Cameron is synonymous with change

THX1138

Did he really mean to say "Politics is what gets him up in the morning"? *snigger*

Zach Johnstone

A great program all round, although I don't think it did much to dispel the idea that the Conservative hierarchy is an interwoven network of friends first, political allies second. I think that message needs to be drilled home because it feeds into the aloofness that is turning people off.

Also, sorry to have to be the pedant but it's Trevor McDonald.

david1

Do they pay you for writing that sort of shit, I hated Brown's interview, I hated this one even more, made me wanna puke.

Major Plonquer

Now I understand all this 'modernising' stuff. The Tories must modernise because the worst thing that ever happened to Britain was Thatcher. She was followed by that bastard Churchill. Gordon Brown is a decent show in third place.

Thanks for making it clear.

Maria

I was going to avoid the Cameron interview out of fear of embarrassing pomposity but found both Cameron and his wife straightforward, unaffected and capable of answering a question.

Please, please can we have no more homophones, as in, "It was mostly standard fair.." . this was supposed to be "fare" I imagine.

djw2009

>>>Jonathan Freedland may argue that the change is cosmetic, but candidates, such as Shaun Bailey, selected by the Hammersmith association, say otherwise.

yes, the change is not cosmetic - people are being selected as candidates purely based on their lack of any British ancestry. That puts the Conservatives on the left of politics. As a conservative who opposes immigration and multiculturalism, how on earth could Shaun Bailey represent me? He belongs to a minority group whose interests he is likely to always put first over those of Britain, and in fact even to the detriment of Britain. Shaun Bailey is of Jamaican origin - what is his family doing in our country? Can Cameron answer that?

David Lindsay

Well, that was an hour of my life that I'll never get back. I could have been watching American Dad, or the BBC Two fly-on-the-wall about Blur on tour.

Verity

Who the hell cares about a wife's opinion of her wonderful husband?

I see that now, Eric Pickles & Co are so desperate, they're dragging in Cameron's mother for an endorsement!

How does his dog feel about him? Waggy tail or cringy tail?

Grumpy Optimist

Being a Cameron fan generally speaking and desperate that he wins the election I quite liked the prograsmme. By the way, this was the first time I have heard Samantha (like most of us) and I thought she was great. She reminded my partner of Emma Thompson – get it?

I had a thought or more like a realisation during the interview which quite sobered me up. And this is it – that how naive, innocent and gentle are the Tories compared to Labour. It’s like watching babes in arms. The Tories are playing by the rules and deep down they can do no other. Yes they are politicians and therefore they and Cameron in particular calculate what the effect might be of what they say and do - but even so, there is a line beyond which Cameron will not go.
I believe that he sees himself as presenting himself to the country honestly and that at some deeper level he expects and trusts that that will be enough. In other words, that if he is honest and straightforward, in comparison to Brown then that will be enough to overcome all the advantages and biases that Labour are exploiting without any regard to decency and fairness.

What are these Labour biases? Well the first is of course that the Tories need around 5 points more than Labour to get more seats than them. (Why is there not more outraged complaint about this?)
Then there is the opportunity provided by the corrupt postal voting system. And then the government machine - advertising, taxpayer’s funds and preferment, the resources of the Civil service and the government spin machine - finely honed over 13 years with a largely compliant media at its beck and call.

There are two other biases that provide help and sustenance to Labour and compensate for that appalling record and the profound distaste that so many in this country feel for them. One is the personality of Brown himself which I have already commented on – that though he is an awful Prime Minister he is a quite formidable campaigner. The second is the imperative that drives Brown and Labour to behave in such an immoral manner. This is the belief that because they are on the side of the underdog they are on the side of the righteous and so any means justify the end of their defeating the Tories. And if that is not sufficient motivation for them to be able to completely dismiss the inconvenient truth of their failure in office, then they can always recreate the nightmare of their 1991 defeat by John Major.

The Tories really have no choice but to behave with dignity and with the morality that Labour have forfeited. First, the Tories cannot complain too much about the cards stacked against them as this would make them sound pathetic. And second, they genuinely want power in the interests of the whole country.

Are they babes to the slaughter? Oh I do hope not.

Verity

Zach Johnstone - I'm not certain what you mean with reference to Trevor MacDonald, but he isn't the brightest light in the harbour.

I hope this contributes to your point.

I was invited to a lunch once where he was speaking and all that issued was a long stream of vacuous drivel. He couldn't even answer questions about issues he had referred to in his talk.

He had clearly become accustomed to having a free pass.

daniel maris

Oh come on, this is getting ridiculous. Elect the Tories because Cameron is a human and Brown is a - what? - Vulcan?? Last time I looked Brown also was human.

Does Samantha really call him Dave? She must have said Dave about 20 times in that interview she gave. It's all presentation b*ll*cks - whether she does or not!

What I want to know is whether Cameron -

1. Wants to take us out of the EU superstate project. Answer - no.

2. Will be able to end mass immigration. Answer - no, because he wants to stay in the EU. He will have no control over our borders.

3. Wants direct democracy, on something like the Swiss model. Answer - no, you must be off your noodle! The Tories supporting direct democracy???

4. Opposes Shariah. Answer - he has never given the slightest indication that he sees the religion that promotes Shariah law as superior to Westminster law is a problem. He appears to have engineered a situatino in the East End where Tory candidates are being selected by the local Mosque.

5. Wants an end to political correctness and a return to free speech. Answer - no evidence of that whatsoever. In fact all women shortlists are a prime example of political correctness. It appears that he considers his party members are sexist reactionaries who cannot be trusted to select the best candidate.

And that's why I'll be voting UKIP. It won't be a wasted vote at all. The modern Conservative Party is a mass of unresolvable contradictions, not least the fact that they've ended up with a load of Old Etonians in charge when they claim to be modernising! The Party really has to die at the polls before things can get better.

UKIP - or at least their leader - deserve high credit for showing Wilders' film Fitna. It was a marvellous display of courageous solidarity with a fellow democrat under death sentence from the followers of Islamic totalitarianism. Let no one be under any illusion - to act as Lord Pearson did is to make yourself a target. But he understands that the way to defeat the totalitarians is to create a multiplicity of targets, so that it is not just the few who are threatened.

Would David Cameron even understand what that discourse is all about? I really doubt he does. I think he is an Old Etonian who simply thinks he deserves to be in power because he has a certain fluency of expression.

Kevyn Bodman

Samantha Cameron is not essential.

If she were kidnapped by aliens tomorrow it would be a tragedy for her and her family but it would not be the death of the Conservarive Party.

She is helpful,she adds useful appeal, but she is not essential.

You earn your living with words.
Try to use them with more precision.

Nash

We saw Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and David Cameron in lengthy interviews today.

Who would I rather have represent my country on the world stage? David Cameron by a mile.

Nick Clegg still comes over as a humorousless boy but certainly both Cameron and Clegg come across far better than Gordon Brown - who just does not come across as a "leader".

TomTom

but Cameron convinces as being honest

Your credibility is also suspect. This was an awful programme, a souffle. It depicted the Return of The Cliveden Set and made the Conservatives repulsive

Frank O'Connell

Remember the morning after the interview-Brown/Morgan.Plastered all over the BBC.
The interview Cameron/McDonald.
Absent from BBC latest headlines.

Nicholas

"Conservative hierarchy is an interwoven network of friends first, political allies second."

So what is Labour hierarchy?

Boudicca

Gordon was sent on the Tears for Piers show to try and pursuade people he is human. He failed; he came over as a reprogrammed android.

Cameron IS human.

EC

"Cameron is synonymous with change"

Short change!

stephen

A good TV weekend for the Tories. Ken Clarke did well on Andy Marr. He has the advantage of having sorted out a Labour mess before and seemed clear and confident also Andy did not interrupt/bully him much possibly because he is a "big beast" not a"boy".
Dave's interview with Trevor different tone but on the whole positive the use of SamCam not as cringeworthy as I expected and she did not come over as a Sloane and should connect with lots of working mums.

AndyinBrum

Thx~ I sniggered too if that's any comfort?

quiet integrity

Daniel Maris sums up the predicament of myself and many other life-long Conservative voters, which are abandoning the party because it is now left-of-centre. All of the issues he lists, plus the grammar school 'hot-potato' will drive previously loyal voters to vote UKIP. I'm not convinced that the polls are accurate but I do think the Conservatives will lose the election badly. The party as we known it will disintegrate: those to the right will join UKIP, which will become the main opposition party.
It is now more important than ever to withdraw from the EU and start looking after our national interest.

Ken

"It was mostly standard fair for a political interview" !
Possibly.

But more probably:
It was mostly standard fare..."
and that's before breakfast.

EC

@THX

Camerons' valet gets him up in the morning.

If Dave had let Jeeves organise the election campaign he wouldn't now be in such a Pickle!

echo34

can we have a few posts with lists of policy questions for the labour party.

Just in the interest of balance you know?

Moreover can someone give an example of a labour policy?

JONNY

Didn't the laddie do well.

Rhoda Klapp

Another post which serves only to allow a frame upon which we commenters may hang our same opinions again. Cameroons such as Trevorsden, nose-holders (Nicholas?), beef-seekers like me and blue water tories most of whom seem to be leaning UKIP or BNP.

We are no wiser than we were a year ago, and this story, and the interview which prompted it, get us no further.

It's a waste of time, and this entire coffee-house has become moribund, entrenched as it is in fixed positions.

Dear Speccie bloggers, please post something new, or challenging, or original, or any damn thing that isn't just same-old same-old. You must get as bored writing this garbage as I do reading it. Oh, and stop deriving your blogs from things some other dumbarse journo has written in some other blog or column. It's incestuous, and just about as much fun for the outsider.

Moriarty

David Lindsay: "That was an hour of my life that I'll never get back".

I can think of one way you can reclaim it: restrict your vapid posts to one blog so that the rest of us don't have to repeat read the juvenile and predictable nonsense that spreads from your left lobe into your keyboard.

You really are a dullard.

The Man

@damiel maris, quiet integrity et al

Vote UKIP, get Labour, with economic policy set by the IMF (via a hung parliament.)

@djw2009

Oh dear....you clearly belong in the BNP.

JONNY

Rhoda Klapp is right.
Since none of us have anything new to say, we should all obey a Benedictine Rule of Silence.
(Herself included of course).

THX1138

David Cameron on Trevor McDonald's show last night only got 1.7 million viewers while Gordon Brown on Piers Morgen got 3.9 million viewers .. I wonder if that's important or was there just something better on the other side?

John Lea

At one point, Cameron pointed out that his party was 'diverse' (as if that is synonomous with 'good') by referring to the fact that that expenses-fiddling, waste-of-space, Eric Pickles, was Chairman of the party. That's nothing to be proud of, Dave!

Rhoda Klapp

Jonny, my new thing, if new it is, would be to say all this stuff is tedious. Now, I can put up with silly, do I not post on poor Mr Bright's blog? I can put up with just plain wrong, for I frequently engage with Mr Korski.

But tedious and boring? Champagne for the brain it is not, and I do not want to find it here, post after post, day after day. And yes, I know what to do about it. But I thought I'd try to complain first. One should always complain and then judge the organisation by the response to your complaint.

JONNY

Thanks Rosa Klapp
I'll certainly raise a glass of Pol Roger to that.

Tim Carpenter LPUK

"Cameron is synonymous with change"

And?

The H-Bomb that landed on Hiroshima was "synonymous with change". You still appear to agree with this useless, meaningless term "change", David (and David)

I want "improvement", I want the Government off our backs!

radgie gadgie

Cameron's synonymous with change? Must be spare change then because thats the about the size and range of choice on offer between him and Brown.

Seeing as both of them are using their wives as a way of getting the PM job, is there any chance of a manifesto commitment allowing dole sc*m like myself to use the Mrs in the same way?

General Zod

djw2009 said "Shaun Bailey is of Jamaican origin - what is his family doing in our country?"

Kindly confine yourself to sites where your odious, racist views are appreciated.

daniel maris

I wouldn't call myself a "blue water Tory". I think of myself as a progressive democrat or a populist if you prefer. I've only very recently come to the view that a vote for UKIP makes sense. The Wilders film was one reason. An act of solidarity in a nation that seems otherwise to have raised the white flag. I think a vote for UKIP is essential for all democrats who value free speech and who want to see their country progress rather than become some regional outpost of the EU or head towards a 100 million population composed in large part of disaffected malcontents. I am sure many non-Tory democrats supported Churchill for similar reasons.

Voltaire

Daniel Maris - Well said, that man!

General Zod - Who appointed you gate keeper at The Speccie and why didn't we read about it?

Freedom of speech means freedom of speech, not just freedom of speech that a fantasist going by the name of General Zod approves of.

Your comment is all part of the noose of political correctness (thought fascism) that is destroying the ability of people to speak freely if they don't want to be called names by General Zod and the Zodettes. If I said I wouldn't like to see a black man in a kilt, would that be racism? Yes, probably it could be so construed by the thought fascists.

Here's another one: David Cameron is packing short lists with immigrants. Why does he think the British need - or will tolerate - immigrants to represent the indigenes in their own Parliament?

Political correctness is stifling and suffocating. For centuries, or probably thousands of years, people living on these isles have been able to speak freely and accept the consequences. In addition, people are pretty good at censoring themselves and don't need David Cameron or the Marxists/Gramscis to manufacture speech rules for them.

General Zod

So it is politically correct to object to the statement that a person of Jamaican origin does not belong here?

Well, well.

Voltaire

General Zod - Can you read? Such a statement might earn the speaker a pop on the nose or the general opprobrium of those who overheard it. The speaker would have to accept the consequences of making an insulting statement. But there should not be speech laws. People should be free to say what they like - as they have been for thousands of years in these isles - and they should also be prepared to take the consequences of their own impetuousness. But freedom of expression must be sacrosanct.

General Zod

Who said there should be speech laws? I didn't.

natasha

Voltaire - surely the key point here is that an individual who contributes to Coffeehouse thinks it is reasonable to espouse the view that an individual born in Britain, of Jamaican parentage, is not as "British" as someone whose parents were born in Britain and is, moreover, not capable of representing the interests of "truly" British people. You may pontificate as you like about freedom of speech, but most people with some education and understanding of history would I think regard such a view as racist.

TomTom

an individual who contributes to Coffeehouse thinks it is reasonable to espouse the view that an individual born in Britain, of Jamaican parentage, is not as "British" as someone whose parents were born in Britain and is, moreover, not capable of representing the interests of "truly" British people.

"Shaun Bailey is of Jamaican origin - what is his family doing in our country ?"

Natasha draws inferences that are not implicit in the statement by djw2009 and has set up her own Aunt Sally.

It is a fair question and one that can be asked in a free society, and deserves a proper answer not a gag from some censor.

If Shaun Bailey is not up to answering such a question, he would do well to stay out of political life. In the days before TV Soap Opera Politics, hecklers would have asked much more searching questions of candidates than those posed by patsies like Trevor McDonald

Paddy

What has happened to Richard?

Has he given up trying to "flog" Lord Ashcroft!

daniel maris

The Man says:

"Vote UKIP, get Labour, with economic policy set by the IMF (via a hung parliament.)"

Get Labour begs the question of what will be so different under the Tories. I can understand how someone on over £100,000 pa might be concerned about the prospect of a Labour victory but for the rest it's a toss up really. You might not get so much income tax with the Tories but you'll probably be asked to pay for a lot more yourself.

Whether it's Labour or Tory you'll still be in the EU and the drift towards political correctness.

As for djw, he's entitled to view. I don't know whether it's prompted by a racist ideology or not, but it isn't defensible.

Being British, as a cultural phenomenon, has got to mean someone in sympathy with British culture. Many people from the Caribbean are - they are mostly Protestant, they like football, cricket, they drink and bet, have no objection to dogs, they like popular music and dancing, their women are not downtrodden chattels and a large proportion is in employment. Many of their forebears shared in British history, including serving in the armed forces in defence of the Empire.

They are more British to me than white Muslims.

Richard

@Paddy
Still here mate.....just nothing worth posting on. Its been a poor few days on Coffee House sad to say.