A Coffee House challenge: how can Cameron improve?

David C

Say what he means.
Mean what he says.

Ray

Be a Tory.

Aidan

I'd like him to clarify his position on Europe. It's the elephant in the room that everyone is politely ignoring. I want him to say at the very least that we will not accept the illegal implementation of the Lisbon treaty that is currently underway.

Richard Holloway

There is only one way Cameron can improve once he is MP and that is by being straight with people. Okay politics is a slippery game with twists, turns and unforseeable problems only just on the horizon. Be honest with people. They will forgive mistakes, they won't forgive lies and insincere apologies or the 'we're always right' mentality.

Michael Hargrave

There is not too much wrong with "shallow", if that means not compulsive micromanipulation of everything. The thing about Tory administration is that leaders, lead and the administration, administers. It has always been thus. Just look at London. Dave will have great administrators behind him all the way, and I am quite sure that at this moment there are captains of industry etc etc, beavering away with sound administrative strategies to apply, once in Government. Gordon's problem, unlike TB's is that he wanted to be both sumultaneously - leader and administrator. Whilst my conservative colours are now firmly nailed to the mast, I believe Dave will do a great job of leader and devolve administration to the people he trusts. In addition he will re-introduce a competant civil service which may be more neutral, and leave the micromanagement to the professionals.

NorthernJohn

It's all about his demeanour. He needs to do more about reflecting the great sense of injustice felt in this country. He sometimes appears too, well, satisfied. I'd like to see him get angry about what this government has done to our country, albeit with the best of intentions.

Richard Nabavi

Cameron should continue exactly what he has been doing since he became party leader. He has not put a foot wrong, and the poll ratings - particularly the fact that "a third of those polled said that their opinion of the Conservative leader has improved over the past year" - show this. Don't forget from what a low point he and the party started.

The 'shallow salesman' jibe is ludicrous. To the contrary, it is quite clear that he has thought long and hard about how the party should change, and the direction in which he would like to take the country. He is realistic about what is politically possible, the policy reviews he instigated have been thoughtful and well-conducted, and serious policy announcements - for example on education - have followed. More are to come.

Some people still underestimate Cameron. They are foolish. Not only is he a spectacularly good media and debating performer, he is also extremely bright and professional. His combination of charm and ruthlessness is ideal for a politician.

So, if you read this DC: Just keep up the good work!

(PS I don't think this post will win me a bottle of champagne. Never mind..)

Alan Phillips

Start a sentence with the Conservities would do.... or start by saying that had Labour had taken our advice....then spell out the difference to the debate.

The public recognise change is needed, DC needs to show his hand. Let Labour nick the idea, people will see where the idea came from...

John de Finchley

Go easy on Brown. He's the party's second-greatest asset and doing a great job for Britain by ensuring that Labour will never be elected again.

Tiberius

Don't listen to Simon Heffer, Janet Daley, or TGF UKIP!

There are other policy areas where a Glasgow East (on welfare) type speech would be very welcome. But I recognize we are not yet (even now) guaranteed a home run because of the ever-present prospect of "events" - two more years are a lot of weeks.

So my suggestion at this stage is to try to control colleagues more closely. Not always easy perhaps, but Letwin, DD, Willetts and Grieve are just sometimes a little worrying.

M

Better discipline is needed in the parliamentary party. In the past year, Cameron has lost four MPs: one defection to Labour, one to UKIP, one withdrawal of the whip, and one eviction from the party. This harks back to the poor discipline of the Major days, and bodes ill for a Cameron government.

Charles

Moustache?

Elizabeth

Cameron should just step down and allow David Davis to take over.
Cameron is a lib dem pretending to be a Tory and should he win the next election - rather take the kudos for Labour losing the next election - he is going to destroy and split the Tories in a pretty short time.
When in power with his little cabal of neo/liberals posing as Tories, this self confessed 'heir to Blair' will disappoint every true Tory and sell out all they believe in, having been conned into believing he does to.
The man is a fraud. Like Major he has greased his way up the political pole through suavity and glibness and like Major he will betray real Toryism the minute the power is in his hands.
You watch.

Bexleyite

Be hard core on Europe and taxes. Give the people their money back.

Ted Tedford

So your question is really "How can he appear less light-weight? And more in touch with ordinary people? But continue to appear 'caring' and 'likeable'?"

I'm not sure this circle can be squared. The fact that it is located so *entirely* in the personality of Mr Cameron, rather than recognising that British voters can vote for a party, not a figurehead, is part of the problem. And it's a real problem when the gilt comes off the gingerbread, as Labour are finding now everyone has seen through Brown.

And only Dave-o himself can answer the fundamental question: Does he want to be liked, or respected? If the former - great, carry on normal jogging. If the latter - well...

While it's probably too late to re-brand himself now, he could help re-brand the party by letting his shadow cabinet establish themselves as the heavyweights, so he doesn't have to.

Unfortunately, he's hindered by most British political reporting. As long as the news media obsess on individuals and run stories on politicians' 'lifestyles', and as long as politicians feel they must feed that appetite, I'm afraid we're stuck with potential leaders who risk looking like lightweights in order to appear 'likeable'. E.g. the Webcameron - it might sound terribly bleeding-edge and innovative at a Central Office brain-stormer, but it's just a carefully-controlled snapshot of family life. And frankly I don't care what Mr Cameron's kitchen looks like. (Or where he buys his clothes - I doubt his holiday trousseau from Boden endears him to the masses.)

I don't flatter myself that I have any who 'the ordinary man' is, or what he's thinking. But, as your Shadow Cabinet Rich List illustrates, it looks like it's increasingly difficult to reach any position in politics from which you can mount a leadership campaign without earning or acquiring a personal fortune that will always create a perception of distance between you and your electorate. Guido points out elsewhere that no one believes that Brown 'feels our pain' as long as he's getting free lightbulbs and a TV licence from the taxpayer.

I suppose my guess would be: stop triangulating to chase hypothetical marketing models of 'the British voter', do what you think is right, and let people deliver their verdict.

Fergus Pickering

I second what Tberius says about Heffer, Daley and the UKIP Terror. But I don't think we need to tell our Dave. As for being out of touch with ordinary people, that means he is educated and rich. I suppose he could give his money away but he can't become democratically stupid (like Alan Johnson say) overnight, or even perhaps at all. Besides, who says our Prime Minister needs to be in touch with ordinary people> he needs to be himself. It worked for Margaret Thatcher. And Blair, come to that. He really IS the lying conniving bastard he appears to be.

Elizabeth Elliot-Pyle

I would like to know exactly what his position is on the EU and what he would do about the Lisbon Treaty. If this treaty comes into law it is going to change all sorts of things, not for the better. Could David Cameron please be straight with us on this.
I agree with all the other posters who say Honesty and straight talking would be a very nice change after the last 11 years.

Roy

Well! Obama's looking good after his world tour!
Also . . . just mention in passing that Britain has gone far enough in its intake of foreign nationals.

Newmania

Tricky one for me in that he articulates evrything I like about the Conservative Party which I can sum up in the word "balance ".
I feel he is slightly left of where he should be now and the influence of Oliver Letwin may be a little strong. This is more to do with things that have gone on around him that any failing but this is the sort of approach
Small adjustments to the tiller made in good time . Thats how you go smoothly through the water. I would soften up the no tax cuts rhetoric and have a re think on the NHS where unnecessarry undertakings have been given. What he must avoid is getting stiff ahnded as he appraoches the finishing line .

Keep the flexibility , avoid a bunker emerging and just adjust rightwards here and there as it becomes judicious .

Robert Gordon

It is the lack of policies that at least partly fuels the view of Cameron as shallow. As we move ever closer to an election, the policies will flow and the perception will recede.

David Parker

Stop ducking the issue of our EU relationship.
I appreciate that Cameron believes (rightly) that this is not a top priority for the majority of voters, but this is because of a tacit agreement by the leaders of all three main parties to play down the importance and real implications of this issue, sometimes to the point of deliberate deception.

It is high time that Cameron did start to 'bang on' about Europe, emphasing how much it affects and constrains almost every aspect of any British Government's policy making.

As a com[petent communicator, Cameron should easily be able to demonstrate the direct affects of EU policies upon all those other matters, such as immigration, transport,crime control, energy supply and the economy,(not forgetting proposed EU influence upon health and education) which are high upon voter's priorities.

With the Conservative's current strength in the polls Cameron can afford to be bold and decisive in his policy towards our EU relationship, secure in the knowledge that this is one policy which will be popular with the public and which will not be stolen from him by either of the other parties.

Frank Pulley

Strip government down to its bare bones and tailor foreign policy to suit Britain's interests. Reclaim our sovereign laws and exorcise the Ghost of Gramci which is still on the long march through the insitutions. Organise our borders to repel those who are inimical to our culture and regulate trhe numbers of those who want to take advantage of our freedoms; make them join our club rules rather than attempting to impose theirs.

Raise the physical and experience criteria for recruitment to the police rather than garnering those with a predomination of academic credentials (?) and slow down promotion. Repeal all the leftist laws that have been introduced since this lot came to power (and a few that the last lot enacted). Then get on with the job of reclaiming the streets from feral mobs and 'useful idiots'. Not much to ask from a British Prime Minister.

Oh - one lat thing - stop posing for travel ads with your missus (see above). She is lovely but you seem to be competing with her calf muscles, Yours would make good veal escalopes, though they might be a bit chewy after all that biking (and walking to find your bike when it gets nicked by the pond life of Shocking Hill).

ThingsCanOnlyGetBitter

I wish he would make a break with the New Lab lingo and say, for instance, "gay people" instead of "gay community" - same for "black community" etc. All this tip-toeing around just patronises people.

The New Lab approach to national identity has been highly divisive by encouraging each immigrant to practise solely their own language/culture - which is their right in a free society - but there also has to a national identity to which everyone has to subscribe and through which everyone is united. To not be united as a nation through common values and a common language is to divide and alienate communities. We are now seeing the results of Labour's dangerous social democratic experiments.

We need a return to common sense government (why do the under 5s need targets and guidelines for playtime for God's sake?).

Above all, Cameron needs to be bold, ruthless even, in order to heal Britain.

Edward Rivers

Make sure that when he is PM he does not repeat the mistake of Blair and waste a first term majority.

Teledu

Apologise and admit when he is wrong, something today's politicians (well, NuLabour anyway) seem incapable of doing. Humility, even amongst giants, earns respect.

Chris

I think surely this is but the fruits of his continued obstinate refusal - once understandable - to talk convincingly about wishing to cut taxes, slash waste, and get money back into our pockets.

He even spoke of raising taxes to solve the downturn! (Where every other nation seems to be cutting taxes to do so).

Gordon Brown keeps saying he feels our pain. We all know he doesn't. His actions bear that out. We all keep *hoping* that David Cameron *does* feel our pain; his lack of action (not being in power) provides us with that space to do so; but all his promises, or lack thereof, about taxes give profound cause for doubt.

I am not saying he should leap into tax slaying mode as he was been repeatedly told to from the beginning. I appreciate the hard lessons learned from the past about the success of such a strategy. But he must at least seriously acknowledge a sea-change in public attitudes about money; and a bit of grousing about taxes, some demonstration of serious ambition to judiciously and impressively cut them, is seriously needed on his part!

He needs to be making the news, regularly, on such topics. The British summer holiday - and then Christmas - will be a wake up call to all of us over just how ludicrously we are being financially filleted by Brown.

IanC

He should appoint someone who will remind him constantky that he needs to keep his ego out of it and that " there is no personal glory in publcic service".

That same person should also be employed to remind the Tory Party of the same and to have the power to remove anyone who does not accept it.

Matthew Sinclair

I think the only way to appear serious is to address serious questions. Doing so is risky but probably a good risk given that the 'likeability' game is going so well.

In some areas the Conservatives are already addressing these sorts of questions - education, welfare, the family and prisons. In other areas there is little sign of a robust facing up to the toughest challenges.

A particular example I would cite is energy policy. Britain faces a severe capacity crunch and, with over reliance on imported gas, this is likely to translate into shortages during the first term of a Conservative government.

Addressing this question now, while the blame for the current problems will fall on the Government, would be wiser than leaving it till later. Unfortunately, the Conservatives seem to have little to offer beyond the gas + renewables fairy tale that has got us into this mess in the first place.

I can think of other areas where the Conservatives could prove their seriousness. Keeping people in work longer to help address demographic concerns, reforming regional policy or even immigration (which is still the number one concern for ordinary people).

Matthew Sinclair

One other thing I'd add is, don't bash the Government, in parliament, for obvious u-turns.

The media will point out most u-turns with glee. They only need to be alerted if it isn't obvious.

The problem with pointing out u-turns is that it gives the impression you care more about the parliamentary game than the final outcome. People wanted an end to 10p and they want an end to VED. Bashing the u-turn sounds petty and obsessed with process and will put people off.

Instead, say "we welcome this new move and think it is tragic people have had to face the uncertainty, wait so long... etc. etc.

Alex

Keep up the good work and continue along the same path.

I think he's done bloody well so far, especially in detoxifying the Tory brand.

Maybe start moving into the 'second phase' - why people should vote Tory (not why people shouldn't vote Labour)?

He's not going to please everyone though; especially some quarters of the political media (eg., BBC et al.), who are trying their hardest to brand him as shallow.

Edward Rivers - "Make sure that when he is PM he does not repeat the mistake of Blair and waste a first term majority.". First term or Three term?

dilys

Fergus said, "Besides, who says our Prime Minister needs to be in touch with ordinary people> he needs to be himself. It worked for Margaret Thatcher."

As I remember, it worked for Margaret Thatcher because she was in touch with what people wanted. She was middle class and did a lot to make the country middle class.
I have lived under Tory governments led by the likes of Cameron and will not vote for that leadership again. Margaret Thatcher made the Tories more acceptable because many of us could see the chance of moving up the social ladder. very few can aspire to DC's social status.
None of that is to say that I will vote for Nu Labour.

Augustus

Conservatives need to stand up for the independence of the individual and minimize the power of government in peoples lives. Cameron should always be seen to be looking for ways to remove his party from big centralized government and only be seen to intervene in peoples lives reluctantly.

wiredsteve

Why doesn't he think completely differently about how we're governed and look at a federal solution for the UK - addressing concerns about local government at the same time as considering how that might impact on the devolved administrations?

Tom

I think he should continue to promote the theme of returning power to the people and rebuilding civil society. So for example on education, he should argue for individual responsibility to be handed to schools and their headmasters. on health, argue for power to be devolved from the centre back to individaul hospitals and doctors. On welfare, continue with the agenda that people should not be allowed to wallow in benefits for life. On police, remove as much central planning as possible and encourage a spirit of localism to be the police's watchword. These are all policies that are inherently conservative, will have mass appeal, are genuinely different to the tinking of the last 11 years and will be very difficult for Gordon Brown to attack or steal.

Verity

I think Dave has misjudged ordinary people because he's never engaged with any. No one cares that he cycles to work. No one cares about the environment to the extent that a photo of a prat in a parka standing on an ice floe in Norway would impel them to think, "Gosh, this is much more important than the civil breakdown of our society, immigration of people incompatible with British traditions of liberty, slicing the welfare sector by 50% and letting the revenue contributors keep more of the money they have earned; following every inerfering, crass, bossy-boots directive coming out of Brussels, the plague of underage pregnancies, a quarter of a million abortions annually, the power accorded the thought police, the breakdown of the NHS, the abdication of the police of their reponsibilities ... in other words, he tackled a trivial issue that no one in their right mind gives a monkey's about and has never addressed the burning issues that affect people's lives.

All this is under the guise of "keeping his powder dry". Well, millions of voters are also intending to keep their powder dry, by voting for someone else. If he won't address the issues, others will, and the voters will go where candidates talk to them about their concerns, not the concerns of the dinner party set in Notting Hill.

Vie

Appeal more to aspirational voters and not high clas and rich people.

Verity

Vie Yes. Most ordinary people want to keep more of their own money to better themselves and give their children a better chance in life. Instead, they're watching the money they've gone out and earned being drizzled away on people who have no interest in aspiring to a better life and are content to wallow in welfare forever.

Aspirational people who want to better themselves and their families are left high and dry in today's Britain. The Tories are completely ignoring them, the backbone of our nation.

Oi! Where's our Wall??

Verity

Melanie has an excellent piece in The Mail addressing this issue, in which she refers to the implosion of the "New Labour" project and the lack of anything to replace it. She closes with this: "It is a vacuum which spells danger, not just for the beleaguered Mr Brown but for us all."

Quite. And Dave has nothing to offer to fill it. He is driven by no detectable burning mission.

Canon Alberic

I sort of agree with Verity, although I think he has deliberately and succesfully broadened his appeal to the vast herds of the organised hypocrisy supporting 1997 nulab middle middle classes, so they can vote against their "tribal loyalty" to Labour without thinking they're admitting to a sneaking admiration for Lord Tebbit!

I assume someone does this but they need to get on the Thatcher Foundation website and study the picture that emmerges of her extremely subtle manipulation of the then existing political landscape so that her obvious convictions were rather flexibly disguised behind a reasonable appeal to the undogmatic generality of the British electorate who knew that things were very wrong, but frightened of voting for what then was even more obviously right wing, economically arcane, and risky (not to mention female) change.

Finally, he needs to say some of the harsher less polictally correct things with which educated, enlightened but not necessarily Tory people are secretly very concerned.

I nominate two such tricky subjects that might strike a chord: (1) the shocking editorial and cultural deterioration of the BBC and (2) the fact that we must confront Islam which is not just a private religious observance, privliged by the ethnicity of its adherents; but also alas a threat to our way of life

Peter Buss

The vast majority of posts seem to centre on what Cameron could do to improve his standing with convinced right of centre voters. I think that is to miss the point - its like asking Cameron to engage with the converted. His very great success has been to appeal to voters beyond the narrow Tory base.To veer off now would be disaster - this poll also shows its Cameron people reckon is OK but us Tories are still regarded as the "Nasty Party".

A year ago on every indicator Brown was regarded as a stronger better leader thean Cameron.In 12 months Cameron has reversed that and its now him who is perceived as the best Leader. Suggest this means that Cameron should carry on as before !!

My two main tips would be for goodness sake do NOT bang on about Europe.
My other main tip would be to raise your game considerably on the economy - not by writing budgets but by setting out a few basic principles which the public can get hold of in uderstanding how you would deal with the economy in power.At the moment my one criticism is that too often the tone of opposition on the economy sounds opportunistic rather than that of a Govt in waiting.Hence the "shallow salesman" jibes.
Lastly please do not take on Board the Heffer headbanging drivel.

Mark Nash

Straightforward. Look to the merits of Gladstonian Liberalism: minimal state intervention in the lives of ordinary people; low public sector expenditure; low taxation (reduce it year on year); balanced budgets. Focus hard on these objectives; strip out government waste and sack politicians and bureaucrats that build empires. Make national defence and security a key priority. Secure the UK's supply of energy. Consistently assume that the man on the street always knows how to run his life, finances and personal affairs better than the state. Deride socialism. Celebrate wealth creation. Celebrate youth. Have fun. Enjoy running this great country of ours.

Phil Mann

Personally I'd like to see more firm policy statements and commitments.

Granted he may be worried that an ailing Brown will latch on to them in a (hopefully) vain attempt to rescue his party, but I think that he must reassure the voters that he and the Tories have solid ideas.

He needs to convince the country that these ideas will dig us out of the labour-invoked mire that we're currently in.

Dave Wooding

He could start by keeping the few promises he has made (to leave the EPP in "weeks not months") and stop making worthless ones ("You can have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if it's not already enacted or if it's not already dead and forgotten").

Verity

Dave Wooding - agreed.

What happened to the EPP "promise"? Could we have an explanation, given that some people may have voted for him on the strength of it? He has never had the respect for the electorate to tell us why he chilled on this promise. We're only voters, after all. Two years and zero?

Long and short: Why would anyone trust him on further "promises"? Not me.

I'm a lifelong Tory, and I am not alone in the stampede from the Tories to ... elsewhere.

john

If it ain't broke...
You're doing just fine Dave. Just ignore negative posts like this one.

James Leeming

Simply tell us what the Conservatives' policies are, rather than merely slating Labour's.

David Short

There's nothing he can do to convince me. I am not voting for a party led by an inheritance-rich, old Etonian, Bullingdon Club type with aristocratic connections who has never had a proper job (PR man in TV doesn't count).

I thought we'd left that world behind decades ago.

TGF UKIP

"Offer your own suggestions for how Cameron can improve" and I must admit my first instinct was to take this as a serious political exercise. Then, though, I remembered that for me the biggest political disaster of all would be a Cameron victory which would merely prolong the rule of social democracy and kill off conservatism in this country for decades.

Just imagine the triumph of the Tory social democrat Left - having backstabbed and undermined Hague and Howard at the election run-ups in 01 and 05, they would be crowing for ever more that the Tories could only win General Elections from the left with a social democrat policy stance.

As the current Tory polling lead is, though, very soft and is almost entirely anti Labour with very little enthusiasm being shown for the Cameron Tories, perhaps the best advice I should give Dave is to heed the advice of my good friend Tiberius and continue with his squishy, conviction-free brand of politics right through to the GE.

PS I would congratulate my fellow Coffee Housers on proffering some excellent conservative suggestions to Dave. My question would have to be, though, why offer such excellent conservative ideas to a Tory Leader who is determined not to be a conservative?