Cameron's secret weapon
Fraser Nelson 11:15am
Cameron “does” punters very well. When I’ve followed him on the campaign trail, I’ve been struck by how he has a gift whereby he can click with pretty much anyone. For those who didn’t see his interview on Newsnight last night, you can watch it again here. It was arranged by Radio One’s Rajini Vaidyanathan, who has a deadly knack of catching politicians off guard (as Gordon Brown found out).
She had assembled what should, for Cameron, have been a troublesome mix of Radio One listeners. A working single mother from Gravesend who wanted to know why she should be discriminated against under the Tories, and thought Cameron as “borderline smug”. A Welsh 14-year-old who wants somewhere safe for her friends to go underage drinking and thought (initially) that Cameron needs to “open his eyes more”. A London primary school teacher, who is worried about gangs and knife crime. A woman who wonders if Cameron is being smug. This audience is so difficult because their bullshit detectors are so strong.
He says he’s called David, not Dave and doesn’t know where Dave comes from. He should ask George Osborne, who introduced him as “Dave” when launching his leadership platform. It was a little exercise in rebranding, methinks, dumped early on. And a flame that will be kept blazing by Richard Littlejohn, to whom Cameron will forever be “call me Dave”.
What jumped out at me was a question from Ross McKay who described himself as “civil engineer – groundwork - dig holes” and he’s “basically I’m worried about the amount of Polish that are undercutting everyone”. At first Cameron doesn’t seem to understand, saying “because we have a minimum wage in Britain I don’t think you should see too much undercutting”. D’oh. As Ross pointed out, a roofer can get £10 an hour, and faces competition from Poles who will do it at the minimum wage. Cameron said he wanted “limited migration” but Rajini was on him in a second, saying he that was a non-answer in this case – this is Poles. He said he had wanted controls on Poles, saying ”if you give a country a little bit more time to get up to our income levels, there will be less migration”. That sounded suspicious to me - seven years won’t close the gap between Poland and Britain. Seven decades, maybe. Cameron in the end said there was absolutely nothing he can do about Poles. The brutal truth for those (like myself) who believe immigration's a net benefit - that the winners outweigh the losers - is that there are losers nonetheless. And it is exceptionally tough to meet one of those losers, like Ross McKay, as there is nothing politicians can possibly say to him.
The single mother asked Cameron about the tax breaks for married couples and asked “does that mean I’m not worth as much?” “We’re not suggesting we’ll reduce in any way the benefits single mums get,” Cameron said. There are a million people together, who pretend to be apart because the benefit system pays them to do so. “I’m saying lets get rid of this couple penalty, so if people come together they don’t lose out. It’s a simple as that.” “Just because people come together doesn’t mean they are going to be better off. “There are some relationships that ought to break down,” he said – like if one partner is violent.
At the end, Cameron got a universal thumbs up from them. Ross McKay was impressed with Cameron’s honesty – “He seemed all right, actually, I was quite surprised”. The single mother said he didn’t give a direct answer to her question “that said, he did give me advice on what I should be doing and for that point of view I respect him. He came over very well.” The 14-year-old was also sold on him (and his idea of letting kids drink at home) even though “he understood what I was talking about, he told me what his honest opinion was, even though he said my own idea was crap”. The teacher said she’d switch for Labour, even though she’d like his youth crime policies to be harder.
My point: when the election comes, remember Cameron’s secret weapon. He is just a superb campaigner. He would beat anyone Labour has to throw at him – in debates, in Q&A, in any forum you want to name.
Previous
Edward Rivers
July 31st, 2008 12:56pm Report this commentThis clearly, shows the Labour's spin to make Cameron seem impersonal is just that. IF it came down to a campaign it is impossible to believe that either Gordon, Miliband or any other Labour politician could out campaign Cameron. This truely Cameron's edge, it is brillant to have a conservative leader who is that as interactive.
Edward Rivers
July 31st, 2008 12:57pm Report this commentThis clearly, shows the Labour's spin to make Cameron seem impersonal is just that. IF it came down to a campaign it is impossible to believe that either Gordon, Miliband or any other Labour politician could out campaign Cameron. This truely Cameron's edge, it is brillant to have a conservative leader who is that as interactive.
dennis
July 31st, 2008 1:31pm Report this commentit is exceptionally tough to meet one of those losers, like Ross McKay, as there is nothing politicians can possibly say to him
Actually, there is.
I just had some work done on my house. Our local English builder quoted 8 grand. A Polish builder offered to do it for £1000. Naturally, I went with the Pole.
No doubt the English builder is going about bending the ear of someone like David Cameron, complaining about how he was ‘undercut’.
Well, he wasn’t.
Even if there had been no Pole, the Englishman wouldn’t have got his £8000. I don’t have £8000 to spare. The work would simply not have been done.
Multiply that story a million times and you’ve got a billion pounds worth of business going into the pockets of Polish migrants. But not a penny of it would ever have gone into the pockets of Ross McKay and his ilk.
wonderfulforhisage
July 31st, 2008 2:25pm Report this commentFraser, based on the above it's a pity he has fallen in with the spivs and spinners. Maybe if he banished them from his court the country would vote for him rather than against Brown which, in my opinion, is the present position.
David
July 31st, 2008 2:31pm Report this commentWell said, Fraser. What Labour cannot get into their heads is that Cameron is actually a normal person. I'm not saying that association is the reason why people get voted for; 'vote for me I'm a normal bloke' is a bit tacky. But he seems to get on well with most people, does the shopping, and wears bad shorts on holiday. Contrast that with the PM, who doesn't like human beings, looks awkward when he's supposed to be relaxing and doesn't know how much petrol costs. Labour's class warfare has blinded them to the fact that an Etonian can resonate with the public more than their chip-on-the-shoulder brigade and snivelling policy wonks even can.
Pedant
July 31st, 2008 2:34pm Report this commentFraser, when you write “D’oh”, what letter/letters is the apostrophe replacing? Why not “Doh”? Please tell me, since, as a linguist, I’m truly interested in why some people write it like this. Analogy with the French d’ (when the apostrophe replaces the e of de)?
Bill (Scotland)
July 31st, 2008 2:42pm Report this commentThanks for the Newsnight link - I didn't see the Cameron Radio 1 interview as we get 'Newsnight Scotland' up here, which is occasionally (but rarely) interestng. I'll need to make a habit of watching the internet version to see the 'proper' final 20 minutes ;)
Tiberius
July 31st, 2008 3:53pm Report this commentI love the Radio 1er's concluding question: will it be enough?
Hasn't she seen the state of the Labour Party?
Verity
July 31st, 2008 4:29pm Report this commentPedant - A pedant after my own heart! What the hell is the intrusive apostrophe supposed to indicate?
Ian C
July 31st, 2008 4:51pm Report this commentDennis,
My sympathies are with your attitude, but in the case of the Poles versus low wage earners, there is some valid sympathy.
Blair's forecast was for 17,000 Poles to come. So no threat was envisaged and therefore none prepared for. Suddenly you have 1m+ trades based Eastern Europeans and they all live 6 to a room and come and go when they can afford a bus journey home for a week or two to see the kids etc.
This was totally unexpected and gave them an economic advantage over their equivalent trades here. It is partly what kept the boom going longer than it would have done.
DC acknowledged the problem quite well for a politician and admitted he would not change the competitive elements of the situation other than by not allowing the flood that Labour did. That Ross McKay accepted it meant that he had understood and DC had done his job. In this light I don't think it is a valid to criticise someone who asked the question. He was badly threatened and let down by the Labour policy outcome.
Wilfred
July 31st, 2008 6:22pm Report this commentDennis:
There is another basis on which the Poles can unfairly compete with the locals which never gets a mention.
Being away from home, away from girlfriends, wives, children etc, and in a foreign country with foreign TV, living in single rooms in houses of multiple occupancy and with only each other for company, there is every incentive for these E Europeans to work all the hours available. And they do. I've encountered plasterers and carpenters who would put in 14 hours' work a day as a norm, and work at weekends (frequently in second jobs).
There is simply no way that locals can compete with this.
Novus
July 31st, 2008 7:58pm Report this commentOn the vital matter of the apostrophe in "D'oh", I've always seen it as an aspiration rather than an elision. You don't just say "dough". It can be very short, even enough to keep it monosyllabic, but there has to be a slight aspiration between the "D" phoneme and the "Oh". ;)
Talia
August 1st, 2008 11:35am Report this commentNovus, I think any necessary aspiration is served by the h at the end. I'm sure it results from analogy with the French d'.
Michael Dembinski
August 11th, 2008 12:34pm Report this commentFraser Nelson said: "seven years won’t close the gap between Poland and Britain. Seven decades, maybe". I think the truth is actually closer to seven years than seven decades. In the four years since Poland joined the EU, the zloty has soared from 7.15 to the pound (average value, April 2004) to 4.11 to the pount (average value, July 2008). That's a leap of 43%. This makes a huge difference to migrant workers. It means the UK National Minimum Wage is now 22 zlotys a hour, rather than the 31 zlotys it was when Poland joined the EU. Meanwhile, the Polish average wage has shot up from 320 pounds a month to 740 - a reason why fewer and fewer Poles are seeking work in the UK.
Michael Dembinski, British Polish Chamber of Commerce
Piotr
August 25th, 2008 3:53am Report this commentOh, blaming the Poles for anything wrong that happens, old story that comes back again and again. First of all - it is your government that allowed so many of us to come into your country. They did not set any limits, and therefore the pound has lured tens of thousands of Poles. Secondly - your worries will soon be over, and the hard-working Romanian Gypsies, Albanians as well as Somalis will be fixing your taps and roofs. Just wait and see.
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