Steve Hilton is, I understand, returning to help with David Cameron’s conference speech. Cameron’s one time political guru is now based in California, where he has launched the US political fundraising website Crowdpac. But he has made a point of returning each year to work on Cameron’s conference speech before heading back to the US.
The decision to invite him to help out this year is particularly interesting given his view that Jeremy Corbyn is being underestimated. Hilton tweeted a few days ago that ‘cynical, pompous Westminster bubble trashes #Corbyn first week because he can’t play their game. not a pretty sight’. In response to Corbyn winning the Labour leadership, Hilton wrote that:
‘Corbyn’s answers may be wrong, but many of his questions are right’ and that ‘the insular ruling elite and their allies in big business and big finance should realise they are the cause of Corbyn.’
Hilton’s return shows that his book, More Human, and emergence as a political thinker in his own right has not harmed his relationship with Cameron. Hilton has made clear that he is keen to continue this annual ritual of helping out with the conference speech for as long as Cameron wants.
Number 10 is stressing that Hilton is helping out with the speech as a friend and that his involvement doesn’t presage a return to the themes of Cameron’s first years as Tory leader. But given Cameron’s view that Corbyn’s election as leader means that the Tories have to make the argument for free markets all over again, he will be glad to have Hilton by his side.
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