Cameron's public caution masks the party's private preparations

Irene

It is far too early to be more explicit and as you rightly say

"But on the other hand, one can appreciate that any specific pledge would hand Labour an issue to campaign on.

And Labour should not be given anything at this stage.

John Bracewell

Mr Forsyth,
Thank you for your insight into the Cameroons getting ready in private for both the election and for possible government. I think that is good news, as for giving the Labour Party any information ahead of the election campaign, they would be extremely foolish to do so.
The Labour Party may be incompetent in government but their real strength is in stealing policies, spinning untruths, smearing personalities and creating sound bites which they hope ring true with the electorate.
Anything that denies them that opportunity now, after resisting for so long, has to be the correct strategy. The big proviso is that the Conservatives come out with all guns blazing when the election campaign is declared.

Trumpeter Lanfried

I seem to recall the last PPC who suggested the Tories might be planning to cut more than they had let on was promptly deselected.

There ain't no justice.

Dave B

Daniel Hannan reminds us that Mrs Thatcher was also vague in the run-up to the Conservative victory of 1979:

"Margaret Thatcher did extraordinary things, rescuing a country that Labour had demeaned and indebted. But these things were only vaguely hinted at in the 1979 manifesto. Although the broad outlines were clear – we would live within our means, the trade unions would be put in their place, Britain would stand up to the USSR – the policies were inchoate.
Those who clamour for more detail from David Cameron would do well to look at what Thatcher was saying at this stage in the cycle – that is, in late 1978. Although the direction she intended to take was evident, she was careful not to box herself in with detailed commitments. "

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100009208/what-david-cameron-can-learn-from-margaret-thatcher/

Stepney

Bang on Mr Bracewell,
Those who carp on about "where are the policies" know nothing of strategy and certainly nothing of Labour's sticky fingers.

Keep schtum until you can see the whites of their eyes and then let them have it with both barrels.

Announce anything now and it'd be in the labour party manifesto before tea time.

Hysteria

agree with all the above - eg it looks like there may be some "right stuff" in team DC after all - God I hope so !

Verity

"Those who carp on about "where are the policies" know nothing of strategy and certainly nothing of Labour's sticky fingers," says astute political strategist Stepney.

Some of us with perhaps more more acute perceptions than you judge that David Cameron doesn't have any grands projets. He is empty. His presentation is absolutely dire ... shifty and untrustworthy and unguided by principle. He is motivated not by principle but a hunger to be prime minister ... not for what he could accomplish for the country, but by what he could accomplish for himself, David Cameron. He is looking forward to a position of great elevation in the hushed, carpeted glass palaces of Brussels.

Dave's got the driest powder in the history of warfare.

PSJ

Verity, you are writing rubbish. I don't agree with everything Cameron has said since he became Conservative leader, but he has done what he thinks is necessary to get rid of this dire government. If he announces big projects now, and they are popular, the Socialists will simply steal them. If they are unpopular the Socialists will bang on about them. And if that means that simpletons like you chide him for his lack of vision, fine.

David

"cuts of almost thirty percent in departmental budgets that could be implemented straight away."

That's worrying - cuts in government spending while in or just out of recession will make things worse. The time for cuts comes when the economy is on firmer ground.

"His presentation is absolutely dire ... shifty and untrustworthy and unguided by principle. He is motivated not by principle but a hunger to be prime minister ... not for what he could accomplish for the country, but by what he could accomplish for himself, David Cameron. He is looking forward to a position of great elevation in the hushed, carpeted glass palaces of Brussels."

Wow. What a load of rubbish.

Moraymint

"George Osborne has asked the Treasury to find cuts of almost thirty percent in departmental budgets that could be implemented straight away ..."

Now we're talking.

I've just seen a glimmer of light falling on my ballot paper right on the box marked "Conservative". That's the first time in about 10 years.

Keep up this sort of talk and we could yet see not only the Labour Party consigned to oblivion, but also the Tories with a fighting chance of fixing Brown's incomprehensibly shocking legacy to the British people.

Am I getting carried away here?

A J Scott

Oh Verity..who pays you for this rubbish? I hope it is sufficient to assuage whatever passes for your conscience, and that they have previously paid tax on it to the Labour Govt.

Tiberius

Charles' Moore's piece in the DT also gives great insight into Cameron's thinking.

EC

Verity: "Dave's got the driest powder in the history of warfare."

A when he does pull the trigger he'll only be firing blanks. It's professional courtesy amongst grifters.

JONNY

'He is empty. His presentation is absolutely dire ... shifty and untrustworthy and unguided by principle.'

Isn't he aw-aw-awful.

James

Verity:
I understand and share some of your frustrations with Dave, but, what or who else is there? DC is the only game in town. The hope for a truly conservative government can only come from the Conservative party. I do not share Peter Hitchens belief that the Conservative party should be, in turn, defeated, destroyed and replaced. It will not be replaced. We will simply have a Left/Liberal consensus for years, with conservative voters being left with whatever remains of the Tory party and UKIP (or whatever they choose to call themselves after the 'right of centre schism')
I believe Dave is trying not to 'scare the horses' and will have the cojones to tackle the country's problems head on.
If I am wrong, we're screwed and you can send me a huge slice of humble pie.

Verity

EC - Ha ha!

How many are prepared to be helpers in their own gulling. A bit like the socialists when Blair came on the scene. Now we've got a new carpetbagger in town, but it's the same old, same old. Dave's a pinko.

Verity

James - Cameron's all you've got right now, and he's an over-ambitious 10th rater. Better, as I've said, that we lose the next election for the price of getting shot of Dave. The socialists are ready for the knacker's yard. They cannot stumble on for more than another year or 18 months, when the new Conservative Leader can give them the coup de grace of a vote of No Confidence.

If Dave, gets in, he will continue the damage to our civil society done by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and will have five years to do it, and we are already close to the point of no return.

Better let the socialists back in for a few months, with a much, much reduced majority, so they won't be able to do any more harm, and then drive a stake through their hearts at a crossroads, during a full moon, at midnight.

echo34

Verity,

more attacks that you can't justify..

it's becoming boring seeing the "same old same old" everyday droning on about cameron like he lives over the road from you.

try a different slant on things will you instead of harping on,

Starting to think Cameron needs a restraining order on you.

And another thing, answer a straight question, who will you be voting for in the election and why?

JONNY

I'm afraid your much vaunted scenario frankly stinks Verity.

If there's a hung parliament,
Brown would do a deal with the Lib Dems.
Cable for Chancellor, Clegg Home Sec. Maybe Ming for the FO.
Followed by a snap election with the promise of PR reform.
In total that should result not just in another Brown 5-year government, but the impossibility of your real Tory lot ever reaching power again.

Not that that would worry you because I quite forgot - aren't you Labour these days?

James

Verity:
We could probably debate all night but would have to agree to disagree. However, this:
'drive a stake through their hearts at a crossroads, during a full moon, at midnight.' is something we can agree on and is wonderful imageary to boot!

EC

For the sake of my health I'm attempting to take a WOGANesque view of life these days.

However, amongst my recurring waking nightmares is the thought that this year's party conference season will only re-confirm the utter bankruptcy of British politics.

Juliana

It's his whacky friends who worry me. Zac Goldsmith anyone ?

Ian Walker

I bet the press would have really liked to know the D-Day plans in advance, in order to get a brilliant scoop.

Why on Earth would anyone want to let their enemy know exactly what their plans were? If that means a few hacks are fed up with a lack of detail and clarity, that's just too bad.

Four weeks lead up to the election, you'll see the detail no doubt. At the moment, they're still the opposition, and their job is to oppose this vile government, even if it does feel like kicking a dead dog.

Holly

echo34/jonny- THANK YOU!!
I thought I was going ga ga.
Verity,does my head in with the constant ravings.Lived everywhere,done and seen everything yet won't nail their colour to the mast.
Collins dictionary- Verity-truth,reality,true assertion?
Are you going to tell them?Or should I?
Verity, Who exactly, will you vote for and why? Or are you one of the great abstainers whose oppinions do not merit consideration and should be ignored.
Any ranting from you would be welcomed by all.

Holly

Verity-Further to my last post-I am a Tory to my core yet will be voting BNP at the general election.Why? Because certain aspects of the Labour government policies are detrimental to the country-EU and unfetted immigration.The economy can wait.

Lady A

cf Dave B and Daniel Hannan's blog - "WE WILL LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS". oh hallowed memory! now an impossible dream - or is it?

TGF UKIP

It seems pretty obvious that many of the above comments were made without their authors availing themselves of Peter Oborne's excellent piece of analysis.

It summarises why so many on this website and in the wider electorate profoundly mistrust Cameron and The Clique. It also emphasises the point I have been making for some while that by continuing on this path Dave will have no mandate for delivering the required medicine and will fully deserve the pulverising he will get from Labour, Liberals, public sector unions and their friends at the BBC.

As for the absurd point made by Hannan and echoed by others now and previously, that Mrs Thatcher did not reveal her full intentions prior to the 79 election, neither did she try to say that the trades union practices of the day were safe in her hands - the parallel of which the apology for an heir is doing today. And once again I would refer you to Oborne on the Mrs T point.

I am fully in agreement with Verity that the election of Cameron will be a disaster. They will be a one term government, at best, and will destroy the Conservative Party for decades.