I HATE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO

The new Inquisition is here, as I said it would be.

I say this without wishing to gloat but the predictions I made about a Labour government are all coming true. I said they'd be economically incompetent, and they have been. I said they'd be weak on defence, security and policing and they have been as well. I also said they'd be the most draconian government this country has had since the Commonwealth and that has certainly been the case.

It's not often I agree with Peter Hitchens but on one point our opinions on a subject converge. It was vitally important to keep Labour out of office in the 2024 election because they would be utterly destructive in power and since that's come to pass I agree with him about the background and motives of Labour and its leading figures, especially Sir Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister is the most radically left wing premier of the UK in its history.

The problem I've always had with Hitchens is that he's all diagnosis and that's all he is. He can spot a problem...essentially because for him everything's a problem...but he just will not suggest a way to overcome them. As such he's not much use if you're trying to oppose and stand up to the Left. He also bangs on about "but no one listened to me" which makes him come across as vain: You don't get to call yourself a prophet, it's a title and a job bestowed on you by God. I must reign in my own ego in this piece so I don't fall in to the trap of bemoaning that no one listened to my warnings.

But, likewise, the online Right didn't take me seriously either. For four years I would say on podcasts and on social media that Labour would stamp on our civil liberties if they were to win a general election. The reason for that would be they would have the complete set of institutional power: Before 2024 they had academia, the mainstream media, the police, the courts, the civil service and a series of NGOs such as Hope Not Hate, Mermaids and the OBR in their pocket to do their bidding. Now they have governmental control as well and there's nothing really to stop them other than their own consciences...and that should worry everyone more.

A common mistake people on the Right and the Centre make is that they see a Labour politician like Starmer in a suit, looking respectable and not talking about communism and think they must be a moderate. They think the same of journalists, civil servants and barristers as well. They look at their fairly affluent lifestyles, that they own houses, eat in nice restaurants and go on exotic holidays and think they can't possibly be hard core socialists because they're obviously making money and spending it like good capitalists.

I was never fooled by exteriors. I remember being back in university and watching the radical Left in action; calling to the end of private property, advocating for violence towards opponents and championing every nutty cause under the sun. Those people didn't remain mad lefty activists...over the years I noticed that they all entered the white collar world; mostly in the civil service or human rights law but some entered business. Look at the backgrounds of important journalists today: Andrew Marr, Jon Sopel and Jon Snow were all hard core socialists at university and their political stance has barely changed since then.

What you get is that the left wing tendencies don't vanish over time, as many claim, as they earn money and have families and homes. What happens instead is that the radical socialists in them are merely dormant until stirred into action again; which is what we're seeing at the moment.

For much of the last 40 years these people have been outsiders; they sat on the sidelines as the Conservatives and Republicans ran much of the show. Even when Labour and the Democrats had their time in office it appeared, to the outside world, that the Left were playing by the Right's rules...but that wasn't the case. The foundations for radical socialism were being laid, almost surreptitiously, during Labour and the Democrat's time in office but the final conquest hadn't happened.

But since 2016 and Brexit what has happened in the UK is the aligning of the Left to push towards that final goal: Total control of the state and society. Hence all the institutional captures. Those former left wing radicals who are now in positions of trust and responsibility see this chance to realise everything they thought would happen when they were 20.

With Labour in government for just over 40 days at the time of writing this the stars are aligning for them. The riots, although exposing weaknesses in Labour and the Left's ideology and priorities, nevertheless are an opportunity they've seized to advance their control over society. Yvette Cooper, a strange woman in many ways who looks uncomfortably like the late actor Hywel Bennett, has now announced tougher laws to combat "extreme misogyny". Added to that the Prime Minister's commitment to clamp down hard on "extreme hate speech and hate ideology" and the imminent implementation of the new definition of "Islamophobia" and we can see how they're going to do it.

What is "extreme misogyny" or "extreme hate ideology"? Is a rational fear of Islamism a "phobia"? Is asking a young person confused about their sexuality or gender to "think things over for a bit and not rush into anything" conversion therapy? Should any of it be illegal? As always there are no strict definitions and everything's up for interpretation by Home Secretaries, the police and the judiciary. The tactic is to keep the meanings of these terms elastic so they can stretch to cover any views the government views as bad.

Once the more egregious cases of misogyny, "hate" and "gender conversion" are dealt with, things will expand to criminalise traditional lifestyles, criticism and conversations. And I will wager that misogyny laws will not apply to Muslim or other 3rd world cultures residing in the UK. Even the Church of England are making themselves immune from the government by rebranding itself as "New Things" instead of "The Church". Already the progressive, managerial element of the CoE are saying there's no place for "hate" or "prejudice". Expect purges in due course and once outside of the CoE's protection, Free Churches and mainstream Christians will be clamped down on via new anti-Terrorism laws.

I once asked a variety of left wing people I know in person a hypothetical question: If you had the legislative power to make the Conservative Party and other Right wing groups illegal, would you do so. None would answer that question directly. When I flipped the question around and asked Right wingers the same question but about the Left, most said no and a few said yes. I know the Lefties I asked didn't want to be criticised because they all felt "yes" but wouldn't say so. Well, now we're looking at that same scenario I've warned the Online Right about all these years: Conservatism, the ideology and not necessarily the party, will be made illegal. Having right wing opinions will land you in trouble with the law.

I warned you, you didn't listen. Now what are we going to do?

• Nick Hughes, 2024.