David Camerons strategy appears to be coming unglued already. As far as I can see his strategy to date has broadly been as follows:
1) Apologise for past Tory mistakes when they were the nasty party
2) Attempt to reposition the party as more Centrist Liberal Conservative / One Nation Tories
3) Convince people that they are now the nice party i.e. have a conscience and are worried about poverty etc
4) Don't talk about policies on the grounds that a) it is too far away from a General Election b) if you come up with policies now the other parties will pinch the good ones and c) if you policies are useless it gives plenty of time for people to work out that they are useless. At least that is what I understood Ann Widecombe to say last night.
However, there are still plenty of Tories who fundamentally believe that they must cut taxes come what may. According to the Guardian "The call for tax cuts came from party activists, backbench MPs, Tory donors and the chairman of the party's competitiveness commission, John Redwood" Ah yes John Redwood that reminds me (he is after all my MP) and doubtless many others of several very good reasons for not voting Tory. They clearly have a long way to go before they can present a united front to the public
The cartoon in the Guardian brilliantly illustrates the dilemma and the tension between the Cameron vision of the way forward and that espoused by some of his party members. To see the cartoon click here
2 comments:
Love the cartoon ........
I quite agree. I felt myself inclining towards listening to Cameron when he announced extension of home ownership rights to private tenants, but what truly killed any credibility and interest for me was the WebCameron stunt. How silly, how trivial, how... Well, it was just plain corny and ill-advised.
I voted Lib Dem in the last two General Elections having been a lifelong Labour voter. I got Blair in along with many others to my eternal regret. I shall be voting Lib Dem again at the General Election but often vote Green locally, although our local councillor is a Lib Dem chap - who puts me off in his promotional material through the door as he places emphasis on his Christian beliefs, which I respect his right to but it is hardly a welcome mat for many people, not only gay men like myself who have reason to distrust people who proclaim conventional faiths so loudly, but also those of other religious and spiritual beliefs who might, rightly or wrongly, see a man who proclaims his Christianity so forthrightly in political literature might, well, be a tad biased. I'm all for diversity of opinion, but balance is important in our elected representatives and all too often sadly lacking. x
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