The Spectator Manifesto

David Cameron, should he become Prime Minister, has an urgent and momentous task – to transform Britain from top to toe. The Spectator gives him some pointers

The key to great success is to follow great failure. David Cameron has this if little else in his favour if, as expected, he is Prime Minister in two months’ time. He may not have the majority he hoped for, but he will be able to command the government machine. Civil servants, for all their love of procrastination, will follow direct instructions. A Tory government can deliver them on the first day. This guide explains how, precisely, Britain can be transformed.

The key is to demand, and expect, change at an urgent pace. There should be no more five- or ten-year plans – a device used all too often to kick ambitions into the long grass. Mr Cameron will be elected for up to five years – and he will be fighting a domestic war. A war for Britain’s solvency, for the reform of our schools, for the recovery of our economy, for fixing our broken society and reversing the feeling of decline which is setting in across the country as it did in the 1970s.

Two major areas of policy are absent from these pages. One is the Tories’ best policy: school reform. It is an agenda which, if implemented properly, cannot and should not be steered by ministers. The government simply needs to pay a sum, about £5,500 per child, and then guarantee planning permission to any school group that finds a property and attracts enough parental support. After that, the government’s role is over. It need only write the cheque. Ministers’ role is to deliver the cash, and get out of the way.