Policies, please

For a politician to invite the television cameras into his home is a risky business. An inexperienced Mrs Thatcher in 1975 merely had to open her larder to the nation to find herself accused of hoarding food. Tony Blair was criticised for the heavily draped curtains in his former Islington home, and John Major’s conservatory impressed nobody but the double-glazing industry. Some Conservatives will have been dismayed that David Cameron, too, has fallen for the temptation to be filmed in a domestic situation, even if his kitchen has proved to be a model of sensible, restrained taste. They will argue that it confirms their concerns that the new Conservative leader is a triumph of style over substance.

We do not share this view of David Cameron. If, in order to get elected in the age of mass media, it is necessary to remind the public that you are an ordinary human being with a toaster, a microwave and a floor littered with toys, so be it; let the cameras pan round his livingroom and bathroom, too. We trust Mr Cameron’s considerable expertise in public relations. It has certainly borne political fruit so far. His impressive media appearances have already generated a level of excitement enjoyed by no Conservative leader since Mrs Thatcher. Paradoxically, for Mr Cameron to have spent his first three months in office delivering dry, worthy speeches to think-tank meetings attended by three men and a dog would have led to him being taken much less seriously as a future prime minister.

We have been won over, too, by the breadth of subject matter which David Cameron has covered. He correctly understands that part of the Tories’ failure in 2001 and 2005 was the narrowness of their interests.