Cameron would be advised to talk about people power
James Forsyth 7:02pm
David Cameron was speaking in odd circumstances today. He was talking to a party that was back in power after more than a decade in opposition. But unlike Tony Blair in 1997 he couldn’t devote his speech to a celebration of that both because his party did not win a majority and because of the situation the country is in. To compound this, Cameron was speaking a fortnight before the spending review; further tying his hands in terms of what he could say.
Politically, the principal argument that Cameron wanted to make was about fairness. He was trying to move fairness from being purely about redistribution to one about reciprocity, about people deserving the help that they are given. If Cameron can succeed in this argument, he’ll move the centre of gravity in British politics.
There was also yet another attempt to get the Big Society going as a theme. The thinking behind the Big Society is, I think, right. But I fear that the brand is now toxic, that it can’t make it through the filter. At an election review fringe meeting during conference, activist after activist complained that the phrase just didn’t work on the doorstep.
Cameron would be well-advised to shift to talking more about a transfer of power and less about the big society. One of the best lines in the speech was when Cameron declared, "We are the radicals now, breaking apart the old system with a massive transfer of power, from the state to citizens, politicians to people, government to society."
I suspect, though, that in terms of the next election, tomorrow will be more important than today’s speech. Shadow Cabinet results will be announced tomorrow morning (Update: They are actually out at 10pm) and Ed Miliband, if he is to avoid the charge of being a ditherer, will have to quickly decide who to appoint as his shadow Chancellor, whether or not to adopt a Ballsian approach to the deficit. It could turn out to be a defining choice.
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Verity
October 6th, 2010 7:07pm Report this commentGod, he's got a revolting mouth!
In2minds
October 6th, 2010 8:14pm Report this comment"transfer of power, from the state to citizens, politicians to people, government to society."
While at the same time power goes the other way from the UK to the EU, so what's left in the middle?
Phillip Seeley
October 6th, 2010 8:23pm Report this commentSadly,
Miliband(E) = Clegg Lite
Cameron = Blair Lite
However, leadership is about marshalling available resources. Cameron appears to be playing his hand in a quite strongly perceptive manner.
Occasional Ostrich
October 6th, 2010 8:30pm Report this comment@Verity
We-ell, perhaps he did, for the 1/100th of a second it took for that photograph.
And in this context, isn't 'revolting' a little bit subjective?
General Zod
October 6th, 2010 10:06pm Report this commentLet's hope we never have to see the bile-dripping mouth of Verity.
On a more positive note, I await with glee tomorrow's results. We will either see Balls in the job he wants, in which he will doom Labour or not in which case he will cause trouble and doom Labour.
RKing
October 6th, 2010 11:18pm Report this commentWhat he was saying at the time was
"Verity sod off"
Not sure if he was actually saying "sod" or "off" when the picture was taken.
Poor old Red-Ed just look at the bunch he's got to choose from.
Holly ......
October 7th, 2010 12:15am Report this commentSome on here do not THINK before they type.
They know who they are.
David Bouvier
October 7th, 2010 9:42am Report this commentJames - I think you are absolutely right to focus on "fairness" that pedantically Cameron is not changing its definition so much as reminding people that it has always been a much broader concept that the leftists shrivelled up version.
I think they have an active strategy in place, to first make fairness the yardstick rather than "equity", "progress", etc (more or less done - no politician is going to trump fairness as a criteria) and then expand the definition to change the terms of debate.
Jeremy Hunt with Paxman last night faltered a little but once he stopped using "their" words and used ours, he was untouchable.
Giving a non-working family more income than the average family gets, when the average family is paying for those benefits is obviously not fair.
Paxman tried to fuss about numbers of children etc, and Hunt unwisely commmented on that at the beginning (giving Radio 4 its story for this morning), but there is no answer - for every 6 child welfare family we have the 6 child modal income family.
The left will try to make the story about inequality and the "deserving" vs "undeserving" poor. We just have to to stick to our guns, and not use their language ever - because the quotes will be extracted and abused, and stick to the language of fairness.
Private Schultz
October 7th, 2010 11:16am Report this comment@ David Bouvier
Yes, very shoddy journalism from Today, I thought, passing off Hunt's grilling by Paxo as a 'statement'.
Ahmed Khan
October 7th, 2010 3:29pm Report this comment@ Verity
’’God, he’s got a revolting mouth!’’
Your above comment just about sums up your total lack of an intelligent thought!!!
Ivy Eileen
October 7th, 2010 3:46pm Report this comment@ GZ yesterday -
"Verity, on the other hand, is just a strident harpy with but one theme".
...and today - "bile-dripping mouth of Verity".
General, you are not alone in your views as the following show, being comments made as long ago as April '09 on the Spectator blog. There are other and subsequent like comments. Seems you are in good company -
"Your personal animus towards Cameron is repeatedly manifested here. But why? "
"When you refer to 'our most dangerous enemy', on behalf of whom are you speaking?"
"Can I just second the views of a couple of posters above who are becoming increasingly irritated by the persistent anti-Cameron comments made by Verity on this site.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however wrong it may be, but the constant litany of "pinko, Euroluvvie, control freak, vapid etc" comments on every post is just tiresome and unenlightening."
"Verity - I think you should go and lie down in a darkened room".
The attention-seeking seems never to stop, whatever the subjectmatter of the article posted. It's sad, really
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