Cameron kicks off the transparency agenda
Peter Hoskin 10:38am
Here I am, in a cavernous "space" in East London, for a conference on the Post-Bureaucratic Age - or "See-Through Government," as Guido more evocatively put it. David Cameron has kicked things off with a speech on the issue, and there'll be talks and panels throughout the day. It's like Glastonbury for policy wonks.
So how was Cameron? Well, he's normally at his snappiest and most persuasive when he talks about all this tech stuff - and today was no exception. All the usual lines about "handing power to the people," and eroding "the dull, stultifying presence of state control," made an encouraging appearance. And he outlined what this would mean in practice, with new policies on town planning, for instance. But what was more striking was how he set out the fiscal case for reform - something the Tories haven't done enough, to my mind. As Cameron put it: "We can increase our wealth and well-being without spending more money". They should shout this as loudly as possible between now and the election.
In some ways, the timing of this conference isn't ideal for Cameron. With the gap closing in the polls, and the nascent election campaign already reducing to a street fight, he probably needs more opportunities to set out the Tories' core messages to the public. All this talk of a Post-Bureaucratic Age isn't really going to win many - if any - votes. But it's gathering pace as an idea, and remains one of the Tories' most promising policy areas.
P.S. When I say "cavernous"...
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anne allan
February 22nd, 2010 11:07am Report this commentHow transparent will the Conservatives be about Ken Clark's little tete-a-tete with Barroso?
Do we actually want to win this election?
strapworld
February 22nd, 2010 11:08am Report this commentUp against the wall! Don't his people look at venue's? Could they not place on little, teenie weanie poster on that blinking wall? What on earth are his people thinking?
You have got to despair for the tories. A second class ''leader'' with a third class backroom staff obviously!
Titus Aduxas
February 22nd, 2010 11:17am Report this commentI don't want the job of lighting the candle.........
John David Barnett
February 22nd, 2010 11:22am Report this commentI spy a troll.
wonderfulforhisage
February 22nd, 2010 11:30am Report this commentPerhaps he could make a start by devolving power from GCHQ to Local Associations. I'm not holding my breath.
denis cooper
February 22nd, 2010 11:40am Report this commentIf anybody is going to kick off a "transparency agenda", it can't be a man who is so transparently dishonest.
He hasn't even got to be Prime Minister yet, but I'm already heartily sick of him.
TGF UKIP
February 22nd, 2010 11:49am Report this commentQuite so, Denis Cooper, when he becomes transparent over the zillions his City mates are going to make out of the AGW scam he so assiduously promotes, then perhaps we might start to actually believe he's serious.
John David Barnett
February 22nd, 2010 12:03pm Report this commentBlack propaganda from Labour HQ?
Verity
February 22nd, 2010 1:05pm Report this commentWhat did he say about swamping, mass immigration wrought by the socialists to destroy the civil fabric of Britain?
What did he say about his own personal social engineering by shoe-horning immigrants into constituencies and clod hopping over the local associations?
Frank P
February 22nd, 2010 5:27pm Report this commentHanding power to the people? Does he mean the people in the unelected bureaux of Brussels - or his Muslim mates who seek to start the process of merging Sharia Law into our provincial enclaves? Why the f*** is there not an Englishman in the Tory party with the charisma to lead it? We're doomed to another genetic Jock running this country which ever way it goes? Visceral hatred of the English is innate. The only reason they are in London is to subvert it.
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