How Cameron responded

A quick post to point out that Fraser’s interview with David Cameron – to which CoffeeHousers contributed questions – will be appearing in tomorrow’s issue of the magazine.  We’ll also be making the article free to all website users tomorrow morning, so you can read the full thing then.  In the meantime, here’s a selection of the quotes within it, so you can get a sense of what the Tory leader had to say for himself:

Thoughtful radicalism: “What you need is thoughtful radicalism. Prepared radicalism. It needs to come from a solid and strong base. Compare Margaret Thatcher’s trade union reforms with Ted Heath’s. It wasn’t that Ted Heath’s were unambitious, it was that actually he tried to do it all at once, it blew up in his face and he had to abandon it. Whereas Margaret Thatcher had what Ferdy Mount talked about the long runway approach to change. You prepare the ground, and then the aeroplane can effectively take off ….  There is an easy radicalism, whereby you just take the latest idea that comes out of the Institute of Economic Affairs, or wherever, and just say ‘well that’s it’. But proper radicalism is thinking through how you are going to get from A to B to C to D. I think that’s what we’re doing.”

A job for Peter Mandelson: “He can chair a truth and reconciliation commission on New Labour. I think that would be a very good opening job. Perhaps when he has done that and atoned for all his past sins, we could find him another.”

Andrew Marr’s “inappropriate” question: “I think it was inappropriate and I must say I didn’t feel very comfy watching it.”

Cameron’s four top priorities: “The deficit, Afghanistan, the broken society and mending the mess of our politics.”

Government of all the talents: “It’s a pity that all the goats have become untethered and wandered off into the hillside. I think making Mervyn Davis trade minister, for instance, was an excellent appointment and I think Lord Sainsbury has done a very good job as Science Minister. The principle is a good one and I think we need to look at all different ways of doing it.” And I know a lot of CoffeeHousers wanted to hear what Cameron had to say about the Lisbon Treaty.  The following quote didn’t make the final article, but I figured I’d pull it out from the transcript:

“Obviously I would like us to have a referendum, I mean some people might think this will all be better for the Conservatives if it all just went away – no, I’d like to have a referendum, I want to have a referendum. We were promised a referendum, we deserve a referendum, we shouldn’t change our country in this way without having a referendum but let’s be clear, as I’ve said very clearly, I’m not going to say anything more until, unless or until this treaty is ratified and implemented by everybody. As long as it is out there being discussed by any country anywhere in Europe, we can have that referendum and we will. Full stop, end of story.”

UPDATE: The full interview is now available here.