Bruce Anderson

Politics of a certain vintage – and wine to match

I wonder how they do things now at Tory headquarters. For the ’79 election, the preparations had been completed weeks in advance. Press conferences had been planned on the basis of a four-week campaign, press releases drafted and shadow ministers told when they would be needed in London to go on the platform. Then the starting gun was fired and von Moltke kicked in. No plan survives the initial contact with the enemy. Some of the material was used, but not in the order that had been expected. There was a lot of improvisation. But it did not seem to matter.

Something similar happened in 1992. The first press conference was to be devoted to tax. Labour’s tax plans would be lambasted, allowing the Tories to move on to other themes. Fifteen minutes before the curtain was due to rise, there was a problem. One of the Treasury advisers said he no longer had confidence in his figures. John Major was surprisingly calm. ‘Well, what will we talk about?’ was his sangfroid response. The apparent crisis was a felix culpa. Instead of a blitzkrieg, the tax question became a Western Front slog, greatly to the Tories’ advantage.

Thus far in this contest, Boris has been surprisingly good at dodging trouble. Ambition encourages self–discipline and he has also been lucky in his opponents. Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson — what a pair; while Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish tricoteuse, has had a human warmth bypass. Boris not only gives the impression that he would like people to enjoy themselves; in his case, it is genuine.

To put it mildly, questions still have to be answered.

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