Martin Ivens has a fantastic column in The Sunday Times about what the Tories need to do this week in Birmingham.
“Their task is to meld two seemingly contradictory messages into a seamless whole. First, they must steal two favourite words from Brown’s old lexicon, prudence and stability, and attach them to their own economic plans: a reassuringly small-“c” conservative message is required. Secondly, they have to offer a radical agenda of change in the public services. The charge that nobody knows what the new, slick Conservatives stand for can’t be allowed to stick.”
The Tories need a set of promises that the voters understand akin to New Labour’s 1997 pledge card. It is good to see the Tories pushing their transformative schools policies. But they need a message on other public services as well. The Tories can’t continue to be satisfied with their ‘not
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