Never fear, there is life after Rover

The sight of a greying Red Robbo on the television the other day no doubt reminded many people of the bad old days at British Leyland when a storm in a teacup could literally be caused by a storm over a teacup.

Back in the crazy 70s, when everybody seemed to be ready to strike in much the same way as a Battle Of Britain fighter pilot was prepared to scramble, the workforce was geared for inaction.

A weak joke revolving around the word "picket" reverberated in canteens from Consett to Caithness.

It seems like only yesterday. In my own trade, union leaders always arranged for industrial action around the Christmas season. The sheer brilliance of this strategy meant that pay packets started to slim down by the first week of December and had all but vanished come Yuletide.

Strangely enough, this enforced austerity did not apply to our brave generalissimos. While the poor bloody infantry was out there having their toes squashed by blackleg lorry tyres careering through the lines, the "leaders" were back at the chateau devising yet more tactical masterpieces.

In fact, Thatcher's abolition of the unions probably did us all a favour. Yes, it was fare thee well auld roaring brazier, will we no meet again.

This is why I laugh like a drain when representatives of today's "Labour" lecture coves such as myself on socialist purity.

Words such as record, T-shirt and tour guide always spring to mind when being bored rigid at a cheese and chatter soire by an earnest young gun with regulation furrowed forehead and a three-strand beard.

However, since the anarchy of 20-odd years ago - in which many of us were foolishly involved - the workforce at Longbridge has done everything that has been asked of it.

Successive managements have made the staff jump through hoops as greater flexibility was demanded. And the workers on the shop floor delivered.

Yes by God, they stuck to their part of the bargain and repaid investment in the firm with blood, sweat and tears.

Now, as we all know, BMW has betrayed the people of the West Midlands and thousands of jobs will be thrown on the funeral pyre of international capitalism.

The prevarication of the EU over the British Government's offered grant was quite obviously a tactic that could only benefit its German masters. Deliberate delay oiled the wheels of doom.

And if anyone cares to suggest that membership of the euro might have saved Longbridge, then perhaps they might like to reflect on the greater consequences for Britain of linking up to an unknown currency that has for long been falling like a stone in the money markets.

With a majority of businesses in Britain against dropping sterling, ideas of buying into the chocolate toy money that is the euro are nothing but panic talk.

Thankfully, the sensible wing of British politics can see this. The Left, once universally opposed to economic monetary union, has of course, completely lost the plot.

The foot soldiers of socialism have long been dispersed by Stormin' Tony's taskforce. The stragglers will buy any philosophy these days as long as it wears a suit and neat haircut.

But the fate of Longbridge has been sealed, and while the mass march recently was a moving display of regional solidarity, I fear that the demise of British car manufacturing is almost complete.

Nevertheless, although there are still dramas to be played out in this sorry tale, it is vital that we retain a sense of proportion. For example, there has been talk of the Rover asset-strip being on a par with the decline of the coal and steel communities, a catastrophe spiralling out of control, with the West Midlands being turned into an industrial desert.

This will not happen. Yes, there will be the so-called ripple effect but we are not talking tidal waves. The history of the area in which we live and work is one of adaptation.

Many of you will know that the car industry in Britain has its origins in Coventry. My maternal grandfather was a watchmaker in Godiva's town, as was his father before him and generations stretching back almost into infinity.

But the watch trade died out to be replaced by the bicycle industry, and this in turn diversified into all manner of high-precision work which evolved into the car industry.

When my grandfather finally ruined his sight making the timing mechanisms for torpedoes during the First World War he was adapting... and therefore surviving.

On a planet with too many cars and supply outstripping demand, it was inevitable that the crunch would eventually come for Rover. That does not justify the way it has happened, nor does it say much for global business and its lack of social responsibility.

But in an industrial world where a decision in Chicago can put a man in Stourbridge on the jobs scrapheap, we have to live with the reality that there are at present no politicians with the guts to stand up to the major players.

This is why all this negativity about buying German is merely playing paper tigers. Boycotts of BMW are pointless, as are drink store owners tipping bottles of Liebfraumilch and Holsten Pils down the drain.

There's nothing wrong with defiance. But in a market where nearly everything bought is made outside this country, such actions are little more than posturing.

What would we do if the Japanese pulled a similar stunt? Pile all our music centres in a heap and set fire to them? Refuse to buy Hondas and Suzukis and insist on nothing but Triumph bikes? I think not.

In the aftermath of the Longbridge crisis, it is now vital that the West Midlands doesn't lose its sense of proportion.

The people of the heart of England are famed for their innovation, skills, stoicism, adaptability and sheer good humour.

And we have trodden this path before. Once upon a time, they used to make chains and wrought ironwork on every street corner from Lye to Walsall - no more. It is within living memory that the shoe towns of Leicester and Northampton employed thousands - no more.

And well into my lifetime, my hometown of Rugby was famous - not just for the game, but because it was the major centre for heavy engineering. All that is no more.

Yet all these towns and cities have survived change and stumbled out of the night into the first light of a new industrial dawn. They didn't go under.

It could be that the new industries of that belt from north Worcestershire into south Birmingham - the catchment area of Longbridge - may become more hi-tech based. For a race of innovators such as ourselves, why shouldn't the idea of a new silicon valley be turned into a reality?

The West Midlands must be given time to lick its wounds. We have to accept the reality that capital is now far more powerful than government.

Labour's witless handling of the Rover catastrophe shows that the big boys of industry don't really go calling at Number 10 to see if little Tone wants to come out and play.

We know the big boys play their games with the other big boys while politicians run behind them in their short trousers pleading to be included.

Sadly, they're not.

Until the storm dies down it's vital that we all stay calm. For the tempest will at some stage abate and then we'll be sailing in calmer waters.

What we have to do now is keep our nerve - for there will be life after Longbridge.