Cameron is talking the talk on the reform Britain needs

luke

Electoral reform is now essential. It doesnt matter how much you play around with the rules and regulations - if parliament can be dominated by a single party carrying no more than 40% support of the british voting public, the system itself will always be pretty rotten.

Dr Jones

Cameron writes: "But when it comes to lack of accountability, no one and nothing beats the ­quangos. Quasi-autonomous non-­governmental organisations. Their name is as dire as their impact on our society. There are over 500 of these things in Britain, whose power and influence can be seen everywhere. But aren't serious political issues too important to be left to unaccountable quangos?"

Made me smile. His plan is to turn the entire NHS, all 100BN of it, over to exactly this sort of quango.

chris

Yes, and with Government borrowing and fiscal balances totally out of control, and the need to borrow £700 billion over the next 5 years, now is the time to sort out the mess that got us into this.
Otherwise you may as well call it a day.

Moat Scrubbers Anon

No single act a conservative government could undertake would take more powert from the people and hand it to the executive than the repeal of the human rights act.

The act makes rights we already had and will have after its repeal (because nobody is proposing we leave the convention) justicible in British courts.

As such it has seen the courts strike down, again and again, the unlawful behaviour of the crown and its agencies.

Repealing the act won't make any of those actions lawful, it will just make it easier for the executive to get away with it.

But I wouldn't expect such an argument to even have crossed the minds of Spectator writers so desperate to puff up "Dave" that they will willingly connive in his plans to help law breaker get away with it.

Steve.W

Cameron goes on to say “We will therefore hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty”

I'll let you know what I think after I've read the small print, the conditions attached to that remark!

Helen Wright

What - no mention of the democratic deficit for England in the UK? Don't think it will be swept under the carpet, Mr Cameron. It won't.

Nick Kaplan

It all sounds nice but there is nothing substantial on offer as none of Cameron's hoped for changes can be made whilst we are still in the EU. The idea of being 'in Europe but not ruled by Europe' is simply an illusion.

I Albion

isn't this what Brown and his creatures promised?cross your heart and hope to die Mr. Cameron,then we MIGHT believe you

Jeremy

"For instance, does the commitment to hold a referendum on Lisbon hold if it has already been ratified across the EU?"

Yes it does, James. Because a referendum on this issue represents the will of the British people. And because it is about our destiny as a nation. And those things override anything the current Prime Minister has put his signature to without having first given us the referendum that we were promised in his party's election manifesto. And also because it is not a conditional commitment that Mr Cameron is making. It is an absolute commitment. At least that is my view and my expectation of him.

I think it is the speech that many of us have been waiting to hear Cameron make. And with it he is earning - earning, mark you - our votes.

Tiberius

Cometh the hour...

Verity

We got on just fine, indeed, prospered internationally and had an enviable justice system, without the EHRA, for 1,000 years.

The country is now in a shambles thanks to our slavish kowtowing to this creepy entity.

Jeremy writes: "And also because it is not a conditional commitment that Mr Cameron is making. It is an absolute commitment. At least that is my view and my expectation of him."

Well, whoop de doo! It certainly isn't mine.

Laura

Cameron needs to get across to the average person that an overseas Parliament/legislature is imposing Laws on a sovereign country. That no citizen of this country has ever voted for and our democratically elected politicians cannot amend. Cameron is making the right noises and I am impressed with him so far. Let's hope he delivers IF he gets in.

Alan

A good compromise for Britain between the Euro-muddle of proportional representation and the current system would be the Australian system of preferential voting or the single transferable vote - no need for tactical voting any more; and no MP can then be elected without 50% + 1 support in the constituency. You have to mark the candidates with numbers in order of preference on the ballot paper, not just put a tick or cross though - could be hard work for some victims of comprehensive education.

Daniel Hornby

For God sake can people on this site just give David Cameron the benefit of the doubt, for once???? Even if he only delivers 10% of our expectations it will be one million times better than having Brown and Labour in office. Stop denouncing Dave before he's had the chance to prove to us what he is made of. If when he's in office he doesn't deliver we can get rid and install an extreme Eurosceptic, unelected by the party or the voters. Labour won't be able to say a thing because that's what they've done with Brown.

Julie Mac

Ooh I am lovin Call Me Dave more and more everyday! Roll on May 2010.

Edmund Jerk

Cometh the hour, cometh the Hoon.

Lee Jakeman

" .... which sends the Tories into power with a clear, firm mandate." Which of course, is what it's all about. Once IN power of course, they'll be as bad as everyone else.

Judy

Cameron seems to be making lots of vague populist proclamations. Curb the power of the judges? It was the judges who ruled against the repeated efforts of the House of Commons hierarchy to give us access to the MPs' expenses data in all their gruesome glory.

Sorry, but this just looks like the Tory version of Labour's attempts to focus attention off the public's demand to see the Parliamentary miscreants brought to book and onto spurious statements about public demands for new forms of representation.

All the evidence I've seen is that the public is determined to see the scammers and the rippers off brought to book, and not just given rebukes and instructions to pay token amounts back.

The public is also aware that even those being pressured into standing down are going to retire with very handsome lifelong pensions.

Cameron has made some good moves and is head and shoulders above Brown in his responses. But still, not nearly good enough.

Where are the prosecutions? Where are the immediate resignations? Why isn't Cameron promising to remove pensions entitlements from MPs and Lords found to have flouted the requirement to claim for expenses only "wholly, necessarily and exclusively" for their work as MPs or Lords?

Until he does, the article and the politics just look like grandstanding.

The public will not be fooled.

Verity

Note that Cameron has been running off at the mouth for the last 48 hours, and Gordon Brown has said ... nothing.

Cameron looks weak, eagerly filling a void. It would have been better for him to have kept his own counsel.

What happened to those pr skills?

Absolutely everything Cameron does looks weak and reactive. Or he comes out with something stupid like members of the public who have never expressed an active interest in politics, should try to stand for Parliament. As opposed to his principled stance a year ago, when only pre-selected A-Listers would be allowed to stand to represent Britons in their Parliament.

Dear God! This is leadership?

Andrea

BTW on the clamour for a referendum on PR by the Labour party, Cameron should 'let it be known', if they persist with this idea then the Tories will go nuclear and call a referendum on an English Parliament. Thus severley diluting any Labour power in the future. Time for Cameron to show some real steele here. Labour will do anything to cling on and PR would destory the Conservative party.

Archie

Hang on, we've been here before, methinks. Remember his commitment to the EPP group? That vanished into thin air. Why would I trust him this time? Sounds like a bandwagon being frantically raced after!

David Ossitt

Lee Jakeman.

Who are these everyone else?

TomTom

"BTW on the clamour for a referendum on PR by the Labour party, @

They had a Speaker's Conference in 1916, 1929, 1944 on this matter and frankly it will not happen unless they need to rig the election as Mitterand did or as is done in Northern Ireland

Alan Douglas

Archie says "his commitment to the EPP group? That vanished into thin air".

No so, the Conservatives will be OUT of the EPP after the June 4 elections. Delayed air yes, but not vanished and thin.

Alan Douglas

the white dragon of olde england

How does Cameron equate more power to MP's when he still demands they all are centrally chosen, thus fitting a certain mould they have in Conservative HQ. People with money (to give to the party) People who will go along with party come thick or thin, ROBOTS!

Let local people choose their candidate and let Cameron have the confidence in the people.

It should be a double edged sword!

the white dragon of olde england

From politicalbetting.com:-

"On Sunday I shared a bottle of Medoc with a political observer whose insights I value and often shape my thinking. He made this comment: “Cameron is every bit the match for Blair when it come to working what to say to chime with the public mood. The difference is that Cameron has a passionate interest in politics - something that Blair never had”.
Mike Smithson

Michael Booth

Bandwagons and crowd-pleasers, honeyed words and gimcrack politics - you can tell an election is nigh when the bread and circuses brigade roll in. Cameron is wrong to reject PR - the Australian system seems a good basis for working out one of our own so that the views of the British people are fully represented in Parliament. First past the post has created the sort of majority governments that have railroaded legislation through at a rate of knots, to the detriment of all. However, I say yes to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and yes to an English Parliament: if democracy is good enough for the Celtic fringes then it is good enough for England. 'No taxation without representation', as our American cousins once said.

Ray

Methinks the penny may be dropping.

However, don't try negotiating a return of powers from the EU, Dave. Just set a deadline when we will be out of it altogether and then DO it.

That way our EU 'partners' can either accept our exit and get on with 'the Project' without us or play silly b*****s and watch us using what few vetoes we have left to wreck as much of their beloved superstate as we can before we go.

Mark C

Archie,

If you read page 3 of the Conservative Manifesto for the forthcoming election you will see that you are wrong: http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/European_Election_Manifesto.aspx
Better late than never, I think.

Nick

Verity, spend some time reading what the Guardian commentators are saying about Cameron at the moment, they (Toynbee, Rawnsley, Jackie Ashley et al) are all very impressed at how Cameron is handling the current crisis to his and the Tory Party's benefit, in marked contrast to the leaden efforts of Gordon Brown to portray himself in control of the situation.

Vulture

Of course Cameron is a load of hot air concealed within a puff-pastry flaky coating. And of course this is a load of old tosh designed to appeal to its readers (Guardinistas) that will be forgotten by next week at the latest ( Remember the environmental policy launched with Goldsmith when Green Dave was going to ban us all from flying?). We all know that. The only thing in Dave's favour is that he's not Bruin. For everything else he must be forced on every possible occasion to do the right thing. He sure as hell won't do it on his own account.

Chuck Unsworth

Usual anti-Cameron obsessive virulence from Verity. Nothing to see here. Move on.

cuffleyburgers

Good for DC.

Despite Verity's tedious foaming at the mouth, he has assembled a good team and he is making the running on important issues.

He is in an awkward position, and I think on balance he is right condition his message for a sceptical general public rather than the tory faithful

Never has it been more important to win an election, the country has been grievously damaged by Labour who are determined to carry on wrecking everything.

Tiberius

Daniel Hornby: the answer to your first sentence is mostly "no".

A widely held view seems to be not that he will be body-snatched when in office, but that indeed he is one of the body-snatchers.

oldtimer

The Cameron knockers seem to be out in force.

On the evidence so far, I think that Cameron has done a good job of leading the Conservative party from being in the dumps to the prospect of re-election as a party of government. That is the only useful measure of his leadership qualities that we presently have. On that evidence, he has unequivocally done a good job.

Some here, correction, many here do not like what he says, do not believe he means what he says, do not believe he will do what he says if he becomes PM. We can only know these things if and when he becomes PM. Otherwise these are just crude attempts at character assassination.

On the Lisbon Treaty referendum I see no reason why one should not be held, whether or not it has been ratified by all other governments. A referendum result would be, I believe, a necessary precondition to renegotiation of its terms by a UK government. Equally, there is no particular benefit in trying to anticipate every possible permutation in the unfolding ratification process. In fact there is a strong case for not revealing how you would play your hand in order to win the game.

E Justice

Just give England her own Parliament, Simples!

Denis Cooper

Having searched out the relevant passage, which is here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/25/david-cameron-a-new-politics1

this is what Cameron wrote:

"We will therefore hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty; pass a law requiring a referendum to approve any further transfers of power to the EU; negotiate the return of powers, and require far more detailed scrutiny in parliament of EU legislation, regulation and spending."

Obviously that can't mean exactly what it says, "We will therefore hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty", without any conditions at all, because if the Lisbon treaty had already been officially abandoned - eg after a second Irish "no" - then it would be rather pointless for us to have a referendum on it.

The crucial question is whether "unless it has already been ratified by all the other member states and come into force" is also still there as an unspoken condition, and we won't know whether there's been any change on that unless Cameron can be asked the direct question and be induced to give a direct answer.

It would be great news if he had really dropped that condition, and I hope that he has.

Minnie Ovens

I really would like to believe Cameron and I hope the idea translates to execution in the future.
There is always this nagging doubt on Cameron. It has been well known, since the first Five Year Plan in the thirties USSR, that over-centalization does not work and that they always should be a balance.
Now Gordon Brown is a true socialist and a terrible control freak so it is in his interests to promote it in his bid to "save the world". But Cameron, an intelligent man with good common sense, has only come to this conclusion lately?
You will, I hope, excuse me in my suspicion of a political, focus group mind at work here but we have only just got rid of Blair.
I would so like to see a leader appear who is strong enough to speak as they feel and is not afraid to defend their position with passion.
It's twenty years since we had one and we desperately need one again.

David Parker

Denis Cooper,
As you say, Cameron does not deal with the question of his promise being conditional upon Lisbon not having been ratified before he becomes PM. However, that condition is clearly specified on page 2 of the Tory Manifesto for the EU elections.

As for repatriation of powers, ln the Manifesto he states "A major goal of the next Conservative Government will be the return of social and employment legislation to British national control."

All those things he claims he will definitely do in respect of the EU in his Guardian article, are merely expressed as a set of aspirations in the Manifesto.

It seems that Cameron is becoming rattled by the prospect of a large number of eurosceptic protest votes and has therefore belatedly decided that he can no longer ignore the EU as a major issue in the next general election.

Needless to say, even if Lisbon is rejected for the second time by the Irish, we shall still be bound by the terms of all the previous Treaties, and the European Commission will continue (illegally) to implement the majority of its terms,exactly as has happened with the rejected Constitution.

It is quite clear from the Tory Manifesto that Cameron has no intention of ever withdrawing from the EU under any circumstances, or of offering us a referendum over this issue.

Celine

Reform is not the issue. It's the individuals, as Gerald Warner explains. He also explains why parachuting in PC candidates would infuriate the grassroots even more:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/2009/05/26/mps_expenses_sack_hoon_purnell_duncan_and_maude__or_the_voters_will

There must be more blood on the carpet. Sorry.

Scot Richards

Lets see if I've got this right. Brown's big idea about how to follow the will of the British people and restore the institutions and traditions of government that have made the UK one of the world's most stable democracies is to change the entire voting system?

Liz Brown

Liebur must not be allowed to get away with holding any sort of referendum on anything at all. A GENERAL ELECTION is needed now. Cameron seems to have noticed the lack of accountability in Government and is making the right noises on Europe. Also to be settled are the problems raised by devolution in Scotland, N Ireland and Wales. Liebours share of the vote in England at the last election was 29% so they have no democratic mandate to govern England

Stephen

Andrea ' PR would destory the Conservative party'. I thought that this discussion was about restoring the electorate's faith in democracy. You seem to want to make it about ensuring that the Conservative Party continues in its current form.

If we are losing faith in politics because decisions are made by unelected Quangos and EU Commissioners, why is it OK that every government, even those with huge parliamentary majorities, are elected with a minority of the votes cast? Once elected our government cannot be challenged, except by its own party, and yet most people who chose to vote, did not want it or its policies.

Publius

Good stuff

Aidan

Cameron talks about a transfer of power from Whitehall to "communities" and I completely support that. But we do need to have a proper debate about local government and how to change it to make it more democratic and truly responsive to communities.

I lived in Islington when Margaret Hodge was leader of the council. At that time Labour held every seat on the council except for three Lib Dems and a solitary Conservative. Labour could do whatever they wanted, in the knowledge that their own core supporters would not have to pay for it. That is why Margaret Thatcher introduced first rate-capping and then the community charge.

If we are really going to give local government power to determine its own priorities for its own commmunities, then we have to give it back the power to raise its own finance. But how do we do that without reopening all the old wounds of the past?

My answer would be to elect local government through PR, with an open list system to allow the electors to choose between different candidates of the same party. No party would ever again have the overwhelming majorities of the kind that Margaret Hodge had in Islington, and voters would have the power to punish parties, and individual councillors.

TomTom

"Cameron is wrong to reject PR - the Australian system"

Australia has a Federal system - England does not even have an assembly of its own !

JONNY

Absolutely everything Cameron does looks weak and reactive.

For Gawdsake get off Cameron's back Verity.
You're getting boring.

Stephen Gash

People are so disillusioned with politics because it is infested with "I know best"-ers like Cameron.

There have been any number of polls about the governance of England in post-devolution Britain. Practically all, but the latest Populus one, show a large majority of English people wanting an English Parliament. ALL show that regions are the most unpopular option.

Cameron has committed to getting rid of the reviled regions, but implaccably opposes an English Parliament. He even backed away from English votes on English laws, making sure that the 'Celts' can still interfere in English matters with his botched proposal.

What irritates most people is that our MPs still do not believe they have forfeited the right to decide anything. All of them are tainted with the discredited expenses system because it has been around for (wait for it) 26 years!

Notice how the conversation has moved from corrupt MPs and prosecutions, to PR and electoral reform.

We should have a general election ASAP, English, Welsh and N. Irish Parliaments established ASAP after that, a much reduced UK Parliament, funded by the devolved parliaments, in a truly federal UK. If the UK cannot survive the English, Welsh and N. Irish being treated equally with Scots, then it does not deserve to exist at all.

Verity

I agree with Minnie Ovens. There is a strong aroma of focus groups around everything Cameron says.

And, I repeat to all those racing to attack me, David Cameron's wording is very tricky in major pronouncements. You have to be alert.

David Parker writes, hopefully, "As for repatriation of powers, ln the Manifesto he states "A major goal of the next Conservative Government will be the return of social and employment legislation to British national control."

He can safely have all the major goals he can handle, but there is no pick 'n' mix in the EU. You don't get to choose bits that will go down well with your particular voters. It's a monolith.

To all: read what David Parker 12:30 p.m. says above.

Stephen Gash

oldtimer wrote:
"The Cameron knockers seem to be out in force."
No there are only a tiny few of us here. The rest are out and about busily hugging hoodies.

I won't be voting Tory, largely because of Cameron. Like the rest of the parties soiling the 'Mother of Parliaments' he has no intention of actually doing what the people of England want.

He spends a good deal of his time knocking the English and blaming the English for Scottish surliness. The rest of the time he crows about his Scottish ancestry.

The Tories are largely to blame for England being wrecked; took us into the EU on the most stupid terms imagineable, signed the Maastricht Treaty without a referendum, but with opt-outs gained with Germany blackmailing the UK into recognising Slovenia's and Croatia's independence (thus starting the Yugoslav war), and digging the Channel Tunnel, thereby effecting uncontrolled illegal immigration.

The Tories are just "talk big, cave in" politicians. They talk big about 'competition', but sell up or close down when somebody competes against them. They talk big on Europe, but sign away everything. Any party with a slogan "In the heart of Europe, but not ruled by Europe" deserves the electoral widerness. I don't know which Aussie came up with that one.

Verity

"Notice how the conversation has moved from corrupt MPs and prosecutions, to PR and electoral reform", notes Stephen Gash and he is right to point this rather obvious diversionary tactic out. Anything to take the heat off.

JONNY

Has anyone thought what would happen if Cameron decided to take Verity's diatribes more
seriously than they deserve.

And get out of politics for good tomorrow?
I'm not sure the punters at PB would put too much of their astute money on a Tory majority.
But you bet it would silence the raucous heckling so predominant in these columns.

Maybe Verity et al can then tell us who she or they would back as leader.
Then (situation reversed) we too can get going with the acid spray.

Verity

Jonny, I've mentioned my choices of Leader to the commentariat here before. They are William Hague, John Redwood, David Davis ... in no particular order.

Denis Cooper

oldtimer, I willingly gave Cameron the benefit of the doubt, but he's used it up.

JONNY, I felt at the time that Liam Fox had a lot going for him.

OK, he's a Scot, which might well enrage Stephen Gash; but he seems to be a British patriot and I detect some signs of a basic, down-to-earth honesty which is lacking in Cameron.

Maybe it's Cameron's background in public relations; maybe it's his upbringing; maybe it's the people he has around him as advisers; maybe it's just that he's steeped in a long Tory tradition of leading the people by the nose.

I don't know, but I do know that if a man is prepared to cycle to the House of Commons for the cameras, while being followed by a car with the stuff he will need, then he's deliberately trying to mislead the public.

A small thing in itself, maybe, but that episode alone was enough to show that he can't be trusted.

Verity

Cameron went further than that. He had TV cameras in his kitchen. How patronising is that? It chilled the blood. "We're just like you proles!"

I'm riding my bike to work! Oh, you mean you all have cars these days? I have all my papers in my chauffeur-driven car behind. Doesn't everyone?

Who actually goes down into the Tube anyway?

The man must be the worst pr practitioner in London's history.

And that utterly ghastly wind turbine on his roof for no scientific reason, but he thought the voters (in his neighbourhood) would love it.

Minnie Ovens

It's extraordinary how the ex leaders of the Tory party have fared.
Hague is now held in far greater repute than when he was leader and Ian Duncan Smith has carried out some deep analyss of broken Britain with sound conclusions (please note, Mr Cameron the word "deep").
I note also in the Telegraph today that Cameron's new manifesto seems to have been plagiarised from - The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain - which was authored by Daniel Hannan and Douglas Carswell six months ago.
I think Cameron is a most intelligent politician and I do not really care from where he gets his ideas since I feel he is more intelligent, and quicker, than Brown.
My problem, as stated before by Verity, is I trust Hague, Redwood, Hannan and Carswell more than I do Cameron.
I really hope I am proven wrong.

JONNY

' William Hague, John Redwood, David Davis ..'

Hague beaten by Blair
Redwood beaten by Major
Davis beaten by Cameron.

Three fsilures in a row Verity. Still licking their wounds.

Any others up your sleeve?

David Lindsay

Text alerts on the progress of Bills? I ask you!

But more power for “neighbourhoods”, David Cameron? For “local communities” that are not the elected and therefore hated local government, with its high number of proper Tories? We all know what you mean, Dave. We all know only too well.

Your vehicles toured Ealing Southall blasting out in Asian languages that Hindu, Muslim and Sikh festivals would be made public holidays under the Tories. Your “Quality of Life Commission” then proposed giving the power to decide these things to “local community leaders”.

What else, some of us wondered, would those figures be given the power to decide in return for filling in every postal voting form in their households in the Bullingdon Boys’ interest, and making sure that all their mates did likewise? What else indeed, Dave? What else, indeed?

To the statelets thus created – little Caliphates, little Hindutvas, little Khalistans, and so on – people minded to live in such places would flock from the ends of the earth, entrenching the situation for ever. Perhaps when the ultra-Orthodox have been denaturalised by Avigdor Lieberman and his loyalty oath, then Cameron can just give then Stamford Hill, or Salford (bye, bye, Blears), or Gateshead?

Oh, well, we may as well make the best of it. Let us identify the “local communities” to which, in the event of a Cameron victory, we will be evacuating the Christians of Orissa, Darfur and Palestine. Just for a start.

Stephen

Is Cameron prepared to substantially reduce the powers of the Party Whips and increase the power of Legislature at the expense of the Executive?
It is only through this route that true democracy will be restored in the United Kingdom.
As the man said:-
"The Party's over"

David Short

Cameron has missed the most obvious target: the places where there is so much unaccountable power abused daily and which intrudes rudely, dictatorially and often expensively into everyone's lives.

Yes, it's the Town Halls where brutal Trotskyism rules unchallenged.

Cameron seems oblivious to this potent source of votes from angry, outraged citizens.

If you want to look at the greater abusers of human rights, who spy on you and your rubbish, misusing the terror laws to do so, and who are recruiting lots of plain-clothes jobsworths with alarming powers over citizens going about their lawful business, and wreak control over you that would have had the Stasi drooling with envy, look no further than the Town Halls.

Why has Cameron missed this trick, a sure vote winner?

Come on, Speccie, stop applauding everything DC does from the sidelines and whisper in his ear instead.