It looks as if David Cameron may have finally got the message. Amid the
various pens and rubber bands on his desk at the House of Commons there now
sits a picture of the Tory leader standing next to Baroness Thatcher at the
unveiling of her bronze statue in the parliamentary lobby. When asked if it
had been recently installed to show he is really “one of us” - after Gordon
Brown stole her mantle - Cameron goes all sheepish and blushes a bit: “No,
no, that was one of my proudest moments!”
Is he being ironic or serious? One cannot be sure. Another item on his desk is
a note to call the editor of the Daily Mail, a newspaper that used to be
solidly behind the Conservatives but is flirting with Labour. Cameron looks
embarrassed and quickly turns the sheet of paper over.
The Tory leader appears surprisingly chipper and upbeat for someone who seems
to have squandered such a big lead in the opinion polls since Brown took
over as prime minister three months ago. He has enjoyed the two-week break
while the Liberal Democrats and Labour have had their conferences.
“While the other parties have their conference they get the limelight and you
just, sort of, hunker down, get on with your planning,” he says. “So, we’ve
had lots of time to hunker down to plan the election, which has been good.
The machine is really ready for an election: in terms of candidates and the
budget.”
Does he think that Brown will call a snap poll, then? Cameron is noncommittal,
but adds: “I think he’s got himself into a position now where either he
bottles it or he’s given us a hell of a lot of notice about his intentions.”
Cameron may put a brave face on things, but the truth is that he has to give
the speech of his life at this week’s conference in Blackpool.
Brown is riding high in the polls. The Tory leader dismisses this as simple
“volatility” in people’s voting intentions; but Cameron’s flirtations with
the green and poverty agendas in the name of changing the public’s
perception of his party have arguably allowed Brown to mop up and dominate
in traditional Tory areas such as law and order and immigration.
Cameron has always made great play of the fact that he is “consulting” on
policies for his election manifesto. But, by commissioning half a dozen
policy groups on aspects such as the economy, quality of life and social
breakdown, he has left himself open to the accusation that, in the words of
one MP “there are more policies on offer than a takeaway menu”.
The Tory leader clearly thought he would have more time to sift through them,
but with Labour’s ramping up of election fever, he has to make clear choices
this week.
“What you are going to see this week from the Conservatives is very clear
definition, very clear direction,” he says. “You’ll see those ideas from the
policy review that we will junk; and those ideas that we will take forward
and put into the manifesto.”
Three key themes will emerge, he promises. The first is giving people more
opportunity and power and control over their lives. He cites today’s
announcement that the Tories will abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers
on homes up to £250,000. It is, he says, a “classic example” of the Tories
being the “party of aspiration”.
The second theme is stronger families and a more responsible society. He says
there will be more moves to support marriage, something he began yesterday
with the announcement that tax credits would be extended for young couples.
“It’s the only way that we’re going to combat crime and antisocial behaviour
and make our society stronger,” he says.
The third theme will be a safer, greener country. “We need stronger defence,
we need to empower police. We need to deal with threats like climate
change,” he says.
“So, a really clear programme. I think Gordon Brown has given us a massive
opportunity because his speech was a shopping list of things, most of which
he has said he would do before and has not yet done. And there was no -
think back to your maths - there was no working out, no ‘how’. There was no
explanation of how he was going to do these things.
“If we can explain how we will make the real change people want, then people
will vote for real change.”
Cameron cites the question over the EU referendum as an example. “People have
more control over their private lives, their family life, but they don’t
understand why people in politics have to take what they’re given. And
that’s why we say you should have power and control, you should have that
vote on a European referendum, on the European constitution and Brown won’t
do that.”
Cameron insists he does not recognise what commentators have identified as
“flip-flopping”. Earlier this summer some in the party were arguing for
hiking green taxes on frequent flyers and imposing new levies on parking at
supermarkets; but now they have backed off, perhaps foreseeing the electoral
consequences. Likewise Cameron never appeared to mention immigration as a
strong theme until the polls dipped. He denies that there has been any
shillyshallying.
“The big choice is green stealth taxes from Gordon Brown that go into the
great, vast Treasury, or targeted, sensible, green taxes from the
Conservatives that will be offset one for one by family tax cuts. And to say
that you know we’ve changed on this is ludicrous because we’ve very
consistently said that we have to make tough choices.”
As to immigration, he also denies he has been playing “dog whistle” politics.
“What I said was that over the past decade I thought that the overall level of
immigration had been too high. It had put too much pressure on public
services. And when you look at what a huge amount of illegal immigration
there has been, I think it’s an extremely sensible, a very moderate, thing
to say.”
Cameron’s view is that you can have a “balanced” approach: talk about
nontraditional Tory issues, such as the green agenda and Africa, but at the
same time that should not exclude “sensible” attitudes on immigration. To
him that means transitional controls on migrants from the new EU countries
and a points system for nonEU migrants - like Brown - but with a limit.
The Tory leader also denies that being tough on law and order means reverting
to type. “Crime is not some right-wing issue; crime is an issue which
affects every single person in this country. The Conservative party has
always been, and will always be, a party that is fundamentally tough on
crime.”
He adds: “I am a moderniser, I am changing the Conservative party. I’ve moved
into the centre ground. All that time I have talked and acted about crime.
Both in terms of punishment and criminal justice and also in terms of the
causes of crime.”
For the first time, he cites Thatcher - as well as Churchill, Macmillan and
Disraeli - in his justification for modernising credentials. He praises her
for the first time since becoming leader: “I worked for Margaret Thatcher
and think she achieved an enormous amount for our country.”
And he is sanguine about the pictures of her with Brown outside No 10. “It was
wonderful seeing her outside No 10 and waving. It was a wonderful picture.
Look, it’s Gordon’s issue. He spent most of his political life trying to
destroy and undermine everything she was doing, and if he wants now to have
a photograph with her, then that’s very much his business.”
He will not go heavily personal on Brown either - perhaps wary of accusations
of negative campaigning. Does he think Brown is dishonest? “I’m sure he
believes what he says. I think that he’s a formidable politician, I’ve
always said that, but I think that what’s been coming across has been very
inauthentic.”
And the key difference between the Tories and Labour? “We don’t have to stare
into some crystal ball about the future of a Labour government,” he says.
“We know what it’s been like over the past 10 years. They haven’t dealt with
the problem of the health service, problems with education, rising crime
rates and violent crime doubled.”
Among Cameron’s summer reading have been the Alastair Campbell diaries (“I got
fed up with his ego after about page 250”) and On Chesil Beach by Ian
McEwan. The latter is about newlyweds whose honeymoon gets off to a
disastrous start. Unfortunate reading for a man who has yet to consummate
his relationship with the electorate.
