Cameron & the Tory press

Terence

I recall Blair crowing 'Weak! Weak! Weak!' at John Major during the PMQs and being puzzled by the Press's fondness for him. Now Cameron's performances at PMQs have a hectoring superiority about them too and I feel the same way. I actually believe Major and Clarke did a better job than they have been given credit for - better than Blair and Brown by some distance. But when the media fall out with a PM it can be brutal. John Harris, who I normally disagree with, has an interesting feature about social mobility and the public school leaders we now have. This is a rich mine for the left to seam, if they do it not through chippiness but through genuine concerns that the likes of Wilson Heath, Thatcher or Major would be unlikely to obtain the highest office any more. Meanwhile the crowing of Fraser Nelson and other coffee-housers should be curbed. As a Tory of white working class origins who believes in meritocracy (didn't Maggie?), I'm not sure I want a load of privileged toffs running the show. It also gives the lie to their concerns about 'society' when Johnson's sister fills the airwaves with stories of quaffing oysters and champagne to celebrate Boris's victory. It was redolent of Anthony Blanche from the 1920's. I'd much prefer less of Lord Snooty and his pals and more of David Davies and William Hague at the moment.

John

"I'm not sure I want a load of privileged toffs running the show"

- what you and Clive are saying that anyone who's been to public school should be barred from high office. This sounds to me like sour grapes, and certainly an anti-democratic view, rather than concern for meritocracy. The Tories had a series of leaders from a variety of backgrounds, and they failed to deliver. Cameron, with Boris's help, inflicted on Labour their worst results ever, but all you can do is find fault because they didn't go to a comprehensive. This is class envy at its most unattractive: what you want is not a Tory government, but a Tory government that mirrors as closely as possible your class prejudices.

"It also gives the lie to their concerns about 'society' when Johnson's sister fills the airwaves with stories of quaffing oysters and champagne to celebrate Boris's victory. It was redolent of Anthony Blanche from the 1920's"

- Nonsense. It happened in the corridors of the BBC in 1997. That's what people do. You know - normal people in normal families, happy that their sibling has done well? Your whingeing is just more of the same class envy. Not a pretty sight.

Ian C

The class war certainly seems like a one way street. Those who claim to be working class, disliking toffs, is their problem. There is no reverse dislike between toffs (stupid word) and the other classes unless they have chips on their shoulder - as Clive is hinting he may have here and is fully disclosed by Terence above. Some people seem to put an interpretation on toffs in whatever walk of life, as not deserving of being leaders in what they do. It is a sort of denial which makes you think 'what's their problem?' I am very surprised to find it in these pages.

Michael Sweeney

John - I didn't know oysters where on the menu at the BBC in 1997. Cameron has, rightly, made great play on the subject of our broken society (though the groundwork there has been from Iain Duncan Smith), and Labour's current difficulties have been as a result of a downturn in the economy and the 10p tax debacle, where ordinary folk are struggling with fuel and food. Thus, the oysters and champagne comment strikes the completely wrong note and is at odds with what Cameron is making much of his political capital from.

Interesting Ian C is surprised to see this type of comment in this blog. Perhaps he has a sheltered existence. Leaders should be aware of symbols and meanings, their own actions, the reaction to them by others; you know...the qualities required for political success.