Matthew Parris: At least one solid, distinctively and obviously Conservative policy should be found (but don't retreat on the huggy, green stuff)

Matthew Parris, a columnist for The Times and winner of last year's ConservativeHome award for best British writer, begins today's series on 'What David Cameron Should Do Next'.

DC should not be spooked by talk of an early general election. However strongly Brown might enter such a contest, elections have lives of their own and this Prime Minister is eminently de-railable.  Whenever the contest comes, DC should aim off: aim to win, of course, but remember that the best result would be to wing Brown then let Britain see him flap around for a year or two with a shrunk or non-existent majority.

Between now and then the watchwords should be Statesmanship and Authority. Recommendations coming in from his range of policy commissions should be treated as just that – recommendations – and cherry-picked with relaxed command, the media being given to understand that he is positively looking forward to rejecting ideas that won’t fly. This should be done with despatch, nobody and nothing left hanging in the air, and care taken in advance to nurse bruisable egos. At least one solid, distinctively and obviously Conservative policy should be found – death duties, whatever –  headlined, showcased, and stuck to regardless.

Guns must be stuck to on Euro-referendum, etc, but calmly, quietly, always understanding that the public are not all that bothered and the treaty’s probably going to happen anyway – or be rejected by someone else.

No more pictures with poor people – we’ve got that message. Abroad only for pictures with powerful people. Suits and ties, sometimes; red carpets; aircraft steps; handshakes, presidential palaces.

A sense of command should be exuded as he settles the final shape of his potential Cabinet.  Some of the faces and voices are not right from the viewpoint of the world outside his party, and that’s the viewpoint that counts. An act of ruthlessness would come in handy.

Much that was unhelpful in the party’s image has now been successfully neutralised. There must be no backsliding or signs of nerve-failure on any of the huggy, caring or green stuff. It’s all good. But next, DC must come across as what Gordon Brown keeps insisting that at core he is: a proper Conservative. By Christmas Britain needs to have seen (what DC, in my view, spectacularly is): an imaginable prime minister. 

NEXT IN THIS 'WHAT DAVID CAMERON SHOULD DO NEXT' SERIES: JANET DALEY AT 10AM

Comments

[Tory T]

Brilliant. Agree with every word.

[bluepatriot]

Excellent.

[James Maskell]

Sounds about right. Cameron has tried using the social responsibility message as his core message and while thats a solid message, I dont think its getting a lot of traction. Unfortunately for us the message that is getting through, and has stuck, is that Cameron changes the message very frequently. This leads to confusion. He needs to solidify the message and embed it further.

[englandism]

Good stuff Matthew. DC referred to Anarchy in the UK this morning so in keeping with the Sex Pistols theme here's a line from the song:

'I don't know what I want but I know how to get it'

The former seems to apply and, therefore, the latter is, inevitably, failing.

'Some of the faces and voices are not right from the viewpoint of the world outside his party, and that’s the viewpoint that counts.'

Indeed, so why did DC say on Today words to the effect that people can hold whatever views they like but the important thing is that only he will make the decisions?

If we are playing the strong statesman game we need, as Matthew suggests, some foundation and substance and for this we need a systematic and coherent statement of intent.

Policy? Populist? Ruthlessly pragmatic:

I give you EVEL.

English Votes English Laws (the name needs some work)

[The Wilted Rose]

Spot on, Matthew, as you often are -- and when the party signals which policies it will adopt Cameron will look even more impressive.

[Boris]

Matthew wrote, "Guns must be stuck to on Euro-referendum, etc, but calmly, quietly, always understanding that the public are not all that bothered..."

Yet 3 items down in the CH news listings..

"Almost a quarter of Labour voters could desert Gordon Brown at the ballot box if he refuses to hold a referendum on the EU constitution. A poll for the Daily Mail also reveals that more than eight out of ten of the wider public want a national vote on the revived Brussels treaty."

Make your mind up and dont get this wrong. As a now non Conservative voter of 25+ years (thats voting Tory for 25 years and now I will not) , I will not do so again until there is a credible anti EU policy and I dont just mean the Constitution.

[Robert]

Cameron started to show some clear blue water, then reverted to the daft green ideas. The biggest favour he could do for us to is to get a proper discussion going over the two biggest cons perpetrated on the English people, the EU and Climate Change.

[TomTom]

Political parties informed by London journalists - no wonder the results are so awry.

The headline of today's Times is the start of Brown's undoing. If he really wants a fight with doctors he might find they take him on.

A second German bank - Sachsen LB was bailed out with £10 billion at the weekend...be nice if Alistair Darling knew what the exposure was in Britain to junk CDOs.

So long as Cameron plays with Themes rather than Issues he is dead in the water.

[Iain]

As I have said else where Cameron and his Conservative MP's need to get on with some hard graft and basic politicking.

It seems like madness to me that Cameron got on the Today program this morning and said they wouldn't offer tax cuts because they didn't want to upset stability. This says to the electorate that we have stability now, ( so why vote for Cameron? ), and by inference that Gordon Brown has done a good job, the very person they should be tearing a strip off. I cannot understand how it is possible that Cameron didn't raise the issue of the fiscal mismanagement of Gordon Brown while Chancellor, which he could have tied into to his message of the day regarding the English NHS, where Gordon Browns fiscal mismanagement means that the Nurses in England are paying the price with their staged pay rise, where the new developments in the English NHS are being put in jeopardy because Gordon Brown slashed the capital spending in the English NHS by one third, ( but not touched the budgets in his Scotland) and his message of the threats to local hospitals and A&E.

It worries the hell out of me that Cameron, a supposedly clued up media operator, when given an abundance of ammunition, fails to knife the Labour party when given the opportunity, and ends up giving backhanded plaudits to Gordon Brown.

[michael m]

I agree with MP but I am fed up with hearing that the Front Bench excluding DC has any will or desire to win. What should have been a summer offensive has been a wash out- open goals appear to have been missed and in some cases not even recognised- Knife/gun crime/ failure of education especially at primary level and today's news re school leavers/ underage drinking - etc etc. all broken society issues All golden opportunities wasted because no Conservative seemed to be around- either in the board room or on holiday. The impression is that those with safe seats are not going to bother- particularly where outside fees are so compelling.
This is a betrayal of all Conservative supporters and in due course the country that needs better.

[Sally Roberts]

Good stuff, Matthew! Eminently sensible.

[englandism]

Meanwhile, this is what Jackie Ashley is up to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2152494,00.html

[Oberon Houston]

Good article Matthew, and seems to be advocating the "act in opposition as if you are already in power" tact, and very sensible too.

[malcolm]

Agree with most of what you say as always Matthew. But I am a bit worried about us focusing on one policy.Didn't we make that mistake in 2001 (save the pound) and again in 2005 (immigration).Both policies were right and popular but our concentration on them to the exclusion of much else ultimately proved counterproductive.
We need to present a broadbased programme which meets the concerns of all the electorate.

[Too late?]

"DC should not be spooked by talk of an early general election....By Christmas Britain needs to have seen (what DC, in my view, spectacularly is): an imaginable prime minister."

Matthew is suggesting that Britain does see DC as an "imaginable" PM. DC has had 20 months to establish his credibility.

Matthew tactfully suggests the reason why the country does not share his perception - too much spin and not enough substance. He is, in fact, calling for a change in tactics.

The problem for DC is that Brown could call an election in October - before he has had a chance to put Matthew's proposed tactical change into action. Christmas will be too late. PODWAS!

[Ronald Wheeler]

Well I can't spend loads of time, but MP's remarks seem eminently encouraging. DC must keep on coming on, and the PM is no doubt de-railable.
Ron Wheeler

[simon]

As with most of MP's writings 'ploddingly sensible'. DC did indeed get off to a good start- then out of nowhere, made himself look a complete fool. I fear a touch of the 'Letwin's' may have been responsible for the 'fall from grace'. When DC called himself a 'liberal conservative' looking at it from an intellectual level- a fair enough comment. Looking at it from a 'gut instinct' level- yuk, he's calling himself a LIBERAL! The same with the 'long game' with regard to policy. A 'sensible' thing to do, but it's left a vaccuum to be filled by flotsam and jetsam. I think 'a little less intellectualism' may be called for!

[Too late?]

My second paragraph should have said that Britain does NOT see Cameron as an imaginable PM.

The reasn is that, compared to Brown, that Cameron comes across as young and inexperienced. A career based on being a political researcher/adviser and then PR is poor preparation for being Leader of the Opposition never mind Prime Minister.

William Hague was also too inexperienced and the Party paid the price at the ballot box. I fear that we have made the same mistake of choosing youth rather than experience.

One problem is that the shadow cabinet does not look like a government in waiting. Cameron must demonstrate that he has leadership qualities and take decisive action. He should sack the poor performers such as Ainsworth and Willets and bring in backbenchers with Ministerial experience such as Rifkind and Redwood.

Christmas is too late.

[Cameron's 6bn air tax]

In 2005/6 the Government raised £3.3 bn from IHT.

If Cameron, as he pledges, will offset the IHT tax cut with a tax rise for airlines, then based on predictions, this means a tax imposition of around £6bn a year on the airlines by 2020.

All announced in the week that we found out that the hottest period in the 20th century was actually the 1930's rather than the 1990's as used by the green alarmists to justify these high 'green' taxes.

[englandism]

'In 2005/6 the Government raised £3.3 bn from IHT.'

Hmmm. Gordon Brown systematically drives up the value of housing whilst reigning in the IHT threshold. Clever methinks. I thought we were supposed to bang on about stealth taxes but this one has 'I am coming to steal your money' written all over it.

'All announced in the week that we found out that the hottest period in the 20th century was actually the 1930's rather than the 1990's as used by the green alarmists to justify these high 'green' taxes.'

Precisely, even the beard of Durham, David Bellamy has now jumped ship from HMS We're all Doomed.

And the Heathrow protest has been poorly supported, over reported, and complete pants. Mass movement/populist cause? Yeah, right.

[Yet Another Yet Another Anon]

There is one interesting sentence there:

"A sense of command should be exuded as he settles the final shape of his potential Cabinet. Some of the faces and voices are not right from the viewpoint of the world outside his party, and that’s the viewpoint that counts. An act of ruthlessness would come in handy."

Sack the Boy George. He's just too young.

[Simon Newman]

"Guns must be stuck to on Euro-referendum, etc, but calmly, quietly, always understanding that the public are not all that bothered and the treaty’s probably going to happen anyway – or be rejected by someone else."

Pretend to oppose the Constitution (since everyone agrees a referendum would result in a No vote) but be careful not to actually rock the boat? Pretty pathetic.

[Cardinal Pirelli]

Excellent as always Matthew. I do agree with Malcolm, however, we need to make sure that we aren't caught being obsessive and the focus on one policy may fall into that trap.

[Editor]

Matthew does say "at least one policy" guys. He's not necessarily calling for just one "distinctively" Conservative policy.

[Andrew Lilico]

Insightful.

[Scotty]

Excellent analysis from a seasoned observer of politics from both sides of the fence, and without a personal axe to grind. I just wish that we had a few more political commentators of this calibre in our national press.

Governments lose elections, but only when the voters see a viable alternative in the opposition. I agree with your view about the EU referendum, we have to also learn that any issue which is divisive within the Conservative party will be equally so with the public. We need sound policies on the EU and immigration etc, but we must not turn them into dog whistle issues which lay us open to political opportunism. Security, Crime, Health, Education and quality of life are issues which not only chime with the public, but they also bring us all together in a desire for a common goal.

[Matt Wright]

Good points Matthew, I would only add that as well as looking more like an alternative Govt in waiting, we need to focus on a few bold ideas that resonate with the common ground of voters and clearly illustrate what we stand for. We need to create more music and less noise,

Matt