Speaking on behalf of the party sometimes means shutting up, Preston Manning says

OTTAWA – Conservatives gathered in Ottawa this weekend to learn how best to spread their party’s message are being told one way is to know when to shut up.

The founder of the modern-day conservative movement says its greatest weakness is people who end up discrediting it when they speak their mind.

Preston Manning referred directly to the case of Tom Flanagan, a long-time party strategist who found himself swiftly ostracized last month after suggesting people who look at child pornography shouldn’t be jailed.

Flanagan later apologized.

Manning says while the conservative movement as a whole might tolerate such comments because of a commitment to free speech, the state of politics today doesn’t allow conservative organizations to be as permissive.

He says if someone is speaking clearly as a individual, they should be free to say what they want, but he says if they’re clearly aligned with the party or its organizations, there must be limits.