I’m not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing, but Gordon Brown’s interview in the Independent today shows him to be just the latest in a long line of converts to the Big Society.

Here are some choice quotes:

“We’re just recovering from the 1980s,” says Bryan. “We know what works.” Brown nods grimly. “We’re going to have to be prepared,” he [Brown] says, “to do things locally.”

Why is that something to be grim about?

[Brown is] telling me about a local youth project called “midnight football” in which young people play sports with professionals, and a local cycling club, which lends bikes to people who can’t afford them, and a website that Tim Berners-Lee told him about where you can look up cycling danger spots and plot your route.

(We wrote about the cycle map AGES ago)

What I’ve done in the last two months is really what I wanted to do, which is do things locally. That’s been my first interest, to put something back into a local community that I feel very much part of, and that I feel I’ve got a duty to.

How disappointing that he didn’t feel the need to empower others to do the same while he had the power to do so.

The Saturday Times magazine (link here but it’s behind the paywall) had a great article about Apple, and how all companies basically want to be the Apple of their industry. Farhad Manjoo also came up with a list of the attributes that make Apple Apple.

He notes that discipline, focus and long-term thinking are key, along with a willingness to flout conventional wisdom. He adds a fanatical attention to detail, unrelenting focus on branding (and all that that implies, not just the look of the thing), and the ability to absorb the lessons and move on from mistakes.

That all sounds pretty good to me – in fact, I’d say that all of those things are essential for political parties. Perhaps his most interesting point, though, is his final one – that Apple’s essential skill is in remixing: taking the best of what’s out there, bringing it together, tweaking it and releasing it to fulfil demands people didn’t know they had.

I know that there are going to be people who say that the Coalition has no principles, that David Cameron has sold his soul for the sake of being Prime Minister, that it will all end in disaster.  But they are wrong and I can’t be bothered arguing again about this one. What I do want to say is this: for years, I was never really a fan of Apple products which seemed a little bit style over substance and poseur for me. But then I got an ipod nano. And then an ipod Touch. And now I am kind of thinking I want an ipad.

What happened? Well… I tried them out. They worked. They did what they were supposed to. When the battery gave up after 13 months (just out of warranty – as Apple batteries do), I took it to the ipod store and they replaced it for free. I use it for all sorts of things I never knew I wanted to do.

That is what the Coalition will stand or fall on. The internal stuff – the discipline, the focus, the attention to detail and so on – will wax and wane over time, of course. But the thing that will mean the Coalition is a success is the experience that users have, just as the thing that makes Apple a success is not the white earphones or the drag and do (though those features all help). The overall delivery and additional experiences that you never thought were possible – that is what keeps Apple desirable, and that will be what does or doesn’t get the Coalition re-elected.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Or something. At Policy Exchange this evening, Danny Alexander looked somewhat non-plussed by Oliver Letwin’s descriptions of marriage versus friendship and their relationship to the one-party versus coalition government. But overall it was a fascinating insight into the nuts and bolts of how it’s working.

There are some key structural elements which mean that the coalition works. The way that nearly every department has a Lib Dem minister alongside Conservatives. The way that announcements are made as coming from the coalition, and ministers do not dwell on whether ideas are Conservative or Lib Dem. The way the cabinet committees are built, in a pyramid, with the ultimate arbiter at the top of the Coalition Committee (do have a look at the Cabinet Office’s excellent list of committees).  And finally, the coalition agreement itself is a useful blueprint to show both ministers and civil servants what is expected of them.

But more than that, the things that will keep this coalition performing are more emotional. The trust that built up during the negotiations, when there were basically no leaks (and what leaks there were turned out to be wrong – remember when Chris Huhne was supposed to be Education Secretary?).  The personal friendships which are being built up. The huge amount of common ground in fundamental beliefs which the parties found.

Perhaps the two most important things are external, however. The first is the national interest – it’s unfashionable to say so, but most politicians do have this first and foremost. The ultimate arbiter of whether this coalition government is a success will be the electorate in 5 years’ time. That is a great way to concentrate the mind. The second is the very fact of having to form the coalition – that means that everything has to be argued through by two parties which may have different ideas in how to achieve similar ends. That means that policies are better proofed against criticism.

I talked to a few people today about various political things, and we came to some fairly similar conclusions. That the government is moving faster and more radically than most thought possible. Yes there are some slip ups, but overall, the policies are getting put into motion swiftly and without too much fuss and that therefore they are delivering what they said they would. That while many feel that the Conservatives gave away too much to the Lib Dems during the negotiations, it was in fact the most sustainable way to achieve the right outcome. And that politics has irrevocably changed in our country.

Whether or not you think that is a good thing in the long-term, it is, I think, both necessary and desirable for our current situation.

On the way home yesterday, I went down a road called ‘New Change’ which is exactly what I voted for.

Last Thursday the Institute for Government hosted a discussion entitled “The Future of Conservative Thinking”. The heavyweight panel consisted of Nick Boles MP (a member of Cameron’s inner circle), Phillip Blond (Director of Respublica), James Forsyth (Deputy Editor of the Spectator), and Jonty Olliff-Cooper (part of Demos’ Progressive Conservatism Project). 

Big Society Is My Society 

Jonty Olliff-Cooper kicked off the evening by saying Cameron’s goal should be to become the weakest Prime Minister we have ever had. By this he meant the Conservatives enacting the spirit of one of their campaign chants: “Power to the People”. Citizens must become authors of the services they use and reconnect with the processes that impact on their surroundings. Labour’s addiction to legislation created a mood in society where people no longer believed they could be a part of government-run initiatives. If something was the responsibility of the state it was no longer the responsibility of any individual. Why should I pick-up litter in the street? It’s too much hassle to report that bit of graffiti at the end of my road. And so on. 

All those in positions of authority, whether they are ministers of state or local council executives, need to change the prism through which the policy formation process takes place. Those who have the resources need to consider how their decisions will enable people rather than how they exclusively can deliver a solution. The role of government is to make engagement easier.  The environment in which intellectual officials come up with abstract solutions for problems of which they have no practical experience must change. The workings of Whitehall, and city halls, must evolve into a culture where decisions are made based on getting users to solve the problems they face. Successfully reducing the size of the state apparatus in the long-term is all about reducing the demand for government intervention.  

For Jonty, if in five years time the word ‘government’ has been separated from the word ‘bureaucracy’ then Cameron can rightly claim he has presided over a truly transformative regime.  

A Pragmatic Politician Reacting to Radical Times  

James Forsyth made the point that Cameron himself is not a particularly ideological thinker. He is a traditional organic Conservative. The combination of the electorate’s distaste for politicians and the financial swamp which emerged after the credit-crunch, means that his government must be a truly reformist administration. Modern Conservatives’ big and radical ideas are driven by the huge and deep-rooted problems that were left on Cameron’s desk when he arrived at No10. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Britain’s senior mandarin first briefed Cameron on the true state of Britain and then asked “What now, Prime Minister?” The Big Society concept is a practical solution for the actual problems we face (i.e. over centralised control, unaffordable processes, disconnected solutions) and for dealing with the deep-rooted symptoms of alienation, disempowerment and apathy. 

The two most interesting areas to observe if you are a watcher of ‘modern conservative thinking’ will be welfare reform and how different sections of the party react to the Alternative Vote (AV) referendum. On the latter point, James is convinced that at least one Tory cabinet member will campaign for AV, though he did not speculate as to whom this might be. The great unknown is whether this coalition will be an aberration in UK political history and if, in five years time, we will all return to standard first-past-the-post politics, or whether coalitions will become more common. The answer to this question will shape the future of our politics.  

Can you transplant a think-tank into a ministry? Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, has been working on welfare reform for over six years at his think-tank, the Centre for Social Justice. Most governments say they want to reform the welfare system only to back out when hard decisions have to be taken. The economic situation means that delay in reforming welfare is not an option if we want to live in a solvent country. Like AV, welfare has the potential to really test the foundations of the Coalition, as Conservatives and Lib Dems tend to have competing philosophies around what is important in this area. 

21^st Century Social Conservatism 

Nick Boles MP has always been interested in how Conservatives reconcile their socially conservative instincts with a world where social liberalism has become engrained in our culture. One of the most radical advancements ‘Team Cameron’ has made is to fundamentally modernise social conservatism by making it relevant to our times. For me this shift in mindset can be best described as Conservatives focusing on promoting values to all rather than making moral judgements about some. The institution of marriage has many benefits for the individuals involved and society as a whole. These benefits should be accessible to anyone who wants to make the necessary commitment, thus it’s natural for Conservatives to be strong supporters of civil partnerships.  

Nick confirmed that current Conservative thinking is a reflection of the culture of this country. Despite its wealth, Britain is not often at ease with itself. People need to be encouraged to gain understanding of their environment through talking to one another. Side-ways communication is the glue that can hold our country together and government should concentrate on making these side-ways chats happen. Some might say it is a paradox that you need the state to foster the ‘Big Society’ idea but this is only a paradox if you believe the state in all its forms is bad. The state is not bad; it was just deployed badly under New Labour. Unfortunately, certain areas of the state will be resistant to a change in mindset but like any careful gardener the government should prune obstructive branches in order to let the good parts blossom. 

Tapping Into The Power of Trust 

The big unknown in Conservativism is discovering the next economic model. The Cameron agenda was created in a different economic framework when everyone thought the argument over which economic system should be adopted had been won by free-marketeers. ‘Sharing the proceeds of growth’ was transformed by the financial collapse of 2008 into ‘we are all in this together’. A new sustainable economic system needs to be developed, one which allows everyone to take part in society. George Osborne has adapted his economic beliefs since the credit crunch. His team are now exploring the idea that there should be a prominent role for Government in supporting particular growth industries. Rather than subsidising individual companies, Conservatives may offer resources towards promoting specific industries. Depending on how this is done the Tories could mend the relationship that Thatcher obliterated with the mechanical North and Scotland. 

Phillip Blond is adamant that free association, through non-state civic groups, can offer the UK a new economic model that has the potential to include everyone. The current systems are corrupted so any political movement that wants to be relevant must ask itself what went wrong and why the West is no longer developing. New politics and new economics will have the greatest chance of success if they are born in relationships that are based on trust. One of the roles of Government needs to be in creating open trust networks where people do not need bureaucracy because there exists ethos and intimacy. Those who cynically dismiss the possibilities of this happening should look at Zopa, the person-to-person lending service, or E-bay, the on-line auction house. In a system such as E-bay a person’s trust rating is often worth more than a single financial transaction. This fact and the innate human desire to live in a fair and orderly society means that 135 million people each year give money to complete strangers for products they mostly have never seen. By tapping into the nature of trust it should be possible to significantly reduce transaction costs. 

Phillip predicts that the Coalition will deliver mass mutualism because our future relies heavily on the success of relationships in economic environments. 

The Future Of Conservatism Is Now 

I left the event with many thoughts buzzing round my head, and two overriding conclusions:

• Conservative thinking is very much of importance now. The Tory leadership does not have much time to reflect as the responsibility of power demands that Cameron puts in place a strategy to deal with the issues this country faces. Conservative thinking in the future will be a reaction to the success and failures of what is done today.
• Progressive Conservative ‘think-tanks’ need to become ‘do-tanks’ if they are to keep their relevance. Organisations that believe in the Big Society and Post-bureaucratic age agendas should now be able to put their thinking into action as the Government is keen to devolve responsibility to outside Government organisations. It’s now time for those who talk the talk to walk the walk.

In a year’s time, the Institute for Government should reconvene this discussion under the updated title: “The Future of Conservative Doing”.

Yesterday after PMQs, I had a text from a VERY non-political friend who said she thought that David Cameron’s description of Raoul Moat as a ‘callous murderer’ was outrageous and went far too far for a Prime Minister.

Today, the Facebook page which caused so much of more of the outrage has been taken down – not by Facebook but by the creator of it.

I was in Starbucks today and saw a woman – I would have said pretty well-off, she was buying sandwiches and coffee and lollies for her children – put a lolly in her handbag, pass one to each of her children and say to the barista that ‘Oh I have two lollies as well.’ Well no she didn’t, she had taken three. The person in front of me in the queue pointed out that she had also taken one and put it away, and the woman laughed off how ditzy she had been.

How many of us would have thought, it’s only 40p, Starbucks make plenty of money, they factor that in? But that’s not the point. The point is that it is not acceptable to steal, and part of how shoplifters can be stopped is if those who see them step in.

It is important that people speak up when they feel something is wrong. It is also important that people feel able to speak up when they feel something is wrong.

I think my friend was wrong when she said the Prime Minister shouldn’t have got  involved in the saga of this Facebook page. I think it’s absolutely right that our politicians lead from the front, do the right thing, and encourage the rest of us as well.

There are plenty of things politicians get wrong but on this, David Cameron is  right: societal pressure – from all sorts of different directions – is what will change society. Simply passing more laws isn’t the answer, and always expecting someone else to do it isn’t either. We all have to be prepared to think about what kind of society we want to live in, and be prepared on top of that to be part of making it happen.