now lives happily with us in Staffordshire. He is a healthy, loving, active dog that loves to walk and play football: a meatball on legs – a great companion to whom we will be forever indebted for his loyal doggy good humour.
Bulldogs are great pets. Their health depends on how you breed and treat them. There are good breeders and owners, and bad, just as there are for Black Labradors or Cocker Spaniels.
And if flat-faced breeds were banned, it would not stop there. Toy dogs, greyhounds and short-lived large breeds would be the next targets.
So why is this a Conservative issue? Firstly, the public support has been overwhelming. The local newspaper, The Sentinel, had hundreds of messages, and the story has been featured in all the nationals and BBC and ITV.
We have been bombarded with support from all over the UK and abroad. The British people want leadership when their common sense values are under attack from extreme woke. They know the difference between professional agitation and genuine discrimination, which they instinctively abhor.
We must prove that we both speak their language and speak for them. Put simply, the voters will turn out for us if we turn out for them.
At a time when the party has a problem with voter enthusiasm, any example of woke overreach that the public views as unacceptable is fertile Conservative soil, particularly in ‘small c’ parts of the Red Wall and the shires. There, many voters feel we have lost our will to combat woke extremism, and have stayed at home accordingly.
Second, the bad-mannered interference into my business is not Conservative. While small business does have less autonomy than it used to, as regulation has increased, it cannot be right that a responsible, community-centric enterprise is subject to nosey meddling.
The Conservatives should promote proper balance between the right-to-manage and other responsibilities. Entrepreneurship is the backbone of the aspirational society we all seek.
Finally, the technical basis of PETA’s complaint feels wrong and an example of how half-truths and specious facts can quickly be hard-wired into the public debate if not cauterized early. How many times have we allowed ourselves as Tories to be defined on this basis without pushback?
This episode has convinced me of the great good sense of the British people. I love my bulldog and I love my business. But I am also doing this for those who, for whatever reason, cannot stand up against nonsense like this. I think that is the truest Conservative value to come out of this sorry mess.