Like the Bourbons, some on the right of the Party seem to have learned nothing and forgotten nothing from three thumping election defeats. Janet Daley has engaged in a series of anti modernisation pieces in the Telegraph and on her blog over the past few weeks. Conservative Home had a piece last week arguing that more “red meat Conservatism” is needed, despite the fact that an excess of “red meat Conservatism” had most of the electorate keeping a very polite distance from the Conservatives for ten of the past thirteen years.
It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that I couldn’t disagree more. David Cameron has modernised the Conservative Party to a large degree compared to where we were in 2005. That modernisation was long overdue – we had risked becoming little more than a pressure group, rather than a serious party of Government. As Danny Finkelstein put it brilliantly a few weeks ago, the Conservative Party should not be “a Party seeking Government, not simply the paramilitary wing of an op-ed column.” And part of that modernisation process was both detoxifying the brand and repositioning the Party at the centre of British politics – where elections are won and where most of the British people are. Whatever Janet Daley says polling shows that the Tory brand put people off even when they agreed with our policies. This modernisation meant shifting the focus away from an excessive focus on issues like immigration and Europe to key battleground issues, such as health, education, tackling unemployment and fighting poverty.
“Boys – they’re killing us [in the polls] on welfare. We better talk about welfare.” Such was James Carville’s memorable advice to Bill Clinton early in 1992. The message is clear – in political campaigning, emphasising bold policies in areas of perceived weakness is utterly crucial. That is why the focus has, quite rightly been on areas that the public care the most about and which the public had a predominantly negative view of the Conservative Party in 2005. We already have strong leads regarding who is most trusted on immigration etc. People feel that they are quite clear about where the Conservatives stand on immigration, Europe, tax and all the other ‘core’ issues – so that is not where the focus needs to lie.
Health, education, fighting unemployment and a commitment to social justice and fighting poverty (it is worth remembering that some of us have been fairly consistent in a belief in social justice – and Tim Montgomerie has certainly been a long time advocate of social justice) have rightly been some of the key priorities. Reshaping people’s opinion of the Tory Party; making people who hadn’t thought about voting for us under Blair think about voting Tory this time meant a genuine change in political priorities.
The idea that the Party and the leadership hasn’t been talking about traditional issues is something of a myth. Take immigration as an example, David Cameron has made clear on national TV, in an interview that gained widespread media coverage, that we want net immigration reduced from hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands. Candidates have NEVER been stopped from including immigration on their literature either.
There is also an important third point. Successful campaigns are all about relentless focus on key issues. If we focus on a hotch potch of 2001 and 2005 issues, as well as some other issues, the sharpness and focus risks being considerably blurred. Building up a compelling, progressive narrative will not be helped by increasing the number of areas to focus on.
The modernisation of the Party has got us in a position where we are within striking distance of power again. Now is not the time to panic and turn our back on modernisation. Now is not the time to press the pause button on the modernisation, or to knee jerk to the right and away from the electorate. It is not the time to repeat the mistakes of the past and reach for the dog whistle. Now is the time to hold our nerve and show people that a progressive Conservative Government will be good for them and their family and good for the country.
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I know we have this conversation regularly, Dave, but you’re quite right. Now is not the time to give up and return to being the same old same old..
David’s speech in Brighton was a clear message that there is no going back.
The Vichy Tories, the most ineffectual opposition since 1832, set out their threadbare stall as they prepare to offer the electorate more of the authoritarian mediocrity which Labour and the Lib Dems are already offering. Skelton is forever telling us that he is liberal and progressive but then the leaders of East Germany were forever telling us that the GDR was “democratic”.
Michael, whatever your interpretation of it, the Tories’ policy platform is in no way threadbare. You might disagree with what it aims to do – but please go to http://www.conservatives.com/policy and actually LOOK at it.
I’ve just been to an Oliver Letwin briefing which was packed with detail, examples and so on. I’ll write about it later. But go and look at the policies first.
I can understand if you then feel you disagree, and continue to think it’s mediocre. But to say their platform is authoritarian or scanty is simply wrong.