Sir, In the wake of the Bromley by-election debacle, David Cameron must adopt an ancient wisdom: “Know thyself”.

When a trendy teacher comes to a new comprehensive school he often eschews the formality of a gown or tie, tries to get close to the “community” of the classroom by listening to its music, speaking its language, even flirting with abandoning marking and discipline in an effort to imitate the pupils’ “modernity”. This has been Cameron’s strategy and it threatens his traditional colleagues.

The danger is that the trendy teacher can be sucked into the pupils’ destructive anarchy. The lesson of the interview with artful dodger Jonathan Ross is that the class can drag you into drug culture, sexual shenanigans and demotic chaos. The successful strategy for the trendy teacher, therefore, is to know who you are and what you are trying to achieve that will be acceptable to both the headmaster and the most abusive pupil.

Cameron should not try to be all things to all men or have knee-jerk reversions to authoritarian positions, but should focus on this simple truth in himself: “I am from the country house. And my aim is that the most deprived member of this class will be in a country house of his own within three terms of my Government. All my input must follow from this unbreakable principle.”

The Conservative theme of aspiration can thus resolve with the theme of social justice. By focusing on this one simple thesis — in the manner of Occam’s razor — Cameron the trendy politician could prove truly popular as a man of conviction and character.

PETER HIGGINSON
Wolverhampton

Sir, If the by-election is a wake-up call to the Conservative Party, it must imply a need to put forward unequivocal policies that will strike a chord with potential Conservative voters. Friendly faces with open-necked shirts may help to change the image of the party but they won’t be enough to win a general election.

It is time Cameron was specific about our future relationship with the EU. For a start he must end the shilly-shallying over Conservative membership of the European People’s Party. And we need radical, fudge-free policies on such issues as council tax and the NHS.

RONALD FORREST
Wells, Somerset

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