Some reactions to key parts of Peter Hitchens' article for today's Mail on Sunday:
PH: "Most of the exclusive club of political journalists decided some months ago that they will now support the Tories and give Mr Cameron the uncritical adulation they all gave to Princess Tony 11 years ago. This is Mr Cameron’s reward for wiping out the last remaining traces of proper conservatism in his party."
In many respects Cameron is restoring true conservatism. For social conservatives there is his support for marriage and the family. For fiscal conservatives there is a (new) readiness to bring spending under control. For security conservatives there are proposals for democratic control of police chiefs. For localist conservatives there is Michael Gove's supply-side revolution in schools.
PH: "When he says he ‘gets the modern world’, Mr Cameron is signalling to these people that he is one of them – relaxed about drugs, sexually liberal, opposed to ideas like discipline and punishment."
Wrong on all three fronts. Cameron supports the policy of IDS to redirect drug rehab from harm reduction to harm avoidance. Yes, Mr Cameron is (rightly) respectful of gay relationships but he is consistently making the case for marriage. On discipline there are a strong set of policies to give headteachers new powers.
PH: "You harbour the illusion that a Cameron government will be significantly different from a Brown or Blair government."
On democratically-elected police chiefs, support for marriage, schools and welfare reform and further powers to Europe a Conservative government would be different. The Tory manifesto isn't yet bold enough for me - particularly on economic policy - but there's still time for that to change.
PH: "First up was the comical figure of Louise Bagshawe, an author of trashy novels who sported an AIDS awareness ribbon for her appearance. No surprise there. Miss Bagshawe has the political grasp of a Teletubby and was – like so many other Cameron fans – a supporter of the Labour Party in 1996."
Come on Peter. This is low grade abuse. Louise was wrong to back Tony Blair all those years ago but many, many conservatives gave up on the party in the mid 90s. Any regular reader of Louise's contributions to CentreRight will find someone who is Eurosceptic, localist, pro-family and in favour of small government. I don't agree with everything she writes but she's undoubtedly principled.
PH: "A couple of others, to give you the flavour of the thing, wished us ‘Happy Eid’."
It's called p-o-l-i-t-e-n-e-s-s, Peter.
PH: "One showed Shadow Cabinet members toiling on some worthily soppy community project."
Small platoon local projects are the best alternative we have to the welfare state. All over the country the tutorial effect of Conservative members undertaking community projects could be considerable. And it's not just 'show'. Greg Clark MP is fashioning a serious agenda for the voluntary sector.
PH: "[Cameron] also made a number of references to God – one claiming that the Almighty preferred Margaret Thatcher to Jim Callaghan – which would have jarred with any seriously religious listener. "
Rubbish. Religious listeners will have welcomed the speech for its clear commitment to help for the poor, support for marriage and new schools (many of which will be Christian).
PH: "One does have to wonder if he actually understands the church services he has so assiduously attended to help his daughter into an exclusive church primary school."
I don't want to peer into Mr Cameron's soul to assess the strength of his faith but I do admire any parent who will go the extra mile to get a good school for their child.
PH: "He made his usual declaration of support for marriage, but combined it (as usual) with a refusal to confront the fact that the State aggressively subsidises single parenthood, and aggressively undermines marriage in immoral sex-education programmes, and that as long as it does so, marriage will die. "
Peter's right on this one. We do need to defund the state-funded structures and voluntary groups that undermine the traditional family.
PH: "In the Tory Party you can posture about Brussels, but in the end you must support it, as Mr Cameron enthusiastically does."
David Cameron is the most Eurosceptic of our recent leaders (IDS excepted). It's true that I don't have much expectation of anything changing very much, very early in a Cameron government but I haven't given up hope.
For me Cameron still needs to make much more progress on energy policy, public expenditure control and investment in Britain's armed forces (in particular) but Peter Hitchens (much more than Simon Heffer) has decided that the Conservative Party is finished and his mind is now closed to all signs of genuine progress.
