Party queen
Matthew d'Ancona 9:20am
If a party can be judged by its parties, then the Conservatives are heading for office. Last night’s Black and White party, masterminded by the brilliant Anya Hindmarch, was a triumph. Michael Spencer, the Tory treasurer, looked understandably pleased with the money flowing into the party’s coffers (all legit: the auction programme included stern extracts from the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000). But the deeper significance of the event was its sheer stunning style, wit and aesthetic touch.
Traditionally, the Black and White party is a chore for the party’s senior figures, a drab affair that resembles an explosion in a cummerbund factory with lots of talk of “Rhodesia” and Enoch. This year, Anya – Designer of the Year – had transformed the venue in Battersea Park into a series of gardens, all beautifully illuminated, each with a theme (I was in the Quinlan English Country Garden on a table with Sam Cameron, Helen Taylor and others). The attention to detail was breath-taking – here was a potting shed, here a gazebo, here a gypsy caravan (were those the orange tips of illicit cigarettes I saw in there? Surely not). Even the packets of seeds and books had been specially designed. Relaxed, chic, imaginative: was this really a Tory Party event?
Dave gave a very good speech in which he deftly invited the guests to imagine how, many years from now, they would look back upon their efforts in 2008, and (prospectively) in the first term of the next Conservative Government, and ask if they had done enough. This “anticipatory-retrospective” strategy paid off, focusing minds on the magnitude of the task ahead. Cameron is getting better and better at this sort of thing.
Meanwhile, much discussion about the Conway affair, and a general sense that the party had taken a hit, but pulled together in accepting that the system would have to change, whatever the personal inconvenience involved. A fair amount of argument about tax, the consensus being that the party should not stick to Labour’s spending plans, especially if the election is not until 2010. And much fretting about Tory dress code and the merits of “tielessness” (see Tamzin Lightwater’s Diary in today’s Spectator for more inside gossip). David Willetts, Andrew Mitchell and I (all tieless, as were Dave and George) discussed this with uber-moderniser Nick Boles – who was wearing a tie. Does this mean that tielessness, once the badge of the Tory mod, is now passé? Nick intimated as much. I suppose that makes me a traditionalist, then. I like the tieless look, damn it.
Hats off to Anya, surely destined for high office as a minister for culture in the Cameron government. The Cameroons like to talk about “non-electoral milestones”, the defining moments which have nothing to do with votes or polls but tell you nonetheless that you are on your way. This was one such milestone.
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Comments
THX1138
February 7th, 2008 9:50amWith 15 members of the shadow cabinet having gone to Eton & most of the recent Spectator editors either having gone there too & or Oxford (Boris Johnson & David Cameron were in the Bullingdon club together) & doubtless loads of socializing together as proved at the Black & White Ball last night I worry that the Coffee House/Spectator is just the PR extension of that small clique of Tory toffs who seek to rule over us. I for one want don't my journalists & bloggers to be hand in hand with those that wish to tell us what to do. Your relationship is far to close to the new Tory establishment. I'm convinced that you (Spectator editors & senior journalists) are more worried about your party invites than criticising Dave or George- aren't we all on cosy first name terms. The true voice of freedom in the political blogosphere is Gudio he puts the boot into all sides with equal ferocity as it should be.. Remember you are journalists not a fan club
mike
February 7th, 2008 11:02am"But the deeper significance of the event was its sheer stunning style, wit and aesthetic touch." That's what I look for when voting in the General Election, a bit of wit and a smidge of the old aesthetic touch.
SJH
February 7th, 2008 11:10amWhy did they hold it on Ash Wednesday?
Chuck Unsworth
February 7th, 2008 11:36amAt least (at last) some real style, panache and even elegance. Is there the slightest possibility that the NuLab animals could present so well? The prospect of the male) Cabinet members in Dinner Jackets is grotesque. They'd all look like third rate bouncers.
bill
February 7th, 2008 11:44amI went to one of these events when Maggie was still PM. We wore dinner jackets and bow ties. We know Cameron can wear one as he went to Eton, was a member of the Bullingdon and presumably sat his exams wearing sub-fusc. Gordon Brown was given a hardtime for how he dressed. Why no tie from Cameron.
Fergus Pickering
February 7th, 2008 12:11pmBecause people don't wear bow ties these days. Good thing too. Never could tie the things. I like the sort that flash and revolve.
Tiberius
February 7th, 2008 12:15pmTHX: a few contributors have voiced concerns similar to yours. However, I'm sure you've seen Fraser and other Speccie journalists take Cameron to task on a number of issues (the latest perhaps being the overnight delay in removing the whip from Conway). Matt himself disagrees with Cameron over the fundamental issues of 90 day detention and grammar schools. So I don't see any journalistic integrity being compromised, but I certainly should hope we all are agreed that a Cameron government would be a huge improvement for the country over the vacuous New Labour regime.
THX1138
February 7th, 2008 1:02pmTiberius as David Cameron would appear to have so few policies It's hard to know which if any The Speccie disagrees with (cheap I know), the Conway thing wasn't policy it was housekeeping. What I dislike is the shared social relationships, background & dare I say it class between those that seek power & journalists on The Spectator who are supposed to hold them to account. But I agree that it's over for New Labour but I for one will find it hard to vote for Cameron's Conservatives the thought of Tory toffs running the country turns me right off know I it's wrong & shallow but I can't help it & I'm sure very many feel it too.
Oscar Miller
February 7th, 2008 1:51pmA few weeks ago Brown held a party for the hacks which was widely covered (approvingly) including the usually acerbic Simon Hoggart writing his appreciation. Nobody murmured a thing about the "cosy" relationship between Labour and the press - even tho this party was explicitly to woo them. The Conservatives Black and White party is a very longstanding fixture in the calandar. A couple of years ago it was roundly slagged off for being too pretentiously 'New' Conservative. This year sounds like a success. It's just a party THXX and Matt clearly enjoyed it. Isn't he allowed to say so? And by the way the "impartial" Guido is featuring "totty" from the party on his blog.
Janus
February 7th, 2008 1:59pm"..much discussion about the Conway affair, and a general sense that the party had taken a hit, but pulled together in accepting that the system would have to change, whatever the personal inconvenience involved." What personal inconvenience is that, Matthew? MPs having to abide by the rules? making family members actually work in their taxpayer-funded jobs? Extraordinary arrogance from those Tory toffs who think that Conway's only crime was getting caught.
J H Holloway
February 7th, 2008 3:48pmI can see these pics and the party write up would be very hard to take for the average liberal-left type. But we are seeing a shift away from the liberal-left clique that has made the running for at least 15 years (and longer than that if we just talk social change) and over to another power clique.
But the arrival of metropolitan New Tory is no less illegitimate than metropolitan New Labour. The story is that the New Labour experiment hasn't worked. Lots spent, and lots still left to do, you might say.
There'll be squeals from those who went to university and never recovered from meeting the ultra-confident county set (especially in the Guardian, whose hatred of the county set in no less than a kind of racism).
What we are seeing is the centre of power pulling out of Upper Street in Islington and heading west down the Westway flyover (another Tory godsend) to North Kensington and Notting Hill.
Nice to see them in my manor of Battersea, one of the capital's swing states. Good taste meets common sense, is what I'm hoping for.
David Lindsay
February 7th, 2008 3:48pmThe whole thing proves that they are a high society club, not a political party. Who knew?
Tiberius
February 7th, 2008 5:21pmOscar; I have to say I thought you were referring to the La Senza ad when you mentioned totty on Guido. I am easily distractable, I admit.
TGF UKIP
February 7th, 2008 6:39pmBrilliant post THX and bang on. Mind you when you say to Matthew "Your relationship is far too close to the New Tory establishment" you are forgetting that not only are they very much part of that establishment, but that they were absolutely central to its creation. The posh metropolitan media played a critical role in the manipulation of the Tory Party in the Leadership election of 2005. And Tiberius we are not "all agreed that a Cameron government would be a huge improvement for the country." Not only would it be a case of one lot of SocDems succeeding another but worse, much worse, it would enable the SocDem Tory Left to claim for decades that the Tory Party can only win elections by being SocDems not conservatives.
Ted
February 7th, 2008 7:13pmTHX1138 - "15 members of shadow cabinet gone to Eton" - name them.
Her's a clue - Osborne, Hague, Davis, Wiullets,Fox, Herbert, Gove, Ainsworth, Graying, Hunt, Pickles, Maude, Warsi, Duncan, Neville-Jones, Paterson, Hammond, Gillen,Spelman,Mundell, McLoughlin, Mitchell, Lansley, Strathclyde, Villers and May - didn't go to Eton.
So can you perm 15 from the remaining 2?
Purple Scorpion
February 7th, 2008 8:48pmFascinating to see what sort of subjects pull the most comments here.
THX1138
February 7th, 2008 9:30pmHugo Swire: Culture, media and sport: Eton and St Andrews, Clubs White's, Pratt's, Beefsteak Viscount Bridgeman: Home affairs, Eton, Beefsteak David Cameron Leader: Eton and Oxford, White's Bill Wiggin: Environment, Eton and Cambridge Oliver Letwin: Head of policy, Eton and Cambridge Viscount Astor: Culture, media and sport, Eton, White's, Turf Boris Johnson: Higher education, Eton and Oxford, Beefsteak, Garrick Lord de Mauley: Trade and industry, Eton Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: Trade and industry, Eton and Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester Lord Cope of Berkeley: Chief whip, Eton Lord Glentoran: Northern Ireland, Eton and Grenoble University, France Lord Skelmersdale: Work and pensions, Eton and Wandsworth College Lord Luke: Culture, media and sport, Eton and Cambridge Lord Astor of Hever: Defence, Eton
Iain Dalw
February 8th, 2008 1:26amTHX1138 You are a class A prat who can't even define what the Shadow Cabinet is. Of those in that list only two are in the Shadow Cabinet - Cameron and Letwin.
ExPat
February 8th, 2008 2:23amI find myself in sympathy with THX1138 and Janus. Some comments here reek of snobbery. I want to see Labour gone as much as anyone else but I don't want them replaced by another load of people with the same disdain for the mass of working people and their own set of sycophant journos.
Oscar Miller
February 8th, 2008 9:39amExPat - yes some of the comments DO reek of snobbery - the inverted snobbery of THX and co who oppose people not for their ideas but for their accent and their class and their education. If I started a rant about the cosy relationship between "working class politicians" and "working class jouranlists" it would be treated with derision and contempt - and if I sounded off about the "ghastly accents of those oiks in power" or the dreadful comprehensives they went to I would be roundly condemned. Can't you see this attempt at character assassination is a simple inversion of good old fashioned British class snobbery - unacceptable whichever way it is expressed.
Tiberius
February 8th, 2008 9:44amTGF: you quote me out of context. The "over vacuous New Labour" is essential to what I say. Please peer over the abyss, and see that Cameron is the only alternative to Brown at the next election.
THX1138
February 8th, 2008 11:11amOscar- I agree with you it's wrong but I can't help myself I feel all my heckles rise when I think of Dave Snooty & his pals in power I hate that born to rule superiority they ooze & we all know they hold equal derision for the rest of us. Right or wrong many people agree with me including important commentators like Stephen Pollard & Peter Hitchens & I'm convinced the "toff factor" is holding the Conservatives back in the opinion polls. Andrew Sullivan over on The Daily Dish who was at Oxford with them all has blogged well on this, writing that he should know better but find's it very hard to get over his feeling of loathing for the braying wah wahs. Look I will try hard come the election to vote based on issues & policies but in the privacy of the booth the toff factor may sway my hand. Could this be our version of the Bradley factor? Time will tell.
angela king
February 8th, 2008 3:55pmAm I dreadfully naive, but I love Old Etonians. I don't believe they look down on us , any more than anyone else. They may be a bit cliquey,but nobody's perfect. My ancesters fought at Waterloo and probably so did a lot of other peoples. May we have MORE Old Etonians on the front bench please? (when they get in).
MPB
February 8th, 2008 4:47pmI am saddened that this event was held on Ash Wednesday. Either the organisers didn't know which would be worrying or they dont care which is even more worrying. this is still supposed to be a Christian country.
Oscar Miller
February 11th, 2008 8:39amTHX "I hate that born to rule superiority" - that's exactly the feeling I get whenever I hear a member of the cabinet speaking. McLabour are the ones who now believe they were born to rule. If you went to Eton - it seems you were born to be out of power.
john sheppard
February 12th, 2008 12:10pmSo THX doesn't like the social relationships demonstated by the Tories I suggest you have a look at the blatently incestuous reationships in the Labour Party.Almost without exception all the leading Labour politicians have a spouse scoffing at the public trough either in the Party or in the thousands of quangos stuffed with Labour luvvies
bill
February 12th, 2008 5:32pmWell said THX. Remember the photo of Cameron and his Bullingdon mates. What a joke.