ConservativeHome conducted a poll into
prominent, right-wing Tory backbenchers. Unsurprisingly, David Davis topped the poll. 70 percent of respondents hold that David Davis represents their views and 54 percent believe he articulates
those views effectively. John Redwood and Daniel Hannan were some way behind as DD’s closest rivals.
Davis’s chief weapon is communication. Plain speaking and from a working class background, people easily identify with him; and he expresses an acute intelligence in simple terms, something that John Redwood has failed to do. And whilst Hannan has charisma, Davis has more – the fruit of a decade at the forefront of British politics.
Above all, Davis espouses talismanic grass-roots causes: Capital Gains Tax, Civil Liberties, opposing the holding of data with Google and the proposed 55 percent rule. Much of his popularity rests on his open defiance against Cameron’s brand of Conservatism; he is the focal point for disaffection and dissent.
Both Tim Montgomerie and James have argued that the Tory right must do more than simply oppose David Cameron. Some are doing so already. John Redwood’s stance on CGT was a recommendation, not a rebellion. Graham Brady and the 1922 Committee provide Cameron with an alternative vision to the coalition agreement, a bargaining tool perhaps. David Davis has much to offer our parliamentary system, but he is now a poltician defined by individualism and opposition. I can’t see him as an agent of co-operation.
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