A new approach to party management
James Forsyth 6:00pm
The newly-elected 1922 Executive is another demonstration of the strength of the right
wing of the Conservative party. Paul Goodman notes that of the seven MPs elected to the executive who were are not new to Parliament, six are on the
right. The only one who isn’t is Nick Soames, who is a special case. As one member of the ’22 executive said to me earlier today, Soames, because of his immense popularity and standing
in the party, transcends his factional labelling. Of the five new MPs elected to the exec, three — Robert Halfon, Charlie Elphicke and Priti Patel — are definitely on the right of the
party.
On the Today Programme this morning, Cameron signalled a welcome shift in his approach to party management. He acknowledged that it needed to be handled differently now that the party was in coalition. The Prime Minister should follow through on this approach. Anyone who suggests denigrating or ignoring the ’22 should be sent away with a flea in their ear as such a strategy would only succeed in escalating the leadership’s party management problems.
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JohnRS
May 27th, 2010 7:01pm Report this commentAs a result of the 1922 elections I believe there are now three partners in the coalition; LibDems, Cameroons and (now) the 1922 group. Cameron will have to pay much more attention to his own party and not assume he can take their support for granted.
Vulture
May 27th, 2010 7:05pm Report this commentThe Tory party in Parliament - and in the country - must find where their balls have been left, re-attach them, and reclaim Conservatism from Dave's little clique.
The results of these elections show that the party is by no means happy with the concessions made to the Liberal tail that is wagging Dave's dog.
Steve Hilton, Francis Maude and Oliver Leftwing should be removed and replaced
with real Conservatives. Dave is only where he is thanx to the party that put him there - he is a PM on probation.
GDS
May 27th, 2010 7:18pm Report this commentAre you saying these wuckfits are unhappy to be in government? Christ if that's the intellectual horizon of the Tory right then Cameron is truly safe. Has it not occurred to these chaps yet that the country (admittedly by default) voted for VERY centrist policies, not those of the rabid right or loony left? Doh! Go find some neurones chaps!
I'm a Tory, my membership card sits proudly in my wallet yet I'm of the mind that this coalition EXACTLY reflects the sort of Tory I am. The right can whinge (or go to UKIP in a futile gesture) but the fact remains we now have a good, sound, able right of centre government with a radical agenda. What are these dissenting morons sniffing?
Sean Haffey
May 27th, 2010 7:24pm Report this commentWHo are the other members of the committee? Is this information published anywhere?
Snowman
May 27th, 2010 7:24pm Report this commentJames, you and the other bloggers are overdoing the significance of the 22 Com. The ‘right wingers’ will shout and flex the muscle, but fall in line when it comes to a crunch. Do they want another election? Methink not.
And another thing: what’s so right wing about them, ha? Would you care to enlighten us?
TGF UKIP
May 27th, 2010 8:18pm Report this commentBang on Vulture, and when Dave's One Nation lefty mates go on about loyalty, they should be reminded of their continual sabotaging of Hague, IDS and Howard and especially at Election times in 2001 and 2005.
I look forward to the parliamentary party imprisoning Dave, via threat of continual humiliation, until they get the chance to dump him.
Simon Stephenson
May 27th, 2010 8:43pm Report this commentGDS : 7.18pm
"The right can whinge (or go to UKIP in a futile gesture) but the fact remains we now have a good, sound, able right of centre government with a radical agenda. What are these dissenting morons sniffing?"
I'm not one of them, but I'd say that they're probably sniffing, like me, that the intolerant centre is probably composed largely of people like you, who seem to believe that their own opinions are the only ones a competent mind could possibly have, and that therefore anyone who thinks differently must have a screw loose.
I appreciate that this is the depth to which social and intellectual engagement has sunk, but normality doesn't make it any less damaging to our future.
Mycroft
May 27th, 2010 9:03pm Report this commentOh yes, dump Dave and head back into the wilderness just when he's making the party electable again; and who exactly would replace him?
AnnaK
May 27th, 2010 10:19pm Report this commentIf the 22 is so important why was it ignored by both Davis and Redwood who went to the media with their concerns?
DavidDP
May 27th, 2010 10:59pm Report this comment"One Nation lefty"
Well now, that's interesting. It pretty much disqualifies almost every Tory PM from being a Tory, including Disraeli, Churchill and MacMillan.
JONNY
May 28th, 2010 10:50am Report this commentDoes anyone seriously care about the 1922 Committee?
Well do they?
Private Schultz
May 28th, 2010 11:19am Report this comment@ Simon
"... who seem to believe that their own opinions are the only ones a competent mind could possibly have, and that therefore anyone who thinks differently must have a screw loose."
Hmm, that seems to apply to posters like Vulture and TGF just as much as it does to GDS.
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