You have to give David Cameron marks for trying. He’s still trying to breathe life into the word “responsibility” in hope that it can become some kind of a political battle cry. Steve Hilton literally built a business making “corporate social responsibility” into something that companies buy into – but it’s harder to do the same with politics. Every politician claims what they do is responsible, it’s not a distinguishing feature. The more Cameron uses the r-word, the more it reminds me if Brown starting every sentence “it is right that we…” Yet no new Tory idea is complete without the r-word, whether it’s the Debt Responsibility Mechanism or the Office for Budget Responsibility. And Cameron uses the word 13 times in his speech to the Women’s Organisation today. I wouldn’t mind if it were a word that was distinctly conservative, such as “empowerment”, but the R-word is rather nebulous and risks making Tory policies looks gimmicky, as if they are trying to find an agenda to fit the word and not vice versa. This is a shame because it serves to camouflage, rather than bring out, the innovative and radical ideas in Cameron’s thinking.
UPDATE: Andrew Lilico, who has written brilliantly on the Tories and tax, says over on CentreRight that the “responsibility” thing is a rhetorical trick so Osborne can “own” the issue then eventually call for “responsible tax cuts”. I do hope so. And I also agree with CoffeeHouser Nick Kaplan (below) – sometimes this language stuff, though it seems tedious and nebulous to us on the right, has its purpose.
Steve Hilton sometimes gets flak for being some kind of leftie-appeasing moderniser, yet the incredible work he has done on the Tory brand has undoubtedly given the party “permission” (in politico-speak) to embark on conservative tasks such as education and welfare reform. Plus Cameron has to choose his moment: if he were to come out with a radical new message now, would it get a fair hearing? So he’s entitled to keep his powder dry. And I’m entitled to yawn, loudly, as he does so.
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