The Pickles approach

Over at ConservativeHome, Tim Montgomerie has an intriguing post on what Eric Pickles hopes to bring to the role of Tory party chairman. Here’s a snippet:

“An aide to the new Party Chairman tells me that this visit communicates two of the big themes that Eric Pickles wants to characterise his tenure at CCHQ: graft (he promises to match the sacrifice of volunteers) and a focus on the LibDems. With opinion polls pointing towards a perhaps decisive increase in the Tory lead some party strategists are recommending a significant shift of battleground resources into unseating Liberal Democrat MPs. Eric Pickles is a big advocate of the lovebombing tactic.”

Tim goes onto describe the “lovebombing tactic” as one by which the Tories “flatter [the Lib Dems] and appear to agree with them on key issues” in order to hoover up Lib Dem support. Of course, there are dangers with this kind of thing – the Tories don’t want to dilute their own message, and merely “appearing” to agree on something could cause trouble further down the line – but extra emphasis on, say, a fairer tax system for low income earners, or civil liberties, could prove popular with Tory voters as well.