David Cameron dismissed Gordon Brown as “that strange man in Downing Street”
as he made his most personal attack on the Prime Minister.
In his first newspaper interview of the year, the Conservative leader accused
Mr Brown of putting politics before the national interest over proposed new
anti-terrorism laws and of being jealous of his Cabinet colleagues. Mr
Cameron also:
— Cited his appearance at the World Economic Forum and meetings with leaders
from around the world as an example that the Conservatives were seen abroad
as the “government in waiting”
— Denied that the party was being funded by “secret clubs” of donors and
promised to consider releasing the names of wealthy backers given privileged
access to senior Tories
— Hinted that the Conservatives would campaign at the next election on a
pledge to win back individual powers from the European Union
— Defied political correctness by defending “middle-class parents with sharp
elbows” who profess religion to get their children into church schools
— Voiced doubts over whether Afghanistan needed an additional troop surge and
called for renewed attempts to find a “full-throated political strategy”
— Rejected demands that he ditch a commitment to match the Government’s
spending plans, even suggesting that he may extend the pledge
— Predicted that Boris Johnson would win the London mayoral election and
promised to campaign alongside him.
Despite the run of polls putting the Conservatives on 40 per cent or more, Mr
Cameron admitted that they could be doing better but believed that they
deserved credit for stopping Mr Brown in his tracks last autumn. “Find me
the leader of an opposition anywhere who does not wish they were doing
better,” he said. “The thing I want to get across is the reason that the
Government is doing badly is because of the resurgence of the Conservative
Party. It is our strong team, our strong party, reversing the poll position
and causing the Prime Minister to bottle out of holding an election. We were
responsible for that.
“Some people say the Tories are doing well because the Government backed off
holding an election. They backed off the election because we got them in a
position where they were going to lose it. Of course I wish we were doing
better.
“I am full of bounce-back after the Christmas holidays, full of energy and
really keen to get on with the job, but I think we have made some real
progress. What I am excited about after two years of modernisation of the
Tory party is that we have the right to put forward some radical and
exciting policies and we are really being listened to. We are setting the
agenda on welfare reform, choice in education, personalised healthcare.
“There is a lot farther to go and there is not one ounce of complacency in
either me or my team but I think it is a strong position from which to
build. You still see the contrast between our two teams: William Hague,
David Davis, George Osborne all are doing well and being seen to be doing
well. One can imagine them doing the jobs that they are shadowing far better
than the minister they are shadowing.”
Mr Cameron reserved his strongest words for what he described as Mr Brown’s
effort to make the Tories look soft on terrorism in opposing moves to extend
to 42 days the period that terrorism suspects can be held without charge. “I
am afraid that he sees this as a totally political weapon: let us try and
make the Tories look soft on terror. That is my problem with our Prime
Minister: he looks at every single issue from the point of view of what is
the right dividing line that divides me from my opponent, not what is right
for the country, and I think that is what he is doing here.”
The Times understands that, despite Mr Brown’s offer to try to reach a
consensus on raising the detention limit, he has had no talks with Mr
Cameron on the issue. Mr Cameron contrasted Mr Brown’s approach with that of
Tony Blair, with whom Mr Cameron said he successfully co-operated over such
issues as school reform.
He rejected calls from his own Right to ditch a commitment to stick to the
Government’s spending plans to 2011 and said that he did not rule out doing
so into the years beyond. “We will look at [the projected spending figures]
and see if they are consistent with our principles. If they are we will
support them.
“I am being very careful because if you say anything else that strange man in
Downing Street will cook up an enormous package of Tory spending cuts. It is
complete and utter fiction. I have seen it done before and I have learnt a
thing or two in the last few years.”
Mr Cameron tried to give himself a little more leeway to hold a referendum on
the EU reform treaty if he should come to power. He again stopped short of
promising a vote even if the new treaty were ratified across Europe, the
so-called post-ratification referendum that many believe would signal the
beginning of the end of British membership.
He did say that, if the treaty were still being discussed around the capitals
of Europe and were not in force, a Conservative government would be “totally
entitled” to hold a referendum even if it had gone through the British
Parliament. He also hinted strongly that he would fight the next election on
wresting some powers back from Brussels.
He has spoken in the past of taking Britain out of the EU’s social and
employment policy. Asked whether that would mean wholesale renegotiation, he
said: “If you have very clear things you want to achieve in Europe, it is
perfectly possible to achieve them. They have to be clearly set out, clearly
explained and put to the British people in a general election.”
Mr Cameron rejected suggestions that the Tories were intent on disguising the
relationship between donors and individual Shadow Cabinet members.
Dismissing allegations that George Osborne had failed to declare donations
to his office properly, he also defended fundraising clubs that offer the
party’s most generous backers privileged access to senior Tories.
The Leader’s Club and Shadow Chancellor’s Club are open to donors who give
more than £50,000 and £25,000 respectively and host regular events attended
by senior Tory frontbenchers, including Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne. The party
refuses to release detailed information on the clubs and insists that all
donors are already declared to the Electoral Commission but admits that
their membership does not exactly tally with the amounts given.
Mr Cameron, insisting that it was right that Tories stuck to the “basic
principles” on fundraising, promised to investigate whether more information
could be made more public. “These are not secret clubs,” he said. “The point
of the Leader’s Club is to broaden the base of funding of the party. It
makes it much broader, much wider and therefore you get over accusations
that anyone has got too much influence. That is part of the point of them.
But if you want me to go away and look at whether people are a member of
this [club] and not of that I will have a look.”
He is dubious about suggestions that a big new deployment of troops may be
necessary to maintain momentum in the fight against the Taleban. “I think
militarily our troops are doing a fantastic job but politically it is quite
a depressing picture,” he said. “There is not enough co-ordination of aid,
not enough is being done to ensure that the Governement’s writ runs through
the country and I think it is the No 1 foreign policy challange for us to
work with our allies, particularly the US, to work up a full-throated
political strategy in Afghanistan, rather than just a military one.” He said
that if army commanders were to argue for an increase in troops “we should
listen, but in many ways that is the wrong question that politicians should
be asking”.
Instead, he said: “We should be asking how we can surge the political effort,
the aid effort and the hearts-and-minds effort. There is probably no number
of troops that could turn Afganinstan into a success story. The success of
Afghanistan will be if you manage to get the rule of law; if you manage to
have the Government’s writ run round the country; if you manage to train up
the Afghan Army; and you co-ordinate the aid.”
When it was pointed out that the Taleban were changing strategy and that a
troop surge might be needed, he remained unconvinced. “I don’t think the two
cases are similar like that. I think clearly when you are there you hear
endlessly about kit shortages but the political success of Afganistan is not
as dependent on troop levels [as Iraq]. It is dependent on the factors that
make up political success.”
He cited his second appearance today at the Davos economic forum and a series
of contacts with political leaders as a further sign that the Conservatives
were being treated as a “government in waiting”.
Mr Cameron said that the “fight for free markets, for open trade” had to be
won by every generation and voiced concern over the protectionist tone of
the Republican and Democrat candidates in America. In Davos today Mr Cameron
will say that most forecasts suggest that by 2050 the EU and the North
American Free Trade Agreement would each be only mid-sized economic blocs in
a world increasingly dominated by South Asia.
Leading thinkers of the Centre Right are beginning to point out that if they
wished to retain Western negotiating power, they would need to think
radically about how to deal with this new situation. “I believe that the
time has indeed come to stop thinking of the two sides of the Atlantic as
separate blocs and to begin considering, instead, how we can bring the EU
and North America together into a true single market,” he will say.
“A new economic alliance, building on the work that is already under way to
harmonise market regulation between the two sides of the Atlantic, can
provide the West with . . . the increased growth that comes from deeper and
wider free trade internally and the scale that will enable us to be at least
equal partners with the South Asians. Centre-right free trade economics, and
centre-right atlanticism, can together give the West its proper place in the
coming century.”
Mr Cameron told The Times that one of the stories of the year would be the
unpreparedness of the British economy to deal with some difficult times.
After 15 years of growth there were signs of economic incompetence, huge
personal and corporate indebtedness and insufficient reforms to
competitiveness: “We have not fixed the roof when the sun was shining.”
Mr Cameron wished Nick Clegg, the new Liberal Democrat leader, well “but not
too well”. Mr Cameron said that his job was to tell voters that if they were
fed up with the Government there was a liberal Conservative alternative that
was in the centre ground of politics and had radical solutions on things
such as welfare and education, and understood the arguments about the
environment. “If you are a Liberal Democrat voter, come and join with us
because that is the only way you are going to get change.”
Much of the Conservative attack over the coming year will come on crime, with
policies on prison reform expected next month. He refused, unlike Jacqui
Smith, to say whether he felt safe walking in London. “It doesn’t matter
what I feel. The fact of the matter is that most peole don’t feel safe
walking.”
Mr Cameron predicted that Boris Johnson would become Mayor of London in May
and suggested that he would not have to stick to party policy to do so.
“This is devolution. Boris is responsible for Boris’s policies. He does not
need to clear his policies with me.”
As the party leader is well aware, Mr Johnson was under strong attack before
Christmas in Tory circles for his low-key start. Now everything seems to be
OK, according to Mr Cameron. “I think you are going to see a series of very
strong announcements and strong people. It is going to be a very good
campaign and I think he is going to win. I think Livingstone looks more and
more threadbare with every day that goes by.”
Mr Cameron did confess one failure. Asked when he last smoked a cigarette, he
said: “I gave up a few years ago. I have had the odd relapse, but that is as
far as I am prepared to go.”
How a little faith can help to find the right school
The school chosen by David Cameron for his daughter Nancy, St Mary Abbots
Primary School, right, off Kensington High Street, West London, is one of
the most sought-after state primaries in London, with each of its 30 places
several times oversubscribed (Alexandra Frean writes). Mr Cameron will learn
this year whether his daughter has won a place.
The Ofsted report from last year notes that pupils feel free from bullying and
enjoy socialising. One child told inspectors: “Everyone is friends with each
other.”
Though not at the very top of the league tables, it is close. Last summer, the
percentage of pupils achieving the expected levels in English and maths were
96 and 91 per cent respectively. This compares with a national average of 80
per cent and 77 per cent.
Given the school’s reputation, it is little wonder that many non-believing
parents are tempted to play the religion card to secure a place for their
child. As one parent said: “Church schools in Kensington and Chelsea are
chock-a-block with parents who have conveniently found God when their child
is two and a half, which gives them just enough regular church-going before
they must put their application in. Although there are genuine Christians, I
would say the majority are in the other category.”
Research has revealed a surge in late baptisms into the Roman Catholic Church
and has suggested that parents played the system to get children into church
schools.
