Fine words butter no voters, David

cuffleyburgers

I suspect the public might not yet be ready for a too radical shrinking of the public sector, and I think DC has picked the right note floating these issues without leaving too many hostages for fortune.

Stephen

No comment on globalisation Ms Phillips? Part of the loss of individual and communal control over affairs is because national borders count for less in a global economy. Individuals and communitites have fewer decisions to make as power is increasingly located in the hands of board rooms which could be anywhere in the world.

Removing Britian from the EU will not of course remove the EU from Britain as it will remain a major player in our lives. It is after all our major trading partner. And it will not make a citizen of Newcastle, Inverness or Minehead feel very much closer to the centre of power. Westminster, Strasbourg, the 'board room' of the Bank of China: they are all remote from and pretty much disinterested in the periphery of the UK anyway.

But why not give us some detail on what, for you, a non-'taxpayer-funded model of public services' would look like? Then you would be offering something positive to the process. And that would be a welcome change.

Summer

It's a good start, I'll watch for the right action. But maybe today is a turning point - I do hope so.

The fact so many lefties are out on the 'air waves' shredding his ideas to bits is a positive sign - so they don't believe in 'power to the people' after all !!! Not only have they lost the moral high ground, but they have lost sight of it as well.

Now can Cameron capitalise on it?

Lloyd

A touch unfair. Cameron has been advocating this approach for some time now and with each speech he adds new strands to the strategy.

At the core is a new generation's understanding that new communications have made centralised secretive control impossible to maintain. Guido's unmasking of McBride and the Telegraph expenses CD show we have moved on.

The key is the voting system. Cameron and Boris are cogently arguing that PR is an attempt to buttress party control over democracy. The absurdity of arguing for a list system as well as proposing a constituency recall option is not being exposed.

Thatcher only 'buttered' voters with the same type of bare bones approach where the only tangible promise (like education now) was the sale of council houses.

Like her or loathe her, she effected the most incredible change in Britain. Her skill, perhaps Cameron's too, was not to alert her enemies to her intentions until she was ready to defeat them.

Cameron's first battle is to win an election and he is looking a canny strategist thus far.

chris

Cameron is no answer to any question worth asking. Can tell the political class are petrified when PR twaddle and "leave the MPs" alone guff gets The Times to scribble its distractions and denials. Way beyond all this now and we need to send them back to their jobcentres on June 22nd without any pay or pensions. War crimes and treason trials to follow and Blairs expenses published as well as Campbell?Cheries sweetheart deals with the BBC.Count the spoons before the swine go too, and bill them for all subsidised bar and gym expenses since 2001 whilst we`re at it!

Russ Brown

Why are we going around in circles politically in this ideologically and theoiogically ignorant two party political game in which fools pander openly to media created narratives? Where is the born again Christian movement explaining to these materialistic souless careerists that the problem, all the problems we are having with the banking system and MPs expenses is just the outward manifestation of - the unregenerate human condition, "the image [character] of the beast", the animal nature in fallen man of desire, greed, pride, envy and that the solution to all of this and more was layed out 2000 years ago by the apostle Paul when he spoke of the need of us all having "the mind of Christ" to be in the "image of the Divine" and not the "image of the beast" by manifesting the fruits of the Spirit of God, humility, temperance, love, kindness, patience, honesty etc etc and were actually knowledgeable enough about the Bible and the Protestant, eschatologically Historicist beliefs and interpretation that made our politicians genuine and sincere and compassionate men?

Archie

Well exactly, Miss Phillips, but it says here (Telegraph) that Simon Heffer is willing to stand for Parliament. Finally, a real Tory! Wonder if Cameron will include him on the front bench? (ahem!)

Jeremy

I think that what Cameron is trying to do is to re-model the Conservative Party and re-define Conservatism for the modern world. He is setting down a benchmark. It is a grand thing to be doing and it is in our national interest that he should succeed. In doing it, he is also seeking to carve his name amongst those of the greatest Conservative leaders of our history. I wish him well with his efforts and I hope that he succeeds.

Tiberius

Lloyd makes many good points.

The political climate, created by New Labour carbon emissions, has required Cameron to be measured in his release of policy detail. This speech represents a move of his queen down the long diagonal.

Cameron knows this. He will also know that the option to withdraw the move doesn't really exist. David Starkey provided a convincing argument last week that Cameron is the man who has the opportunity to seize the moment.

That is exactly what he is doing.

EDDIE

No politician anywhere in the world would truly want to hand back power to the people The object of the exercise is to hold on to as much power as possible. Governments must have a Great Leader who would cut through the al the countries problems with a sharp knife and make the trains run on time. It cannot be done by giving power to the people who would not know what to do with such power. The electorate has to be managed,

barackobama

The real question is not how much MPs get paid, how many MPs there should be or even what their expenses should be? It's what do MPs actually do? Because so much power has been transferred to the EU and the impact of prime ministerial patronage in the form of ministerial office, the whips and the tiny cliques that dominate all political parties, MPs are essentially pointless. And I have never met anyone who has had cause to seek an MPs help. By their own account, MPs' surgeries are full of queue-jumpers for public services, whingers and time-wasters.
But are there any reforms that can reverse the trend? The answer is no.
Technology, like the one supporting this blog, constitute a revolutionary challenge to all institutions: government, business (the financial crisis you will eventually find was due to digital communications), legislatures, political parties and media organisations.
People are increasingly discovering everything they need to know, everything they need to do and everyone they need to meet spontaneously through unmediated interaction through the internet.
It's not just a question of it's not politics as usual from now on.
It's not politics at all.

blah blah

Hey, perhaps it's time for Verity's idea of only allowing votes for peple involved in 'wealth creation'

GaryO

Mr Cameron himself claimed his personal allowance up to the hilt – the whole amount made up of interest on the mortgage of £350,000 on his second home, over £20,000 per yaer. MP's who have claimed piddly amounts weren't rich enough to buy expensive properties – if they were then even they wouldn't have claimed for these silly items and would have put down their full mortgage interest instead.

Original Tony

A law Cameron must introduce is that only the employed or people retired from employment should be allowed to vote.

This would silence labour for all time and good riddance.

Augustus

If Cameron intends simply to call for a symbolic referendum on the EU Constitution he will only be pandering to Euro-federalists who pre-suppose the existence of a unified and homogenous European 'people' and who try, by any means, to be assured of an indispensable democratic legitimacy of any EU Constitution. That is not to say, however, that the holding of referendums could not be put to use in entirely different ways. Such referendums
on important EU related issues on a regular basis might actually result in advantages for European democracy in general. Such regular referendums could contain very strong political messages:
-Referendums allow ordinary citizens to reclaim power from technocrats and the political elite, thus creating a feeling of unity.
-Referendums reduce the democratic deficit of the EU.
-Referendums may lead to a further empowerment of citizens through new ways of political activism, replacing the emphasis
from a purely representative government to a more participatory democracy.
-Referendums can reduce apathy in voters, increase turnouts, and induce a higher level of commitment in the political process. At the very least, such a process would put an end to the ivory tower mentality of the traditional European parties
and their smug claims to always speak for the majority of their citizens.

Ronnie

I would propose an amendment to Original Tony's revised Representation of the Peoples' Act whereby labour voters, their families and all those suspected of being Labour voters in the future, are utterly disenfranchised.

I further propose that a swab of their DNA be taken and held on file indefinitely.

That ought to sort things out for the democrats around here.

stanley Jerusalem

Original Tony
May 27th, 2009 3:32pm
"A law Cameron must introduce is that only the employed or people retired from employment should be allowed to vote.
This would silence labour for all time and good riddance."
So you wish to disenfranchise 10% of the adult population. I see; that's your idea of a democracy, is it?
Have you ever been unemployed? No? Thought not.That probably puts you and like-minded people at the top of the list for never being allowed to hold positions of responsiblity towards the rest of. What's next, euthanasia?

R Brown

We are standing in the valley of decision between the survival of the human race and its destruction. We needed strong leaders to take a zero tolerance approach to nuclear proliferation and this message should have been delivered to the democracies of the world in a far more pressing way. We have had our window of opportunity to save mankind from itself and it looks like we have just failed.