Some reasons to be cheerful about Cameron and the Tories

Bloody Bill Brock

Well he bloody well needs to do something.
If we are not very careful Mandy girl will turn the bullying story into a Tory plot.

Rachael

Cameron is utterly devious and must never be trusted:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252145/David-Camerons-plan-impose-women-gays-ethnic-candidates.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252547/Revealed-David-Camerons-Obama-Army-ready-change-face-Conservative-Party.html

Ghengis

Yes for a change re Bullygate, a measured response from both Cameron and Clegg - whilst Mandelson was obviously seething and short of words.

Tiberius

I share your conclusion, Fraser, but I still think you should represent the ups and downs of the Tory party for what they are, rather than bill them as serial disasters worthy of serial nervous breakdowns.

Pie

Tories should free up radio spectrum to allow more conservative talk radio stations to pop up everywhere. Simple policy, won't scare any Lib Dems though it will keep the right happy. BBC Radio 4 needs competition from the right side of the political spectrum. Drop impartiality rules and allow honest bias.

Andy Leeds

The Tories need to keep it simple. The public have a short attention span these days, so it needs to be simple and stick in the memory. They should paint Gordon the Moron as spendthrift, unable to do anything but spend our money to no effect whatsoever. They could use the total National Debt figure going from £330+ billion to over £1000 billion under this useless government, and who spent all this dosh ? Gordon the Moron !!

alex

The next election should not be about transferring power from Labour to the Conservatives. It should be about transferring power from Whitehall to the people.

There are many Conservative policies that flesh out this proposition:

- Elected police chiefs to ensure they listen to those they are supposed to protect, not the bureaucratic Home Office.
- "Free schools" to enable greater choice in the state education sector and drive up standards, just like in Sweden or Holland.
- "Management buy-outs" to enable public sector staff to locally manage services in a more responsive way.
- A reduction in the size of the political class and cost of doing politics. There could be more if the Carswell/Hannan plans for primaries etc. are picked up

Of course, the second message is that the public finances need to be repaired. But public sector reform should be the vehicle for doing this. Businesses do more for less year after year, that should become the ethos of government. Why not financially incentivise civil servants to find savings, rather than build bureaucratic empires?

Look at places like Wandsworth and Hammersmith and Fulham that are proving labs for how such a Conservative vision might work.

There are plenty of individual Tory policies (although Labour repeatedly claim there are not), but the whole package needs to be articulated more powerfully by Cameron, Osborne, Hague, Grayling and Gove.

Rob C

Goods points Fraser, but many of the issues are too complex for the average person and where I think Cameron's team need to do better is in the simplest messages. I've said before that comparing debt repayments to say defense or education budgets should be done more - and in pictures! Many people I speak to are much less interested in politics and don't want to understand the details or big numbers. When these are illustrated in simple terms and they see just how much each delay tackling the problem costs in relation to education budget etc they are horrified. Cameron's team need to target clear, simple messages - if people want details they'll find them. Unfortunately many do still need reminding of things like the 2p tax cut that wasn't and other devious tricks of Brown's - but these need to be accompanied by a positive message. People aren't stupid and despite the cash 'invested' in public services over the last 13 years, they all know that much has been wasted and people still die unnecessarily. I've personally known three in the last 4 years that were tragically avoidable and all the new reception chairs, IT systems and managers have made no difference to the quality of care. To hear Brown target 'fairness' is the ultimate insult as this couldn't be further from the truth in the last decade and illustrates just how out-of-touch he is.

michael m

Fraser

This all comes down to the point I made- Cameron has got to show that he is the leader in waiting this country needs. He has courage, guts and tenacity. A 1940 fighting spirit is now required, together with the message that under his leadership 2 all will be well"

lawrence greek

1. Fiscal Responsibility
2. Encouraging Enterprise
3. Rolling back of the intrusive state
4. Revolutionising Education
5. Value for money and transparency in the public sector

denis cooper

"A harder economic message needs to go out."

How about:

"The Labour government is now having to borrow a quarter of all the money it spends, and only a bloody fool would think that can continue."

Or:

"The Labour government is spending four pounds for every three pounds it gets in, and borrowing the fourth pound. If you had an income of £15,000 a year, would you think that you could carry on spending £20,000 a year?"

Or:

"For nearly a year now the Labour government has been putting off the evil day when it must rein in its spending, deliberately misleading the public into thinking that the Bank of England has been printing money "to stimulate the economy" when behind the scenes almost all of that £200 billion has been handed to the government so that it could carry on spending as if there's no tomorrow."

Actually I don't know why I bother.

JONNY

I think Fraser is also saying that if Cameron wins, we get a whole new ballgame.
Some seriously impressive people at the top, and our hands on the levers of power: patronage, and Electoral timing. A chance to change attitudes.
If we fail - all Hell opens up.
A Lib/Lab PR deal. No hope of power for years ahead.
Write Finis.

Liberty

Maybe the Tories should make a list of Labour disasters such as trashing our private pensions, selling off of gold, data losses, PFI, massive debt, etc. the list must run into hundreds. Then, every time a Tory is interviewed he mentions at least one and better a number of them. That should remind the voters of what a disaster Labour has been.

Sir Graphus

Well done for name checking as many of us as possible; makes us all feel involved. 1 factor in Cameron's favour is that (Rod Liddle has written this) is that polls always underestimate the Tory vote.

Against that, as Kinnock found in 1992, 13 years of incumbency is quite a lot to overcome. The longer 1 party is in power, the more nervous voters will be of change. I think you clever journo chaps should try to assess how large this factor will be.

Dorothy Wilson

Bloody Bill: Mandy is already on to that - Radio 4 news, 1 o'clock.

denis cooper

"Some seriously impressive people at the top".

You're easily impressed, JONNY.

2trueblue

The Tories under M Howard went on immigration and got slaughtered, Then they went on the £ and the EU under Hague, same result.

What are the two main issues now?
Amazing how fickle people were when things were rosy, now we have the real results of 13yrs of Liebore government, and people are still putting everything the Tories say/do under a microscope.
Gordon is the man for micro managing and getting in every bodies face, leave it to him.

I still think that Cameron and the Tories are good for the job. I do not like his style, but I just want to be a bit more confident that my retirement is not going to be totally ruined, so it is a no brainer.

A lot of the political journalists have spent years with Liebore in the palace and need to get out more. There is this unrealistic fawning over Mandy, Balls,and the 2 wee Millies. We are in a hell of a mess and None of them saw it coming, and now we have Liebores cronies saying that we still don't need to get the roof mended!

Rob C

Denis Cooper: Yes, yes & maybe. Exactly the sort of messages we need to target.

I'm unsure about the last as it's too complex for most to understand - many don't understand how printing money devalues everything so it becomes meaningless. The term 'Quantitative Easing' was deliberately chosen because it misleads and suggests 'less pain'. In fact the only place there is any less pain is government as that's where all the money's gone! We'll all ultimately pay for it many times over. I'd quite like some QE myself, but unfortunately there would be a prison term attached if I did it! Remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch (unless you're an MP as we pick up the tab).

djw2009

Fraser, Fraser, an election video without a politician in is not a sign that Cameron gets what is going wrong. He needs to drop his left-wing ideology - all the egalitarianism, multi-culturalism, pro-gay propaganda, support for quangoism - in order to give the electorate an ALTERNATIVE.

You say many candidates use the issue of immigration on the doorsteps. In other words, they are lying to the voters about the intentions of the Conservative Party, which approves of multiculturalism and wants to keep 'em coming. The schools reform issue is a joke: Gove has said it will only affect 400-600 schools, and the rest will remain fully under central control. This policy is greatly inferior to one of expanding the number of grammar schools and allowing all schools to be selective. Fraser, I think you are grasping at straws.

As far as the Conservatives have a vision, it is the same vision as Labour: a nation cowed under the cosh of multiculturalism and 'elf'n'safety, ceding place to incomers who will constitute the majority of the population eventually, with nearly all laws coming from a bureaucracy based abroad.

Sean Haffey

Kind of ironic, given Cameron's background, that the Tories are having problems communicating their policies ...

Rhoda Klapp

Heaven forbid we should offend lib dems. Any policies designed to attract tory voters? Or must we look in somebody else's mainfesto for that?

Look, I understand the powder dry don't frighten the horses stuff. I really do. I understand trying to attract wavering cetrists. But I DO NOT understand why he cannot put up even a sop to the likes of me. Not a bloody thing does he offer me, except that he won't be Labour. It isn't enough. Does he have an idea of how many right-leaning people feel as I do? Is he so bloody sure he can take our support for granted? On what grounds?

Willie de Peepul

"Cameron is utterly devious"

I should darn' well hope so! Why has deviousness so recently become a subject for such opprobium? Every one of us is devious to a greater or lesser extent. It's necessary if one wants to get one's way in the teeth of a not wholly united opposition. Anybody who has ever held a mamagement position has, if through no other way than bitter experience, become devious or failed. It's a necessary attribute for getting the job done.

Come on, get real!

Naomi Muse

Thank you, Fraser, for showing you are reading the blogs. A good thing.

Agree that the new influx of MPs will be the biggest change for decades as so many current MPs are standing down.

However, there will be quite a lot of shocks when cabinet and shadow cabinet are simply not re-elected. Don't know who yet but, what happens if George Osborne is not re-elected? What happens if la Harperson is not re-elected? What happens if GBroon is not re-elected?

The changes are likely to disrupt governing the country more than has been prepared for, along with the fiscal shocks that await the new folks into the Treasury.

Many of the problems as far as the electorate are concerned are inter-party squabbles. Westminster looks as if it would prefer to squabble in amongst itself rather than look after and govern the country.

I'm hoping that as soon as Broon calls the election the opposition parties will step up the edge on the vision, so that it can be seen clearly.

Clear messages are not the prerogative or practice of either of the main two parties. They need to tell it how it is. -oldtimer is right that we need a pub friendly message.

Simone

2TrueBlue:
"The Tories under M Howard went on immigration and got slaughtered"

They didn't get slaughtered because they spoke about immigration; immigration has always been a top issue, even among Labour supporters and ethnic minorities. Mass immigration was/is hugely unpopular. Poll after poll shows that. But campaigning on one issue was not enough.

They got slaughtered because, like today, they were otherwise indistinguishable from socialists.
We don't want Labour Mark II.
We don't want another weak leader who tries to be all things to all people.
The Conservative party has lost its sense of direction and purpose. It doesn't offer
a real change.
This country is crying out for change.

Simone

Rhoda:
"Heaven forbid we should offend lib dems. Any policies designed to attract tory voters? Or must we look in somebody else's mainfesto for that?"

I absolutely agree with you. I feel exactly the same. Where are the policies for Conservatives?

On Question Time, Caroline Spelman was even praising the burka! Good grief, even the Shadow Cabinet is spouting socialist multicultural rubbish! Are they going to tip-toe around us all; falling over themselves to try not to offend everyone from Liberal Democrats to Fundamentalist Muslims?!

Well they may attract a few former Labour voters, but they're going to lose far, far more Conservatives.

Ex-Tory voter

@2trueblue "The Tories under M Howard went on immigration and got slaughtered, Then they went on the £ and the EU under Hague, same result. What are the two main issues now?"

That just goes to show that the Tories were out of touch (ahead of their time) then, but are still out of touch now (behind the curve this time). The electorate has changed; they've finally seen through the smoke and lies and woken up to what a disaster multiculturalism is and are distinctly peeved over the Lisbon shenanigans. Cameron, sadly, is still fighting the election before last. As Rhoda says, what message does Cameron have for me? I'm a Christian (he's forcing Muslim candidates onto the list and talking about gay "marriage"), I'm patriotic and want my country to be free to make its own laws (Cameron thinks he'll tinker with the EU from within - where's he been for the last 30 years?), I don't believe in the AGW carbon scam I'm going to have to fork out for (which is not to say I believe that climate isn't changing - it's always changed), I'm a saver with no debt on a fixed income (better not go there - my shares have already lost most of their value and inflation is eating away at my nest egg). The only positive thing from a Conservative victory would be that I won't risk being had up under the useless Hunting Act when I take the dogs down the field and they put up a fox - big deal; I rarely see any police in this rural backwater anyway! If those on the doorstep are hearing that immigration is a key issue, it's time CCHQ woke up and addressed it.

Tiberius

Rhoda: your post encapsulates the fundamental problem for the Tories.

It cannot be question of policy alone. It has to be question of arithmetic.

The Tories are more likely to win office by courting the voters in the marginals who have voted Labour for the last three times, together with LibDem voters who don't want to vote Labour, than satisfy what you call the "tory voters". If some of those choose to voice their disapproval of the recognition of the maths by voting UKIP, that's a shame. We all know politics is a dirty game, although I suspect many of us wish it wasn't.

If you want a recent list of things which I think will satisfy, you could try Bruce Anderson in the DT last Wednesday (assuming you haven't already read the piece, of course).

Rhoda Klapp

Tiberius, you are quite correct in what you say about the maths. Cameron presumably thinks he can do without me. Which he will, unless he can throw me a bone. You see, I don't want to vote for a centre-left position, with the same establishment and the same civil service and whole same philosophy of managed decline. It makes no difference to me if it is labelled Labour or Conservative or Liberal Democrat, if the label does not match the contents. If it were up to me the whole crooked lot of them would be.....rant rant rant and so on.

Frank P

Rhoda Klapp (3.08pm)

You speak for many more of us, as you well know. If Tory politics has now descended to taking your core vote for granted, insulting them and jigging the headlines to expose puerile hissy fits in No.10's kitchen cabinet as a device to discredit a government that is already in deep doo-oo on every aspect of its record, we really are buggered big time. What a bunch of tossers!

Simone

Tiberius:
"The Tories are more likely to win office by courting the voters in the marginals who have voted Labour for the last three times, together with LibDem voters who don't want to vote Labour, than satisfy what you call the "tory voters"."

What makes you think current Conservative strategy is attractive to the majority of Lib Dems and Labour voters? The problem is, the Conservative party hasn't done its research. Things like positive discrimination, immigration, multiculturalism, are unpopular across the board. You only have to dip into the Guardian/Independent message boards to discover that.

There are elements of the far left that still support these things, but they are not going to vote Conservative any time soon.

Personally, I think Boris Johnson could have done a much better job. His brand of patriotism is infectious.
In London, he is unafraid to promote what he believes to be beneficial to the city, and he cuts funding to pc events.

I could believe in him as the leader of this country.

Rhoda Klapp

And as for the idea that DC will come out as a tory once the election has been won, well..

You see, if he's so trepid that he won't even suggest frighteneing the horses with rightish policies now, how can we believe he will ever be brave enough, with all the siren voices in his ear saying 'that would be a bold move, Prime Minister' in the best Sir Humphrey way. He has shown himself only to be the master of weasel words and the mealy mouth. Hopeless. Completely bloody hopeless.

Roy Simpson

Liberty is spot on. Every Conservative spokesman must remind the electorate at every opportunity of this totally inept and corrupt government, especially with regard to the economy, and in as simple terms as possible.

wonderfulforhisage

"Cameron's general policy of empowering the many, not the few."

How about empowering the 'many' local members rather than the 'few' at GCHQ vis a vis GCHQ imposed candidate short lists.

Verity

Fraser writes: "The poll lead dropping to six points is indeed a wake-up call ..."

I'd say it's a four-alarm conflagration bell.

denis cooper

Rob C - Yes, because QE is more complex the opposition should have started to explain to the public how it was being abused when that first became clear.

Which as far as this blog was concerned was last May:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3592736/the-alarming-trends-surrounding-quantitative-easing.thtml

Frazer Nelson:

"The Bank of England today confirmed that less than 1% of the £44.5bn it has printed has gone to buy company loans – it had indicated that as much as a third of the £150bn pool would go to companies. Instead, it is a mechanism to help the government issue the £240bn of gilts it’s issuing this year. Why is this important? Because if the markets think QE is actually a way of one department of the government printing money for the other departments to spend (a la Weimar Germany), then confidence in the currency collapses. And right now, it looks very much like the Bank of England’s asset purchase programme is a device to buy state debt, masquerading as an attempt to target inflation."

TGF UKIP

And there speaks Fraser Nelson, doing his loyal duty, by expressing his faith in the Tory Leader, as any editor of the Spectator is expected to do.

Denis Cooper is bang on as usual with at least two better simple messages than anything the Mekon is likely to be able to produce.

And here's one very easy pledge which would delight most on the Right and would do much to nullify the very large leak of votes to UKIP which is going to take place. All Dave needs to say is "To ensure the British people enjoy the same legal protection from the EU as the German people, in the first session of the new parliament, legislation will be introduced to give primacy to UK law over EU or any other extraneous law."

Simples! And if any mutterings from the French or from Brussels, all Dave has to do is to threaten to call a referendum on the issue for they know exactly which way we'll vote.

Moreover, a British move in such a direction is likely to provoke a popular demand to other governments for parallel protective legislation against Brussels. Quickest way to get back to co-operating sovereign states.

Would Dave do that - about as likely as forswearing his instinctive nepotism.

stephen

I don't think Osborne is capable of mending his ways or land a ko on Brown or Darling. Is it too late for Cameron to make a change in his lead finance guy? Sadly Buller blood and shared godchildren may be too much for Dave to make a change to Hague or Clarke.

Tiberius

Simone: I didn't say the Tory strategy was attractive to the majority of Labour voters. It has to appeal to the floating voter who didn't vote Tory last time.

Equally, the Tories only need to attract enough LibDem voters in certain constituencies to achieve the required swing. It is well known that Cameron is targeting LibDem voters.

Finally, if you are right that the Tories have not done their research, then neither have Labour or the LibDems. If those policy areas you refer to were certain vote winners, wouldn't the venal Labour machine be adopting them?

On Boris; one day perhaps, but he was still the naughty boy in the corner in 2005, so it's only his fault that he missed the boat last time.

Moraymint

Fraser, thanks for this.

Just popped over to the Party's website and am printing Mr Cameron's 8 Oct 09 speech, "Putting Britain Back on Her Feet" which, I assume, is the vision thing (but see my 'PS' below)?

Will take to bed with the Horlicks and read it aloud to Mrs Moraymint ...

... she'll be looking for oldtimer's "pub friendly message" (and, no doubt, longing for a pub-like drinky, but that and other bedtime matters will have to wait ... this is serious stuff)

.... I'll be in touch.

PS The draft manifesto download on the Party's website doesn't work, hence me turning to Cameron's Oct 09 speech. This is not good communication. Small wonder people like me muse over what the Party stands for if I can't even download/read the draft manifesto.

Daniel1979

Well I would say he should grant a referendum on EU membership and see his poll ratings soar, but that is not going to happen.

So, firstly I think he should get a dedicated General Election Coordinator and free up George Osborne to concentrate on showing up Labour's dismal economic record.

Next, the whole shadow cabinet need a crash-course in rejecting the premise of the question... by which I agree that the Conservatives need to change the rhetoric and move the debate into Conservative language. They keep talking about the economy in Labour's terms.

People need to hear how and why their lives will be easier and/or better under the conservatives, and they want some positivity. If Dave thinks that he can out Dour Gordon then he needs his head examining.

Frank P

Dennis Cooper (6.09pm)

A coruscating comment, thank you for reminding us.

Toldu

Another example of the Tories not welding a sharp enough scalpel was Cameroon’s prodding of Brown over the Darling briefings. He should have asked did Brown’s underlings badmouth Darling with or without his approval. And then followed up with, if it’s the former it’s the tactics of a snide bully boy, if the latter a sign that Prime Minister Brown is incapable of controlling even his own close staff