Is David Cameron tough enough to be a Tory revolutionary?

3 October 2009

The next government will be faced with some of the most difficult problems in peacetime history. Bruce Anderson asks whether the Tory leader has the qualities he will need to rise to the challenges ahead

An incoming government will be faced by some of the greatest challenges in peacetime history, especially as David Cameron intends to add to them by addressing the broken society and the environment. So is he tough enough? He has many of the sinews of toughness: a clear and incisive brain, physical stamina, an easy habit of command; he does not find it hard to give orders. He is happy in his own skin and fortunate in his wife. In establishing a reputation for toughness, he has one obstacle: that four-letter word, Eton. A dismaying number of people who ought to know better cling to the notion that all Etonians are wimps. Three of the last four commanders of the SAS had been at Eton. The fourth narrowly defeated an OE. It is true that Eton was founded by a wimp, Henry VI, as a college for poor scholars. The poverty and the wimpishness both died out around the end of the Middle Ages.

David Cameron also knows how to speak, which takes us back to the beginning. From now on, he ought to reach into his soul for the big language, the resonant words, to convince the doubters that he understands the problems and will hammer out the solutions. If he can do that, he will be able to deploy a further asset: his charm. It is a paradox, but this Old Etonian may find it easier than Margaret Thatcher did to persuade the public that he is on their side.

Faced by a crisis, a statesman turns it into an opportunity. So a fiscal emergency becomes a method of achieving better government. Mr Cameron is not yet a statesman, but if he wants to be a successful prime minister, he will have to become one. These are not times which admit the luxury of a mediocre premiership. The current crisis will enforce a revolutionary agenda. So is he Kerensky, or Lenin? Within ten years, will people be comparing him to Margaret Thatcher, or to Gordon Brown? His destiny is greatness, or failure. That provides grounds for cautious optimism, for David Cameron is under no illusions. He knows what he is taking on. He does not intend to fail.

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Cuffleyburgers

October 1st, 2009 5:04pm Report this comment

"There is a widespread desire for strong government" - not, actually there is a widespread desire for less intrusive, incompetent, cynical, lying and expensive government.

Not the same thing at all.

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