Time for Cameron to put his colleagues front and centre
James Forsyth 9:56am
Judging from the interview with Alan Johnson in The Sunday Times, Labour have given up on its attempt to character assassinate David Cameron. Johnson concedes that Cameron is “likeable” and that “He’s articulate. He’s a nice guy.” But Johnson argues that Cameron’s own qualities don’t matter that much as this “is a party system” and Cameron’s party hasn’t changed.
Labour’s new line of attack is hardly novel but it marks an important step for Cameron, it is a recognition that his persona is established enough with voters that it can’t be changed by ever more vigorous attacks from his opponents. Cameron now needs to adapt his approach to this new reality.
The leadership has long taken the view that the only way to guarantee publicity for the party’s line is for Cameron to state it himself. There is, though, a danger in this approach. It means that the electorate has little idea of who the Tories are other than Cameron. This, in turn, makes it easier to demonise the rest of the party. With even Labour having to recognise that Cameron is now established in the public mind as a nice, likeable man, Cameron should cede some of the limelight to his colleagues.
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Michael Hargrave
February 8th, 2009 11:09am Report this commentJames,
I know it is your job to stir the pot, but to suggest that CMD has not put his front bench about is frankly absurd. We see lots of Michael Gove, Dominic Grieve,not to mention George Osbourne. The faces of the front bench are all over Newsnight on a regular basis. New Labour is just changing tack because they realise their strategy has not worked, so now it is that "well CMD is OK, but the rest are still vermin". I don't believe that it will work. We have seen Ken Clarke and Ian Duncan Smith, and David Davis as regular OK guys and Alan Johnston, nice as he is, is simply casting around in desperation in damage control.
TrevorsDen
February 8th, 2009 11:16am Report this commentCorrect - 'hardly novel'
The fact is most of the electorate do not even know who Alan Johnson is - so any attempt by the Tories to try to give more prominence to the the shadow cabinet is doomed to failure.
The fact s of course that Cameron has already neutered that line of attack by recalling Ken Clarke. Do you really think that labour can say the Tories are 'nasty' with jovial telegenic old Ken in the Shadow Cabinet.
Rhoda Klapp
February 8th, 2009 11:48am Report this commentWhatever happened to "Five reasons to vote Tory"? I still can't get past one.
Marbury
February 8th, 2009 12:23pm Report this commentYou're assuming that all ministerial interviews are tightly coordinated from Number Ten, a rather big leap of faith. And anyway this seems highly unremarkable to me. I don't think DC has ever been seen as anything BUT 'nice and likeable'. That's his problem.
Dan
February 8th, 2009 12:37pm Report this commentRhoda - if removing Gordon Brown as our prime minister isn't one reason, you must be living on a different planet.
Rhoda Klapp
February 8th, 2009 1:37pm Report this commentDan, that's the one (well, I'd say the Labour party), and only, so far.
Fergus Pickering
February 8th, 2009 4:39pm Report this commentIt's hedgehog time, isn't it? We all know one big thing. And Jeremy Clarkson felicitously put it into words.
Philip Wright
February 8th, 2009 5:37pm Report this commentJames, whilst I agree that it is important for the whole Shadow Cabinet to step up to the plate and deliver, the need for a response from Cameron has two fairly big points to bear in mind.
Firstly so many initiatives are announced by Brown himself that it is right for David Cameron as his opposite number to respond to these to avoid them getting lost from "lesser" (as in lower down the chain of command and in no other terms)players. Otherwise why have shadows to specific Government ministers / positions?
Secondly as is frequently pointed out by Mike Smithson at Political Betting the Tories' fortunes in the opinion polls, not the most important but still vital in creating forward momentum in the public mind, is that the more visible David Cameron is the better the Tories' polling numbers become.
This balance is difficult to perfect but my guess is that Cameron has, at present, got it more or less right but like any good helmsman he is always looking to trim and tack whenever it is necessary.
Tiberius
February 8th, 2009 9:13pm Report this commentRhoda:
2).Education policy.
3).Elected police chiefs.
4).Dumping of ID cars.
5).The historical mission of the Tories repairing the economy after Labour has wrecked it.
Verity
February 9th, 2009 7:34pm Report this commentTiberius - Where has David Cameron pledged to bring in elected police chiefs?
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