The World Tonight
Monday 10pm, Radio 4
A two-part package on the Conservative Party. The first part was a conference round-up, featuring the A-list showcase event in which six A-listers (all but one female) were asked to put forward policy ideas in Dragon's Den style. From what I could gather from the report the event was hosted by Theresa May, hijacked by Ann Widdecombe ('where are the men?') and won by Wendy Morton (whose policy requiring new-build homes to generate some of their own energy was most popular with the audience). All in all, a revealing vignette: the rank-and-file is more than willing to embrace fresh thinking and fresh faces, but doesn't appreciate the unsubtleties of the A-list process.
Next came a brief interview with Oliver Letwin, who was asked about internal unhappiness about the A-list, which he acknowledged, but put down to local associations wanting to keep their independence. Actually, it's a bit more complicated than that, but the interviewer didn't pursue the point.
The second part of the package was a feature on Europe and, in particular, William Hague's attempt to form a new grouping in the European Parliament. The report, featuring Czech pencil makers and Polish drag queens, was typical BBC fare - vaguely Europhile, while at the same time smugly amused by the antics of Johnny Foreigner. Cut to interview with Boris Johnson, who treated this shallow attempt to open up old Tory divisions with the good-humoured contempt it deserved.
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